I made myself another swimsuit.
I've made myself one before, which I love, and which you can see in some pretty bad photos here.
I was making myself a new one because I wanted to mess around with a new pattern and try a different style, not because the old one was worn out or ill fitting. Unfortunately, this project ended up being only sort-of well drafted, not a great success in the construction/sewing department, and in the end I only like the style so-so. I pretty much like my old black and pink one just as much if not more than the new one. So I guess I chalk it up to an experience and enjoy having two suits to choose from. It's still better than any store bought skimpy wimpy suit - I feel so much more comfortable covered up.
Its a skort bottom and separate tank top.
Overall, I feel everything is okay. Colors are okay, fabric is okay, style is okay, fit is okay-ish (armholes are too tight in front). But nothing is great, you know what I mean?
The neckline and armholes is where the nightmare construction/sewing came in. I don't know what possessed me to try and bind the edges but I totally should have done an all enclosed tank like I did for the girl's suits. Binding a circle with lycra is tough and I did a bad job of it. Tore out tiny stitches and tried again - and did another bad job of it. Decided you couldn't really see the zig zag stitches in and amongst the dotty fabric anyway and just haphazardly zigzagged the heck out of all the tricky spots I was having trouble with the first two times. Definitely not my best work and when people ask me if I made my suit I don't go showing them the wobbly neckline...
The waistband on the skorts turned out nicely.
(Not that I flip up my top and show off my waistband
when people ask if I made my suit. Go figure, right?)
I started with this skirt a good couple of inches longer. After trying it on I thought it was fine but would maybe be nicer a little shorter. The dress on my black suit is quite long (it has even stretched down a bit over years of use), which I love out of the water but is sometimes in the way when swimming so I thought I'd try this one shorter. A little less wanna-be-Amish-looking, you know? So I hacked off about three inches and restitched the hem. And now I'm undecided. Part of me regrets taking off those couple of inches. (Since when do I shorten skirts anyway?!) Maybe its just because it hits me in a different spot that I'm not used to... I don't know. The shorter skirt does float up in the water more thereby showing off the shorty-shorts more and that was definitely not the point. It's quite possible that its just fine and I'm being super critical of my sewing, but there is just so much about this project that is 'meh' that I can't decide.
I've worn it plenty of times already this summer and its held up nicely, so thats a plus. The tank is two layers of lycra (the lining is plain blue) and the shorts and skirt are one layer each, connected at the waistband. It fits, I'm well covered, even if I don't love it I still consider it a useful piece of sewing.
No comments:
Post a Comment