Hello all!
I made this bikini in May so that I could sunbathe in the garden during the hot weather and it was such a pleasure to properly test it out in the water over the last couple of days. I generally seem to make one piece of swimwear a year, so this is the 2020 edition! I used up the leftover supplies bought in New York last year which I made my 2019 swimsuit from.
I used my front bodice block as a base to draft the bikini from, but essentially as long as the triangle is big enough to cover the important bits you’re onto a winner! I pinned my triangles of swimsuit fabric and lining right sides together with my neck ties in the middle pinned to the top corner and zigzagged some elastic around the two sides that aren’t the bottom of the triangle. I could have stretched the elastic slightly tighter than I did because the sides are looser than I’d like. Luckily I can just tie the straps around my neck a little tighter and can just about get away with it. The triangles were then turned the right way round, pressed, and the bottom edge folded up twice and top stitched to form a channel for the bottom ties to go through. A super quick make! I didn’t have enough swim elastic for any of the ties which is a shame, because that would have really helped with their recovery.
The great thing about this type of bikini top is how flexible it is. I want to flatten each triangle out for full coverage? No problem! I want to minimal coverage for maximum sunbathing potential. No problem! I’ll just gather the cups up a bit more.
I made the bikini bottoms in another sewing session using my leotard pattern as base. I was working from the scrappiest of scraps at this point, so against my better judgment used the leotard pattern instead of using my pants pattern which takes up more fabric. I can get them on, but they do squish my buttocks in half a bit! I had some issues with the lining showing on the outer side of my bikini top so when I cut out the bottoms I cut out the lining a bit smaller. Unfortunately I cut a bit too much off, which definitely assisted in making them that little bit smaller than I wanted them to be. Next time I am only cutting the smallest smidge off!
All in all, on it’s first proper outing my bikini held up brilliantly.
Thanks for reading!
Lauren