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I don’t own many swimsuits, only one to be precise. So I needed te replace it by a homemade one and I chose Greenstyle Creations’ Northshore.
I already had sewn this pattern, but for my daughter, so I knew some tips.
- Northshore pattern
- Swimsuit lycra*
- Swimsuit lining*
- Swimwear elastic*
- Woolly nylon*(optional)
- Stretch needle
Northshore, a gold mine for swimsuit styles
That’s an amazing pattern that has so many options I hope you will find your style in it. I’ve already covered its details in my first article you can read here.
I chose to sew the high rise bikini bottom without band and the pullover top with the deep V full cup.
I muslined it with a size M for the top and L for the bottom. I used a very dense La Panda Love knit and I oversized it a bit.
This muslin showed me that I needed to redraw the cheek curve and to drastically cut some at the front leg.
Add some gold…
…and here comes Wonder Woman!
Almost, LOL! I had the pleasure of being gifted this lovely red chlorine-resistant lycra* from Minerva. I also lined it with some nude swimwear lining*.
Lining tip: cut your lining pieces as instructed, and then take a sliver on each edge. It will help the lining be tighter once wet.
Cutting lycra and swimwear lining is made easier with my beloved 18 mm rotary cutter.
I used some size 80/12 stretch needle for assembling.
Always try your hand on scraps when dealing with lycra and swimweaer elastic. I found that a 3-4 zigzag was great for sewing the elastic onto the fabric whereas a 6-1.5 triple zigzag was great for topstitching.
Well….Not bad!
I still have some adjustments for a better fit, but it’s a swimsuit I really like to wear.
Next time’s adjustments may be:
- altering the shape of the cheek a bit more and shortening at the crotch: I have too much fabric there.
- checking my fabric’s stretch and recovery better. I could have sewn a S for the top and M for the bottom with this lightweight lycra.
And, this time, I didn’t forget to write my choice of stitches and stitch length in a note book!
Tips for sewing swimwear elastic
Don’t trust the lengths given in the instructions
Yes, you read right: don’t trust the ealstic measurements!
Elastic will not give you elasticity and recovery. These are given by your fabric (hence a good fabric is necessary). Your elastic is here to help the swimsuit to regain its shape quicker once wet.
So, keep your elastic on the roll, place it against your fabric with a tiny bit of tension (except at the front crotch/leg hole where no tension must be applied).
Pull the elastic beforehands
Before sewing your leastic on your fabric, pull it a few times to stretch it.
Check stitches and stitch lengths
I’ll be honest in saying that I spent 2 hours trying to topstitching the lelastic with my coverstitch. Utter failure: I couldn’t get the right combo stitch length/pressure/etc.
I used my trusted Janome 6700P for the topstiching (along with its narrow walking foot).
Stretch thread like woolly nylon?
I didn’t use it, but you can.