hello! first thing made for 2022, hot off the machine!
I desperately needed new bathers; I’d been keeping all my old bathers for years … “just in case” … and at the beginning of summer finally chucked all of them out, bar the least terrible pair. Just recently I had to admit I hated those too, so out they went! So I had to quickly run up some new ones! This is the first new pair I’ve had in about three years, and MAN, it feels so good to slip into a sleek new pair with no loose elastic or baggy stretched out bits.
I used an old favourite pattern I’ve had for many years, McCalls 2772, and made my usual bikini with the bikini top modified to be a tankini. I’ve made this particular design quite a lot because I really love this silhouette and style; I love the vintage-y vibe and think it’s a nice style for my particular figure.
I bought this pomegranate fabric in New York City, during my holiday there with Yoshimi at the end of 2019… and yes, oh boy was the timing of that trip extremely lucky or what! I often pinch myself with how very fortunate we were to have got it in at the time we did! I’m not 100% sure it’s strictly swimwear fabric, from memory it might have been dance lycra or something … but it feels good, quite thick and firm, and I think it will work really well as bathers, for a while at least. It’s not like I swim in chlorinated pools very often so I think it should be ok 🙂
I had the elastic and black thread already too, so I bought absolutely nothing new for this project… also I made a making-of video for my YouTube channel.. One of the things I might try to do this year is a video for every project I do? Question mark because it may prove too much but I’m going to give it a go! My youtube channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/user/HandmadebyCarolyn
I’ve also been thinking I’m going to do this stash-busting challenge/pledge that’s been circulating around on IG for a while, which is to commit to using 30m of stash fabric before allowing yourself to buy anything new. I think I could be able to do this! since maybe I have 30m of fabric still? Just maybe! And I could definitely do with a push to not buy any new fabric for a little while! What I would really like to do is to get my stash right right down to a very small pile with only a few pieces, and then only buy when I need to, if I have a project for which none of the aforementioned stash is going to work, say.
Anyway, this project used 1m of fabric, haha. 1 down, 29 to go!
These look very good. I also like that Sienna seems not to be sure whether she needs to rescue you or not in the last picture.
I have not yet made any bathing suit or bikini due to both a lack of need (I still have some perfectly good bought ones) and there not being that much of suitable fabric around in Switzerland. I will look into this next time I’m in England, as my sister could use one. All the best from Basel Anita
Love it Carolyn, that style is fab on you. I’m also jealous of your warmth and sunshine. Sitting here in damp cold Cornwall, hugging a warm mug and waiting for the fire to warm
me up. Still I guess I have the summer to look forward too and my mundaring raincoat is getting loads of use
What a set. I know what you mean about keeping that type of thing for ages even though they have lived their life out. Lovely fabric. X
Your new bathing suit is lovely. I love the pomegranate print and the tankini style–that’s what works best on me, too. Please do make videos of all your projects, as long as it doesn’t become too much of a burden.