Tag Archives: Bathers

floral bathers

01/12/2014 10:37 pm \ 52 Comments \

Bathers!
Pattern; old fave McCalls 2772, with the halter neck bikini top modified to be a tankini.
Fabric; one-way stretch from Fabulous Fabrics.  I just randomly fancied floral this year. 
I was immediately attracted to the clarity of the print, the realistically drawn, intricately detailed flowers and foliage.  However, despite its obvious gorgeousness and I was pretty sure it would look great as a pair of bathers, I agonised somewhat over the fabric in the store for ages.  Why? well, there is actually something extremely annoying about it.  
See how I have oriented the floral bit so that the flowers stand upright? which to my mind is the only logical orientation for the print…  well, the stretch in the fabric is actually going up and down, parallel with that print; and not across, or perpendicular to it, like you would rightly expect it to. 
I know, right?  Annoying!

You want the direction of most stretch to be going around your body, obviously! and well, who would want the flowers positioned that way??  There is a leeetle bit of stretch the other way, but not very much, so to my mind the way the print was done is just all kinds of wrong.
So I umm-ed and aah-ed for like forever over whether or not to take a chance on it. 
Well, clearly I did in the end.  And put the flowers in going up and down, exactly the way I wanted them.  Sheer pig-headed stubbornness determination told me I could make it work.  
And I did, by putting an invisible zip in the left side seam.  Problem solved!  Swimsuit purists will no doubt be horrified at the zip but look at me, not caring like a boss.  At least it can be put on and taken off with the greatest of ease, which it would absolutely NOT do without that zip.  Don’t ask me how I know that.  I may or may not have sewn up that seam first, just to see, and may or may not have then spent a good five minutes struggling to get it on and then another five struggling to get it off again.  Picture Houdini furiously battling with a straitjacket.  Not exactly the epitome of effortless chic, haha.
Some quality time with my seam ripper, whack in a zip, done!  Effortless chic is once again within my grasp, mwahaha.

The bikini bottoms; well, I obeyed the rules here and meekly cut them with the stretch going around my body, like you are supposed to.  Choosing my battles wisely, here.  Since the pieces are all cut from the plainer, all-green outer edges of the print then you can’t tell that the print goes the other way.

And I’m now totally ready for summer!  Bring it!

Details:
Bathers; McCalls 2772 bikini modified to be a tankini
Hat; Country Road
Location; Bunkers Bay

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White Bombshell

07/06/2013 11:22 am \ 157 Comments \
G’day beach babes!  OK so I admit it is winter here in Australia now.  I can explain…
The very clever Heather of Closet Case Files has dropped a literal Bombshell on the sewing world with  this, her inaugural swimsuit pattern, and I was honoured that she asked me to be a pattern tester, woot!!  So thrilling!  This is the first time evah I have been asked to test a pattern, so that was pretty exciting for me!  Thanks Heather!
The pattern for the Bombshell swimsuit is available here.  So how ultra glamorous is this style, huh?  Honestly, I think that this is like the most flattering swimsuit I have ever owned… including RTW.  I even bravely turned my back to the camera, to show the rear view… yikes!  Normally I would be waaay too terrified to model the rear view of a swimsuit, on the internet.  But you know what? the back of this swimsuit is actually very flattering to the be-hind, and even looks… dare I say it! quite lovely?  Believe me, I would not be turning my back to the camera in just any old swimsuit!  The sides and back come down far enough to modestly covers one’s entire bottom, which is very nice.
In fact, not just the bottom but the whole style is very demure and sweetly retro.  The full-body ruching and straight boy-leg cut is reminiscent of the 50’s.  Heather has designed three styles; style A has a gathered bust with a wide-set strap, style B is a halter neck, which can also be constructed as a pair of high-waisted bikini bottoms (style C)  See Heather’s gorgeous versions of styles A and B here.
This is style B, and I used a white polyester knit from Fabulous Fabrics.  White swimwear can be scarily see-through when wet, but in this design both front and back has two layers of fabric, and with the outer layer heavily ruched, meaning you have pretty much two and a half layers of fabric covering your body.  So I think it’ll be pretty modest in the water  ðŸ™‚
Do you like this swimsuit? if so then I have very good news!
Heather is generously giving away a copy of the pattern to one lucky reader of my blog…  so for a chance to win then please leave a comment on this post before Monday 10th June.  If you have never made a swimsuit before and are nervous about the techniques involved then never fear; Heather has that base covered.  She will be running a Bombshell sewalong on Closet Case Files, commencing on Monday 17th June.

Later edit: Thank you all for those lovely compliments!  the pattern recipient has been notified.

Details:
Bathers; Closet Case Files Bombshell, white polyester knit
Hat; Country Road
Sandals; Misano
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Just add water

12/10/2012 11:00 pm \ 41 Comments \

I thought I had timed things pretty well for this one, heading out to the beach on the first day of school term, a day when I knew it would be utterly deserted.  Instead I royally stuffed up by rocking up boom in the bloomin’ middle of the school holidays!!… doh!  This is what happens when you are out of the system, people; you forget all that school-related info previously of paramount importance, like exactly when the holidays start and end.
Ah yes… you forget…
hmmm, where was I?
Oh, yes, I’ve made my new bathers for the new summer season  ðŸ™‚  

Actually I exaggerate, I was pretty lucky the beach was not crowded at all; enabling me to set up in a discreet pozzie for a few incognito piccies with the faithful doggie.
My new bathers are made using an old faithful pattern, McCalls 2772, modified to make the bikini top a tankini instead.  This is the sixth time I have made bathers using this patten,  and my third iteration of that same tankini modification to this pattern; so it has been such a goodie.  That is not even counting the times the bikini bottom pieces have been used to make undies, for which it has been pressed into service stacks more times!
I know it seems terribly boring, that I keep using the same pattern over and over again, and I briefly considered trying out something new.  Briefly.  You see, I’m kinda content with being repetitive.  Happy to be boring.  This pattern really does work for me; it suits me, both my tastes and my body type.  And, bathers are pretty important, y’know, since you spend such an huge amount of time in them over the long long summers we get here, you really want them to turn out as perfect-for-you as possible.  Road-tested, and check!
A secondary consideration is that I have worked out the past coupla times I’ve made these that a 2m packet of swimwear elastic is fair dinkum exactly the right quantity for my tankini version, and I mean down to the last 1-2cm.  It’s a sign!  If I wanted to make up the bikini; and I did actually pause for a few days before cutting to consider going that route this time round, then I would have to buy a second roll of 2m.  
The tankini won.
I used a denim-look swimwear fabric; bought from the Fabric Store in Melbourne during our recent visit.  The roll was marked “tiger lily” so I am really pretty curious as to how tiger lily used this in their own collection.  I suspect they probably did not use quite as much fabric per set as I did here.  I’m imagining three or maybe even four, tiny weeny little triangles each?  ðŸ˜€
Playing on the denim theme, I added topstitching in burnt orange, and also a mini patch pocket on the front hip, topstitched to look like a jeans back pocket.  It is functional, but probably won’t ever have anything actually put in it.  Can you imagine… oh, I’ll just put the house key (or something else reeeal important) here in my little pocket to keep it safe while I am swimming over in that churning rough and tumble surf….   
Yeaah, bad idea.  But still c’est tres cute, non?

Details:
Bathers; McCalls 2772, the bikini top modified to make it a tankini, of denim-look swimwear fabric
Hat; Country Road

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Bathers, 2011

01/11/2011 8:58 am \ 33 Comments \

Exactly the same pattern as last year.  Boring? well, maybe; of course I do like to try out new patterns every now and again but I just illogically wanted to have the exact same silhouette again this year.  You do sometimes, y’know?  I’m a woman so I’m allowed to be illogical….. (and it precedes that I am allowed to make that little joke, only since I am a woman…  twisted logic there, but that can be a useful tool, in the right hands, hehe)  But I digress….
A tankini is a style that works for me.  Last year I really liked the slightly old-fashioned appearance of that little skirt over the hips a lot, and this gathered bust with wide halter neck also flatters my figure I think.  Last year I had cut up an old bra and used it to fill out those cups a bit, but I ended up taking them out after only a few swims because they just about drove me mad moving around in there!  This year I figured that what I’ve got naturally will just have to do…
The pattern I used is a real oldie; one that I bought so many years ago it is one of those with just the one size in the envelope.  Yeah, remember those…?  I’ve used this pattern five times now, slightly different variations for different years, although I only have photos of last year’s version and now this year’s; since in the time-honoured fashion amongst women of a certain age I have traditionally avoided having my photo taken in bathers… there’s that thing about feeling exposed, and “someone might see/recognise me” thus my clever semi-disguise here with my big floppy hat, hehe.  Somewhat akin to an emu with its head in a hole; if I can’t see the camera then maybe it can’t see me… ?  But my reasoning now is thus; if I am going to wear my bathers out to a public beach and in full view of strangers there, then to not wear them for my blog seems to be weirdly hypocritical.  There’re two more samples of logic there; flawed? or not?  I’ll leave you to judge…
This variation is based on the bikini with my own alterations.  The fabric is the same as this petticoat… when I was buying it I bought a little extra especially for this project, just because I fancied an overly cheerful sunflower-bright pair of bathers this year.  Seems kinda optimistic, y’know  (hmmm, definitely illogical…)

Details:
Tankini; variation of McCalls 2772, with a flared skirt section of my own design, swimwear fabric
Hat; Country Road

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Bathers, 2010

19/10/2010 4:57 am \ 29 Comments \

I’m feeling veeeeery brave, putting a picture of myself up here, in my bathers!  Last year I was way too shy to do this.  Please note I’ve modestly veiled my face,  so no one can recognise me… (lol)
So I’ve made this year’s bathers for myself, the first project from the fabrics I bought in Melbourne from the Fabric store, on Brunswick Street.  If you can you read the printing in the selvedge of the fabric, below, you can see it reads “Zimmerman”.  Well, this is quite a classy Australian swimwear brand and I was pretty chuffed to see end-of-roll bolts of their fabrics stacked up at the back of The Fabric Store.  I haven’t seen the Zimmerman range for this season yet, but I am curious to see what they’ve made out of this very fabric!  I made a tankini, altering the one swimwear pattern I have to do this.  I just drafted the body skirt part and added it on to the bottom of the bikini top at front, and redrafted the back piece accordingly.     I had initially cut these body pieces quite long because they are self-drafted and I always allow myself plenty of extra fabric in case of problems; and at first I was planning for the ivory waistband of the bottoms to be on view when I was wearing them.  But then decided I like the look of the top long and pulled down over the bottoms; so this feature is now hidden.  I cut up an old bra to use for cups inside the bodice.
I didn’t set out to make the bathers “retro” in appearance (a word I’m getting a bit bored with in the sewing world, but not as bad as “vintage”) but they have turned out quite… old-fashioned.  There.  “Old-fashioned” is a less overused and therefore much more preferable term.  I’m going with old-fashioned…
And, just because everybody loves a photo blooper I’ve included one below for your amusement, taken accidentally while I was setting up.

Details:
Bathers; McCalls 2772, with some modifications, navy blue with ivory polka-dot swimwear fabric
Hat; Country Road

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Summer, here I come!

16/10/2009 12:24 pm \ Leave a Comment \

Today while in town I purchased my new bathers for this summer and here they are. Tres beautiful, non? I can’t wait to try them out at the beach tomorrow; surf and sand, yeah! Its about time the weather gods smiled upon us! And, no, there is no way I would model these for the blog, (in answer to my husband) Elle McPherson I am not…unfortunately….
No, they’re not homemade, but I’m including them in the interests of full disclosure of my wardrobe. Plus, I love them… Bathers; Jessika Allen for Jets

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