New swimsuit(s)!

I’ve sewn my fair share of swimwear over the years, and while the most successful swimsuits have been for my boys (here, here), a past attempt at sewing a suit for myself had mixed results. I ended up partially unsewing it with the intention of someday making it fit better, and then never did. Over the past few years I also have happily shed some harmful beliefs about bodies and my body in particular that I’m sure were also holding me back from wanting to sew another suit for my (beautiful, worthy, baby-making, always changing) body. The long and the short of it is: I’m a work in progress (and just in case I wasn’t clear: I don’t mean my body here, y’all. I am no longer about wishing my body would change l before I sew for it). But then, aren’t we all?

Two years ago, feeling yet again underwhelmed by the suit options available to me and frustrated with the disconnect between the length of my torso and the apparent “standard” torso length for most women’s RTW suits, I put a swimsuit on my “Make9” sewing list, purchased an indie suit pattern, printed it out, and then abandoned it. Looking back I feel I may have underestimated my ability to get easily overwhelmed by things like trying to find swimsuit hardware (there is exactly one metal clasp thingy called for in the pattern I chose…but nevertheless…) and how to make a swimsuit muslin (I still think, a valid concern).

When Chelsea of Friday Pattern Company released the Seabright Swimmer last year, my friend G made one that was absolutely adorable so I decided to give swimwear another go. My first version had long sleeves and is totally wearable, though it really was more of a wearable muslin as I realized I needed to add more length in the torso (I added a bit, but not quite enough). I love that it has long sleeves, thus reducing my need to apply as much (reef-safe!!!!! SEE NOTE BELOW) sunscreen, though I was hoping the color would be a bit more “mint” and less “medical scrub” blue. I took it to Mexico last week and wore it, loved it.

My second attempt at this pattern is the sleeveless orange version aka main feature of this post, with a fabric designed by Justine Miller of Joy&Ink that I purchased from Spoonflower in their Sport Lycra fabric. My looming Mexico trip proved the perfect incentive for me to finish it — I had started it last summer — though sewing in my undies in my basement in the dead of winter so I could get it fitted correctly definitely made me question that dedication. Through sheer force of will I finished it up just in time to throw it in my suitcase.

When she saw the finished suit the other day, Clementine immediately demanded an exact mini replica for herself. She’s definitely fond of stuff with clementines on it. Also: I feel this may be one of my last chances to go twinsies with Clementine (see exhibit A for a past mother-daughter twinning moment). This one turned out even better than the blue one and I love it.

I did end up adding quite a lot of length to the pattern and front elastic pieces for my torso (2” total, I think?). I performed the equivalent of a small bust adjustment on the front pieces and removed quite a bit of the fabric and the waist gathering to accommodate my small bust. Both times I sewed this pattern, I struggled a bit getting the waist seam to look good where the front pieces overlapped at the center, but with a busier print it’s not at all noticeable (with the blue suit I decided instead not to overlap them, which seemed to look better). One last mod: I added a full lining rather than the partial lining called for in the pattern, which was initially a bit tricky logistically, but in the end made the armhole finishing really easy.

I’m super happy with both suits, and this one is definitely my favorite. I’ve also enjoyed seeing the other suits that people have made when they pop up on Instagram under the #seabrightswimmer tag.

Finally, a note about sunscreen:

Since we hit upon the topic of sun protection, please educate yourself if you don’t already know about the harmful effects of sunscreen chemicals (including ones that say “reef-safe”) on reef corals. Even small amounts can do major damage. Just say NO to oxybenzone, oxtocrylene, and oxtinoxate, my dudes! We need those coral reefs! More reading: Consumer Report’s The Truth about Reef-safe sunscreen, Wirecutter’s Best Reef-safe sunscreens.