Well, here it is: my first bathing suit in progress. This is a swimsuit for my three-year-old daughter. She picked out the fabric herself after I showed her pictures of fabric from the Spandex House website. When she first picked it out I was thinking "yuck". But the print has actually started to grow on me. It's got a retro look to it, it's cute on her, and it's different from anything I've seen in the stores for little girls this year. What's the point of sewing if I don't sew original things?
I still need to add the elastic bands to the armholes, legholes, and neckline, then topstitch all of those areas. I have a Janome Coverpro 1000 coverstitch machine, so I'm covered there.
I have got to rave about my serger: a Viking Huskylock 910. I freaking LOVE this machine!! This is my first time using wooly nylon in both loopers and the left needle. It handled it beautifully and I didn't have to tweak the tensions much at all. Gorgeous stitching and it handled the fabrics beautifully. Way better than my former serger the Janome Compulock. A special thanks to my handsome husband for getting me this wonderful Huskylock serger.
The overall concept of sewing a bathing suit is simple yes, however, it is pretty difficult when you've never worked with lycra before. The stuff is slipping all over the place. Last night I thought I'd rather slam my face into a car door repeatedly than to be working with this stuff. I think once I get the hang of holding onto the fabric and keeping the raw edges lined up as I'm serging, then I'll be cranking out these suits quickly. I think I'll enjoy swimsuit sewing immensely once I get the hang of handling the swim fabric.
4 comments:
I love the polka dots! Thanks for posting the link to you blog on PR; I'm adding you to my blogroll.
That is a seriously cool fabric! I got really good at sewing with a pair of angled tweezers to hold the elastic and lycra and it meant I could hold it all together closer to the needle. Good luck!
Cool fabric! You are so brave to be sewing bathing suits! I'm impressed.
Shannon F
I think it is so fabulous that you let your little one pick out the fabric and making the suit out of her choice. That is how we plant the passion for sewing. You have to start young, you know! Great job, Mom!
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