Swimwear For Me

 If you happened to check your Instagram feed on Christmas Day you may have seen a sneak peak of my new swim suit.  This one was completed from memory at the start of December with plans to use it during the family beach holiday at Kaiteriteri at Christmas.  By Christmas it had been used quite regularly.  I think our pool had been used more in December than the entirety of most summers.  I am okay with that!  Christmas Day for me was somewhat of a trial.  The day panned out to be really hot, over 30 degrees hot!  We weren't at home and had no aircon or pool so by 8pm I was at home in my happy space, hence the above photo that Courteney took that evening complete with my gift from both Courteney and Callum, the unicorn.


The fabric I chose for my new suit was a birthday gift to myself, way back in September.  I love having a spring birthday and being able to choose gifts that will be used for the summer!  I visited The Fabric Store to choose some of their lovely Liberty swimwear lycra at the beginning of September and ohh the dilemma!  I think I could have really bought most if not all of their swimwear fabric so it was quite difficult to choose just one piece.  I settled on Kirsties Paisley with Closet Case Files Sophie Swimsuit in mind.  

With my Liberty print in hand I then needed to find a complimentary fabric.  This was easier said than done.  The background is a purple colour and purple lycra around these parts is as scarce as hens teeth.  In the end I just raided my own stash for a piece of black.  I had just enough for a pair of pants and the trim on the top.  I actually had to cut the ties in two pieces but this isn't noticeable when the suit is worn.

Because I had used the Sophie swimsuit pattern to make a tankini before, I used my previous suit to measure the width and length of the top.  I have found from experience that tighter works better because a looser top can tend to ride up in the surf and I find this quite annoying.  I fully lined the entire front of the top but left the back unlined.  

Once again I used McCall's 5400 for the pants.  I have slightly altered this pattern over the years as I find the crotch quite wide and the bottom coverage more generous than even the widest fit rtw pair.  By shaving off 5mm in both of these areas I now have a tnt pattern that I love.  The pattern doesn't call for a full lining but I really like a fully lined brief for both longevity and for modesty.  Being that this pair of bottoms are also black I can mix and match my bottoms which I tend to do regularly.


I love my new suit!  I bought a metre of my Liberty fabric and still have enough left to make a bikini for next summer which will make my mix and match options even better.  Oh and since I made this suit, I have bought a second piece of Liberty swim fabric which I will save for next summer.