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Friday, September 16, 2011

My swimsuit!

Over the summer me and my sisters decided it was high time we got around to making ourselves some real swimsuits. :) Nothing on the regular market is really modest and most of the modest options that are out there are way over our price range. So for the last few years we've just been wearing our regular clothes in the water. But that's no fun and honestly it doesn't work that great.



 After searching thru our options we decided to use Miss Olivia's e-book pattern as our base. Tonight I only have pictures of mine, we haven't had the chance to do photoshoots of the others yet. :( But with time you'll get to see them. :) I ordered the fabric from Spandex House. They have so many choices...I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to decide. :P Finally I narrowed it down to 2 final choices....and this is what I came up with. :D For the shorts that go under it I just choose a plain 2-way stretch black.


Lots of measuring!
 I was slightly intimidated by thought of sewing with spandex never having done it before. But it really wasn't as bad as one would expect, not even as bad as a china silk or chiffon...
 As with most things I make, I altered the pattern and instructions some. For example I put the waistband (doing away with the elastic) on the skirt then sewed the bodice onto it. Rather then leaving it in 2 pieces. I have to say I don't think that would have worked well, at least on me. I'm sure it would constantly be riding up...And it hasn't showed any signs of sagging or any such thing.

Even more measuring. :P
I was planning on putting puff like sleeves on it, but as I was constructing it I tried it on to see how long I needed to make the straps and I fell in love with the way it looked with out them. I just hemmed the armscye edge where the sleeves would have been put...


Cutting! Would you believe I was brave enough to let my sister cut that close to my hands?!!? :P
  It was pretty easy to construct. We were able to use her sample pattern with several adjustments rather then having to start from scratch. So that was really nice. :)
 I was also going to make a sash for it which I may still do I was drawing up a blank on how to get it to look like I was picturing. Plus I'm happy with it, without it for now. ;)


The hardest part was by far drafting the sloper for the shorts. I have a smallish waist with considerably large hips and that is apparently hard to draft for. lol 
Going over instructions....


Some of my 'weapons'. :P
Yet again measuring...


Its a code I use so only I can understand it. :P
The beginning of a pattern!
Working on the front....



Getting redundant is it? :P That's kinda how I felt doing 3 slopers in one afternoon. Enough measurements, lines, and dots to make my head spin. :S
At last a finished product. :)
*Thanks to Megan for taking all the pictures of the construction process. :)
 And now for the many photos of the finish suit. :)













As you can probably tell by all the pictures I'm kinda obsessed with it. *grin* I've spent countless hours in the pool with it and it works very nicely! I was able to stay with my Aunt and Uncle in Missouri for 10 days this summer. Thanks to my dear little cousin, Lois. I learned how to swim!!!!!!!! I've wanted to master it for so long. So as you can imagine I was completely thrilled to finally be able to do it. :D I had many wonderful 'teachers' there. And when I came home I went to the last 4 days of swim lessons with 3 of my siblings and 6 cousins. We had complete blast and I'm so thankful God has blessed me with such a wonderful family! :)

*Photo credit to my dear sister Michelle. She's such a wonderful photographer. :) Fall has officially kicked in here so we had to fight with extreme winds, as well as my unruly to long bangs and a full circle skirt and I know how hard that can be. So a huge thanks Michelle. :)

Love,
Brooke

11 comments:

Virginia said...

Uber cute!! I love the design!

Go Bold said...

cute! I love the fabric designs!

Anonymous said...

Oh.My.Goodness.... *picks up jaw off of floor*
WOW!
WOW!
WOW!
I opened up your blog along with 2 others.. and clicked the tab so fast I couldn't remember what blog I was on, then I scrolled and saw that first picture of you working on it.. and I SWEAR I had no clue who you were.. honestly!! You look sooooo very different with your hair just newly cut like that (even tho' I just saw you at the reenactment I was still thrown)
You are so beautiful, and your grin just makes ME grin from ear to ear! I loooove your swimsuit period! and am sooo happy you finally were able to blog about it, I've waited so long and I'm not the slightest bit let down, it's WELL worth the wait! I adore everything about it, the cut, fabric, style.. everything! You did an incredible job working with Spandex, (thumbs up!)
I'm so happy for you, now I have GOT to learn to swim so we can race, right? :D
and good grief those pictures are woooooooooooonderful*happy sigh*!! my favorites (which was soo hard to choose since I loved every single one!) would have to be #'s 1,5,7 & 8.. I looove your smile in the first one, the pose in # 5 is just plain cool and the other two are sweet and thats all there is to it!.... I am most deff gonna save every one to my comp to enjoy everyday after this :)
Once again, you are amazing! I'm glad you did decide to leave it short in the end, even tho' you were worried if you'd like it or not, I love it enough to come steal it some night *evil grin*!!!
Love ya!
Kate
p.s. I love how the backgrounds and flip-flops say "summertime\beach" in your own cute style!. k, I need one now!.. er, wait... it's too cold here.. :(.. maybe next spring?! I can still "liberate" yours anytime, right??? :D
Thanks for letting me see it, this post is my favorite.. till next time you blog! and it's totally ok to be obsessed with it, I'm the same way so I can't say I blame you!!!
I'll quit blabbing now *quirky grin*

Anonymous said...

Oh, forgot to tell ya that whenever you can get some pics posted of your sisters.. that'd make my day!
And where did you get your hair decoration\flower at? it really suits you, simply cool, simply adorable, and just plain ol'sweet!
Kate ;)

Anonymous said...

GORGEOUS BROOKE!!!!!!!! I LOVE the pattern and material!!!!!! And your hair is so pretty! :D
~Rachel Jo

Michelle said...

Brooke, as you have been told so many times, I am very impressed with your skill to make somthing so amazing. I seriously have no idea what I would do with out you. I am so proud of you drafting all our sloper patterns so professionally. Your swim suit definately turned out the neatest out of all of ours!!! That is for cetian. I still want to add all the extras to mine to c if I can dress it up a lil. Oh, well that is off subject. Yours is in the spot light now! :)And I don't deserve that nice lil speech about the photo credit. I sure enjoyed taking them as I always do. You are very welcome tho. It is my pleasure. More later.
Yer sis,
Michelle

Rachel B. said...

Brooke! That is LOVELY!! So modest but just so feminine and swirly! The style fits you very well!

Megan said...

You did such a great job Brooke!!! You are such a great seamstress, Yur also a great swimmer:P I wish I could do it as good as you. It was fun taking the process, pictures:D
Megan

Savories of life said...

we bought some swimm suits that were modest but yours is cuter. Where did you get pattern? Answer on my blog. Yes you did a grand job on it. Have fun swimming-- if weather stays warm:)

Brooke said...

Thanks so much y'all! :)

Kate, I'm getting my hair back to it original length and stuff tomorrow afternoon. :D So hopefully I'll get better pictures of it this go around. :P Yes, you do have to learn to swim now so we can race. ;) I'm so glad you like the pictures so well. :) The hair flower is actually Michelle's. :( lol She got it at a festival.... I wish I had one like it tho...it makes her look so pretty all the time. :) I have several things like it, but never actually wear them. *note so self...start wearing them. lol*

Tara Janelle said...

Really really cute!! Great choice for the fabric!