Swimsuit Contest -- I Made It!!

 After a month of barely any sewing at all, I managed to get most of the evening free last night to work on my entry for the Pattern Review Swimsuit Contest.  Just in time to beat tomorrow's deadline.

Whew!  I traced the pattern before dinner last night, and started cutting and then sewing at about 9pm.  At 12:10, I was zigzagging the very last bit of elastic in place.  Three hours from start to finish.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.  And the result is very nice indeed.

I used the new Jalie swimsuit pattern 3134, and since Jalies usually fit me pretty well, I took a chance and just made my usual size: the smallest Women's size, which in this case was an R.

 I didn't have any muslin fabric anyway, but when I saw what a tiny bit of fabric this swimsuit took, my trepidation faded away like frost in sunlight.  Out of a 1 yard piece of the orange and a 1 yard piece of the gray, I have enough left over to make at least 2 or 3 more suits.  Which I probably will, with different color block combinations.

The orange floral I bought from my favorite fabric source, Fabric.com.  They didn't have any solid colors when I was shopping, though, so I had to break down and get the gray from JoAnn's.  The gray is a bit shinier than I was looking for, but it was the best I could do  :o/  It's also lighter weight than the orange, and I kind of wished I'd lined the back as well, just for a little more structure.

The tracing of the pattern was a little interesting, since there are 6 pieces that make up this suit, and I managed to leave off a couple of rather important notches when I traced.  Minor problem, easily solved.

And sewing that slippery fabric was a real treat, too.  The orange is a far better quality and so was much easier to sew than the gray.  I basted the edges of the front fabric and lining together (as per the instructions) but not any of the other pieces, since I found it was actually easier to sew the pieces together if they weren't.  Counter-intuitive, I know.  Maybe I'm just weird.

I will say, though, that all those pieces went together beautifully.  And I thought the instructions were excellent.  I did download and print them from Jalie's website rather than try to read them from the giant pattern sheet.

I really like the way this looks on the inside, too.  All the elastic is neatly tucked away and stitched flat.  Looks very professionally done.

I like everything about this swimsuit.  The only thing I might change next time around is making the straps about an inch or so longer.  I think this suit might be a bit more comfortable if there is just a little more length to it. 

I really needed something to wear while kayaking and this swimsuit perfectly fits the bill.  It's pretty comfortable, has good coverage, the t-straps won't slide off my shoulders (and the more I kayak, the more sloped my shoulders get), and it's pretty, too.

I just ordered some pink floral nylon/lycra for Daughter (it has to be pink, ya know -- and from Fabric.com, of course) so I'll be making one for her, too.  I'll probably lengthen her straps as well, since that long torso kinda runs in the family.