Hello everyone! I wanted to share how I got into sewing swimwear.. Swimwear is one of the things I wanted to learn to sew the most! I kept reading about how easy it was to learn, how anyone can sew swimwear! But I honestly really struggled and hated it at first. & the reason why: rubber swimwear elastic.
So let's go into the project itself first! I made the Dallas top by Edgewater ave, & the Summer bikini bottoms. It's not perfect, & I would definitely make a few changes next time.. But it's wearable and fits well enough (overall)! I do feel like the back of the bikini bottoms has less coverage than I'd like though.
For my first swimsuit, I actually attempted to use was the Mimi Bikini pattern by Evie la Luve, but failed. I ended up giving up on it (after hours upon hours of undoing and redoing the rubber elastic binding). It wasn't the pattern instructions that I found particularly difficult.. It was working with the elastic & wooly nylon. I used wooly nylon because I heard that it is the best material you can use when serging swimwear, but have since then only used regular serger thread for swimsuit seams. Nobody mentions what a pain wooly nylon is to use. It would form a tangled, gross mess, especially with the rubber elastic which was already difficult to use. As of today, I finally finished this bikini & will make a separate post about this.
After the first attempted swimsuit failure, I decided to sew the most basic, simple pattern I could find, which is how I decided on these patterns. There are no written instructions for the Dallas top, so I followed the YouTube video. I also watched the one with the modification to add pockets for padding. I did add these pockets, since I prefer my bra tops to be padded. However, I never did cut up the padding to insert into the top. I'd honestly prefer just constructing a swimsuit with pads already installed rather than having them be removable. After sewing up the top, I thought some side tie bikini bottoms would look cute with it! So I used the Summer bikini bottoms pattern by Evie la Luve.
So here's what I thought of the patterns. The Dallas top had a video tutorial that went through all the steps. For someone with some experience, it had all the necessary details. As an absolute beginner to sewing swimwear, it went by too quickly for me. I also would have liked written instructions to go along with it.. I found I had to rewind and rewatch parts over and over again. But at least this pattern was free. Also, the suggested lengths for the top straps are way too short to me. I can barely tie the top straps into a knot. I'd prefer to have it long enough to tie a bow. As for the Summer bikini bottoms-- I liked the detail of the written instructions. I'm not a fan of the cut of the back of the bottoms though.. I prefer full coverage as opposed to cheeky coverage. I followed the cut line for the string bikini for this pattern, but will definitely modify it in the future to have full butt coverage. It's a personal preference for me-- I like having my butt covered-- but I know that cheeky coverage is a trend nowadays. Below is a pic of me wearing this swimsuit at a hotspring.
This paragraph just covers all the major problems that I had/have with sewing swimwear. Please let me know if you have any advice, or have also encountered these problems... I still do have unanswered questions which I can't seem to find online. As I said earlier, my problem with sewing swimwear can be summed up in one word (well, 3): rubber swimwear elastic. My sewing machine (singer 2277) constantly skips stitches when sewing this material, and consistently birdsnests when using the twin needle (I just can't use a twin needle with this material. I tried so many times). I have tried many different needle types/sizes (including microtex, ballpoint, stretch, even regular b/c the other ones were not working), and have tried adjusting the settings. No matter what I did, the problem persisted. I've wasted countless hours undoing and redoing sewing rubber swimwear elastic. I've asked for help on Reddit, and still don't have the answer. I've sewn multiple swimsuits since this post, but I still get skipped stitches when sewing this material sometimes. I just have learned to live with having some skipped stitches on my swimsuits :( I know they say you don't need a special machine to sew swimwear, but I think you need a good enough machine to sew more difficult materials. My machine is a starter machine, and I am planning to upgrade soon. My serger (Brother 1034D) doesn't have issues sewing swimwear elastic. But, I found applying this kind of elastic to be more difficult than sewing any other kind of elastic. It's more slippery & less user friendly. I'm not skilled enough to directly serge it to the fabric according to Evie la Luve's tutorial (tried, failed). I have to apply the elastic with my sewing machine for more control.. and then the machine skips stitches when applying it. Also, my machine is completely incapable of sewing more than one layer of the rubber elastic. If I overlap the elastic, a birdsnest ALWAYS forms under my fabric. I've learned to have to cut the elastic so that it doesn't overlap. Overall, sewing swimwear is comparable to sewing lingerie to me... the reason why swimwear is so much worse to me is because of the rubber swimwear elastic. I don't have these issues with regular lingerie elastic.
From making this project, I learned the importance of making toiles with my plain fabrics before using my printed fabrics, especially with something as close fitting as swimwear. It's still wearable, but I definitely would increase the length of the top straps of the bikini & increase the coverage of the back of the bikini bottoms next time.
Thanks for reading my post!! Please let me know if you have suggestions for working with rubber swimsuit elastic.. I probably just need to upgrade my machine though.
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