vacation, all i ever wanted.

Originally posted to sewstylist.wordpress.com on 2 Oct 2014

A friend is getting married later this fall, and as part of the lead up to the big day a group of us took off to Palm Springs for a bachelorette celebration! (Unrelated: Should bachelorette parties maybe just be an annual thing, celebrated each year of a ladies ongoing singlehood? It’s just a little disappointing to wait until you’re signing off to celebrate, but I digress…) The lead up to this little vaca provided an awesome opportunity to go into sewing overdrive mode as I attempted to throw together some new Palm Springs appropriate me-mades. I ended up with two dresses and this suit, but I only ended up wearing the suit, partly because the slightly hasty way I threw together the dresses made me feel less confident about them. All those little details that take a piece from “homemade” to “handcrafted” take time, and I was in a weird not wanting to take time kinda mood. In the end, you reap what you sew. (Hah! I’m so fired for that one. )

I put this suit together at the beginning of the week, so finishing on it is pretty good. I’ve had this deep green lycra on hand for a few months now, with plans of making it into some sort of swim thing. It’s a good weight, maybe just a little heavier than average for swimwear, and has just the slightest bit of sheen and a really nice cool, silky hand. I serged the edges and am finally getting a feel for how to use that machine without it chewing up/screwing up everything! I used a double needle to hem the leg openings around an elastic band. I was skeptical about the addition of an elastic band hugging my thighs, but it turned out to be totally comfy and was pretty helpful in keeping the bottom half of the suit where I wanted it.

I lined the bust and between the legs with a plain mesh lining. I probably could have gotten away without any lining at all, but it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to wet fabric, so. I was back and forth over which pattern to use because there’s a couple lovely indie options I’d still like to try, but this time around I decided on this vintage pattern I’ve been holding for a bit. There was a little vintage quirk to some of the construction info. For instance, it’s clear stretch fabrics have come far enough by now we no longer require a zipper to get into a fitted bathing suit! And I’m not even going to admit to how much effort I wasted making that silly little neck strap the way they told me to… But all in all, this came together pretty easily.

I really like the details on this suit. The keyhole under the bust is a cute little touch and makes it so you can wear the suit with or without the halter strap. Had to be with on me cause otherwise we were edging into accidental exposure territory. I think the overall bust area was probs a bit too big for me, but all the gathering concealed that nicely. I did find myself fussing with keeping it up a bit more than I would have liked (=not at all). Oddly enough, once the suit was wet it stayed put quite nicely. Go figure. I also really like the low cut hips + full coverage over the rear. Even though the top half was a little fussy, the bottom half was solid, more so than any swimsuit I’ve ever owned. Between this suit and my growing army of Netties, I’m a low cut leg opening convert. Sooo much more comfortable, and cute too.

If I were to change one thing about this suit it’d be to drop the back down for a bit more exposure. Although, given the small trouble I had with keeping things in place up top, I’m pretty sure this suit isn’t properly engineered for that low-back look. Kelly posted a great vintage Stretch & Sew suit on her Instagram feed a month or so back with the sort of rear view that I crave. But in exchange for a low back I got bare shoulders, which I have to say was really nice.