First up I'll show you the bikini bottoms I sewed using McCall's 7168 and two colours of swimsuit fabric from Tessuti fabrics (this gorgeous fucshia lycra is my red; the pink isn't showing up online). The top I'm wearing with them is a RTW top that I got at a very good price a few years ago because it was an orphan - no pants to go with it - and it's very satisfying to be able to make the bikini complete!
Not perfect by any means, but I've had swimwear sewing failures in the past and these feel like a terrific step in the right direction. I'm happy with the way they look on, and stoked that the colours match the bikini as well as they do - though sadly they don't fit me comfortably.
Basically they feel too tight - like shapewear tight, particularly around the waist - and I also feel like my bum is hanging out at the back :(.
The first fit issue (tightness) came about mostly because I assumed I was the same size as usual with McCall's (and maybe swimmers are different, or maybe recent patterns are different) - I couldn't find finished measurements on the pattern tissue or instructions so I really should have measured the pattern pieces to confirm the size. Oh and also because there is something odd going on with the waistband, but more on that later. And the "bum hanging out" feeling (yes, there will be relevant pictures later in this post) comes from my cutting back the leg opening on the pants ie absolutely my own fault. The legs of these bikini pants were initially too low cut in the front for me, and the gusset area was too wide, but in retrospect the original length was probably just right for me in the backside :(.
The pattern is the very cute McCall's 7168, which has been made up beautifully by lots of other bloggers and no doubt many non-blogging sewists too. It includes loads of variations for the top half of the bikini - strapless bandeau, halter neck, flounced top, long flounce top with tummy coverage or triangular bikini bra - and three options for the bikini bottoms (panelled high waist bottoms, panelled gathered high waist bottoms or simple bikini bottoms), and the sewing instructions are detailed as you'd expect from McCall's. Here's the main photo from the pattern envelope:
I cut out the high waisted gathered pants (like the ones in the above photo) in a straight size 14, but since the waist band looked narrower than my waist (and narrower than the top edge of the swimmers it would join to) I cut it a couple of sizes bigger and just a little smaller than my waist.
The gathered sections of the swimmer are sewn to an ungathered layer of swimsuit fabric and also later enclosed by the lining, so the sides become quite thick. The front and back panels without gathering are supposed to have just a lining layer, but I thought these areas needed to be more substantial so made the entire lining from swimsuit fabric.
The gathers go all the way to the seam allowance, so if you're concerned about where the leg seam is going to end up sitting this is something to be aware of - on me the front leg seam was a few centimetres below that natural crease between thigh and hip - and if you zoom in on the pattern photo above you'll see that the original swimmers extend below this crease on the model too.
A comparison with my favourite RTW bikini bottoms also showed me that the crotch width was a couple of centimetres wider than my usual size, so I'd recommend checking this width for yourself if you sew these up.
To confirm how much I wanted to remove from the leg opening I tried the pants on inside out at the stage where the panels had all been sewn together, and used a washable marker pen to draw the "natural" leg lines that I wanted to become my new seam line. You can probably see the vestiges of blue pen marks in some of my inside out photos if you look closely!
I'm happy with the new seam line in the front leg (and crotch) but I wasn't sure where I wanted the seam line in the back - in retrospect I should have left that area alone instead of extending my pen line all the way around. Actually I think the fit would feel a lot better if I had more tension in the leg elastic around the bum area... I used the prescribed length of swim elastic inside the folded over leg seam, but it's slightly longer than I needed.
And this is what they look like on, from behind:
Not my favourite view!
You can also see that the join between the gathered panel and the flat panel gets quite bulky, especially at the leg opening where you turn all those layers over a piece of elastic:
The waist band is sewn onto the paneled pants the same way you might sew a neck band onto a top - except that the waistband also includes elastic. The pattern didn't indicate the sort of elastic to use, but I've never seen wide swimwear elastic so I used a regular firm non-roll elastic, the sort you'd use for a skirt or pants. The pattern provides a guide for the length of elastic to cut, significantly longer (around 13 centimetres longer in a size 14) than the waistband length. The waistband and elastic are intended to conform to the body when the pants are worn, but both my waistband and waist elastic feel too tight on. Of course I should have checked these measurements on myself - my fabric and elastic may have a different amount of give and recovery to those assumed by the pattern.
I think I might unpick the waistband to remove the elastic - maybe that will make the swimmers more comfortable. Hmmm - perhaps I need a whole new waistband in my larger girth...
I'm not 100% thrilled with these because they aren't comfortable to wear, but I know what I need to fix (waistband, leg elastic!) next time. And these swimmers do at least look the way I wanted them to, which is at least half the challenge, right?
Next up, a simple top photographed in a stunning spot - I hope you won't mind seeing some travel photos!
See you soon
- Gabrielle x
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