Every year, I set myself a few sewing goals, and this year, I tried to set fewer goals (every other year, I planned way too much and got overwhelmed) that were all achievable. One such goal was to sew some swimwear, which leads us to today’s post: making my first-ever bikini without a pattern. Knowing that summer and warmer weather are on the way, learning to sew swimwear now means that by November, when the heat really starts to kick in, I’ll be beach ready!
Sewing swimwear always looked really intimidating to me, mainly because I’m not that neat using an overlocker (or a serger for those across the pond). Whilst going about a little doom scroll the other week, I came across Costumes by Stormy on Facebook, who is a content creator that makes heaps of swimwear with a goal to show how easy, cheap and fun the process can be. Stormy has a great positive attitude where all problems can be fixed, nothing is too serious, and it’s just about figuring it out as you go. Her videos lit a fire under my butt, and I knew it was time to finally make myself something sea-worthy.
It just so happened that last year, I also wanted to make swimwear, and I went as far as just buying some swimwear fabric from Homecraft Textiles. I bought about a meter of pink and white gingham and a meter of sage green and white gingham (I did think I had some lining but I think I must have used it). If I’m being honest, I’m struggling with finding swimsuit fabric onlne because it seems that everyone calls it something different. I know there must be a difference between multiway stretch nylon, lycra, scuba and more so I will be doing some sample purchasing as I figure out swimwear at a later date. For now, I have my swimwear fabric, some scissors and a dream so lets go!
Using an old bikini that I liked the fit of, I laid out the bikini shapes and cut them out with added seam allowance. This also includes cutting out some lining from the same fabric. When it came to bottoms, this is where I was the most nervous. I used an old pair of bikini bottoms, added seam allowance and just cut them out. At this point, I also cut out some long strips of fabric, which I would turn into ties and string to hold the bikini up.
When it came to sewing, I started by overlocking the edges and then using a zig-zag stitch to sew the edges down. I left a gap for the bikini string and sewed that on top as well. When it came to the bottoms, I overlocked the edges and then zig-zag stitched the sides down. And within 20 minutes, my bikini was done. And it was rubbish.
The edges were really warped, which I think came from my rubbish sewing using a new fabric, my tension being too tight, and apparently, I didn’t need to zig-zag stitch the sides down and could have just used a straight stitch. The bikini top wasn’t too bad, but the edges just didn’t sit right on my body. The bottoms were not very flattering, so they instantly got scrapped. I didn’t want to share any photos of what the bikini looked like on me, as it was really unflattering, and no one needs a close-up of wrinkly seams on a wrinkly butt. Well, my first bikini wasn’t a raging success, so after a few more days of sulking and watching some more videos, I gave it another go.
During my research, I came across these two videos (yes, one is in German, but you totally can understand what she’s doing because the video is really good). Armed with these two videos, I started planning my next bikini. Following Koniswim’s example, I laid out my bikini and started reworking the pattern. I found the method of bikini bottom construction is Sunnio.SewingStorys video is really interesting, and although I didn’t have the type of elastic she uses (swimming elastic apparently), I used her sewing method for the rest of the bikini’s construction. Although my German is limited to useless words, I found Sunnio‘s video really helpful in how clear the steps were, and I have shared it below just in case it helps you.
Her ‘sandwhich’ method of creating the bikini bottoms resulted in smoother seams, a better finish and I really liked adding the bikini strings for the side ties. In order to save fabric because I was honestly running out given all my trials, I ended up resuing the string from my first attempt as I just didn’t have enough to make some more. Using my scraps I was able to just cut out all my pieces and I was left with a pretty decent first attempt at a bikini, you know, ignoring the abomination I made earlier.
Looking back at my first attempt, my second has already come a long way. Little things, such as using a straight stitch instead of a zig-zag, resulted in a smoother finish. With the bottoms, I was so happy with how much neater they came out and also by having the strings, they were easier to adjust. The overall fit was pretty good, but I think that my bottoms were a little too cheeky for my personal preferences (which are the opposite of my husband’s on this particular matter). Having the bikini strings tucked inside the bikini parts whilst sewing also resulted in them looking much smoother and neater. Reusing the old bikini string also saved me heaps of time and materials, which I was running out of. The gingham pattern meant that I had to keep all my pattern pieces straight so I didn’t have wonky gingham.
One part of the bikini sewing process that I found a little tricky was dealing with the weight and slipperiness of the fabric. For most of my sewing, I added a tissue box under my bikini to take the weight and to stop it from sliding off my machine. Although it looks silly, this method really helped me get my seams straighter and smoother. This project also made me realise it might be time to get my overlocker blade replaced, as I found that the offcuts from the overlocker were just getting trapped in the seams. This made some parts of the seams bulky and lumpy, which resulted in my not being fully happy with the final results. Looking up my normal sewing machine service centre, I found out they had closed (one month before my next service was due), so I’m off on a quest to find someone else to service my machines.
Overall, I’m really happy with the fit of my first functional bikini. Although she hasn’t been swum in much (it was way too cold when I took her out for a spin), she fit pretty well despite a few little puckers here and there. After watching Sunnio’s video, I really want to get some swimming elastic and practice with that, as well as add ribbons and trims like Stormy does.
This little project was a lot of fun as I could whip out a bikini within an hour (you know, I got to stare and overthink about every step, so sewing takes me ages). With such a fast turnaround, I can see how this skill can be a lot of fun, and it makes me want to keep trying. If you remember, at the start of this post, I mentioned that I also got myself some sage green gingham fabric, which means, of course, there are more swimwear attempts coming soon. In fact, I’m pretty sure these posts will be released very close to each other, so please remember to come back and check them out.
These photos were taken a few weeks back when hubby and I went on a little Down South weekend, and we stayed in this gorgeous area of Manjimup. Our accommodation was super close to this stunning lake, so we shot there on a rainy afternoon. It was way too cold and wet to do anything overly fun outside, but it was such a stunning location that we went back several times.
Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and thoughts expressed are solely my own and not influenced in any way. There are no affiliate links and I do not benefit from any link clicks or purchases made.