School swimmers - Jalie & Ottobre

I'm pretending Autumn isn't happening and continuing with sewing swimsuits for the kids. There'll be a couple more to show you after these and then I'm plunging straight into fleecy dressing gowns for winter warmth. No inter seasonal sewing here!

Before we went on our beach holiday, I tried out an Ottobre swimsuit for the boy. It was an oversized fail, but after we came home I rejigged it and now he's happy.

The pattern is the Seamus swim trunks from Ottobre 3-2009. By his measurements I traced off a size 140cm.

I'm used to Japanese sewing patterns where one needs to add seam allowances, but at least those patterns show a cutting layout where the seam allowances are suggested. This pattern had no such guidance. I'd forgotten to add the seam allowance ot my tracing which is what I normally do, but then added it as I cut the fabric. I gave myself 1cm for sewn seams and 3cm for the waist and hems.

He decided they were far too baggy for what he was used to. In truth they looked very like the image in the pattern magazine, so maybe I should have thought to size down from the very beginning.

This second pair were cut with the front inset and top part 1cm over the fabric fold line, removing 2cm width from the centre front. Then I just cut the rest without any seam allowances. There's a few seams there and my maths brain is failing me late at night, but I'd reckon I've reduced each leg circumference by about 6cm!

The kids are both doing their intensive school swimming programs at the moment, so I had a bit of fun making their swimmers in "school uniform" colours.

For A I used the other Jalie pattern that I have, Jalie 3134.

I love this swimsuit for it's sporty, I'm-on'the-swim-team look.

For both of the kids I added a little bit of colour by doing a faked flatlock seam finish. I've previously tinkered with my overlocker and created a proper lapped flatlock seam (tutorial here). But, I was worried that wouldn't be sturdy enough for swimmers.

Here, I've simply sewn the overlocked seam with wrong sides together, then stitched the overlocked seam allowance down using a twin needle. I matched the twin needle threads to the overlocker threads and even up close it looks passable. Doesn't mean I don't still want an industrial 7 thread flatlocker one day...

These are size I, same as the other Jalie swimmers I just made for her. Again, I could probably have added a little length to make them a perfect fit.

Similar to any racerback, sporty swimsuit, these take a bit more wriggling into than the other style with it's thinner shoulder straps. But once you're in, it's all held together really nicely. This is the suit I'd consider making for myself of the two. With enough power mesh underlining I figure it could work! :)

I didn't want my pale pink lining fabric to show in the exposed seam allowances, so I constructed the whole front first, then laid it flat on the lining fabric and cut the lining fabric out in one piece. For a kids swimsuit with no real built in curves that works fine.

I'm certainly finished with swimwear for this year, but did you see the new Lisette for Butterick patterns? Maybe next summer, hey.

Swimmers for me is one of the only items of clothing I've bought in the last two years. I'm enjoying following the thoughts of other makers on Instagram as part of Fashion Revolution. I'm happy my kids can answer "who made your clothes?". Now to start to think about who made my fabric.