Summer swimwear: Part 1 Jalie 3023

We've just come home from a week's holiday at the beach and the weather is so amazingly bleak and cold at home I instantly wanted to look at my beach photos.

So here I am getting my last minute holiday swimwear sewing onto the blog straight away

I'd been so impressed with the drafting of the previous Jalie swimsuit patterns I'd tried, that I splurged on a few more. This was my first go at Jalie 3023, a "tankini". She's been wanting a two piece swimsuit for so long, and I'll admit that the idea of a swimsuit that she wouldn't grow out of lengthwise in only one season was pretty appealing.

In my head this was going to be a simple sew, but I was defeating myself by not using a new stretch needle and just making do with whatever jersey or ball point needle I had. Also, I was wanting to do all my top-stitching with the perfect bright orange colour matched thread that was that nasty, cheap overlocker stuff. Needless to say I was getting lots of skipped stitches and broken threads and it was not a fun ride.

As soon as I admitted defeat and waited to buy some new stretch needles things started to get better. But for one bit: The pattern suggests topstitching the yoke of the top at both the neck edge and the bottom of the yoke where it attaches to the top. Even with a walking foot it got so awfully stretched out that it was ruined. I had to cut the yoke off and make another and start over. No topstitching on the final version.

Going by her measurements I made size "j" for width and "l" for length - last year's swimsuits were straight size "i", meaning I've gained one size in width and three sizes in length for this year.

The pants are a great fit - not too low, not too high cut. Plenty of coverage and don't ride up but are pretty "sporty" looking. I'd be tempted to try these pants for me (yes the Jalie size range is extraordinary!)

I think I could have shortened the binding/strap pieces a bit as they are a touch loose once wet. Not so much that they fall off her shoulders though, so therefore not enough for me to bother fixing them.

The main fabric is a remnant that I picked up at Rathdowne fabrics and I think it's a known designer fabric, but for all that, the contrast with the orange fabric couldn't be greater. I'll talk more about what the orange stuff is in another blog post, but suffice to say here that it is firm, smooth, elastic, perfectly coloured and an absolute delight to sew with. It makes the fancy, designer stuff feel flimsy and cheap in comparison.

The pattern has another view where the bottom half has a little built in skirt. I knew that A would flip for a bikini-with-a-skirt so I cut another one straight away.

This was the last of a remnant that had cost $4.50 (the price was scribbled in a corner that remained) and from which I'd already made another swimsuit (ill fitting Cosi).

The navy is a fairly thin, cheap lycra that was in the stash. Again, the comparison with the good orange stuff was evident. The straps, cut to the same length, were really floppy and hopeless in this fabric. I unpicked them where they were attached and crossed them at the back before sewing them back on.

The little skirt is seriously cute. The pants underneath are the same as the other view, just with the skirt attached before sewing on the waistband.

On this view I lined only the front pants piece (as per the pattern), but on the pants view I did line both front and back. I used some of that cotton-y feeling, self striped swimwear lining fabric (the real deal) from GJs and I much prefer that to using double layer of lycra which is what I'd done previously.

She is delighted too, that the swimmers both have a  built in "bra". That is, there is a small section of the top that is lined and finished with an elastic edge. Of course it is entirely unnecessary for a six year old, but did prove to be a great place to collect vast amounts of sand.

Details:
Pattern: Jalie 3023, views A and B
Size: "j" width, "l" length
Fabrics: patterned and navy fabrics are remnants form Rathdowne fabrics. Orange is Carvico Vita, Swimsuit lining from GJ's