The 10 Tools you Need to Make a Swimsuit
YAY, it is finally June and the countdown to the official day of summer is ON! For the next 3 weeks, until June 21, aka the first official day of summer, I am celebrating with a Swimsuit Sewbration!! Lately there have been so many AMAZING swimsuit fabrics, patterns being released, and beautiful creations from the sewing community, I HAD to celebrate it.
I LOVE making swimsuits and want to share what I have learned over the past 7+ years making them. Feeling comfortable and confident in your swimsuit is life changing and makes for such a fun summer! I loooove playing with my kids in the water and making sure I am in a suit that fits right is key! I want to help YOU feel confident in a unique custom made swimsuit! So I’m going to give you ALL the tips and tricks to do it!
Make sure you are signed up for my email list where I will be hosting a 8 day sewalong with detailed instructions on how to make the PERFECT swimsuit!
Today I wanted to share with you my must have tools to make a swimsuit! I also created a video to go along with this post, If you would rather watch than read. Having these tools makes making a swimsuit so much easier, which in turn makes it a lot more fun!
1. Swimsuit fabric — I know this is kind of a DUH moment BUT when you make a swimsuit you want to make sure that you are using the right fabric! On the first day of my sewalong to my email subscribers I will be sharing all the details on the perfect fabrics to use so make sure you are signed up for that. I will also be doing a blog post later this week on my favorite places to buy swimsuit fabric!
2. Lining — I ALWAYS line my swimsuit. It makes for a more comfortable and well fitting suit. And honestly I feel that much better knowing there won’t be any surprises while I’m playing in the water. I always get my lining from Joann, it comes in white, nude, and black.
3. Rotary cutter and a good mat — You MUST cut out your fabric with a rotary cutter and a mat! It is possible to do it with pins and scissors but it is soooo much easier with the rotary cutter. The fabric is pretty slippery and using a rotary cutter makes it so you don’t have to move the pattern or fabric around, you just lay it on your table and cut around the pattern.
4. Pattern weights — Along with using a rotary cutter and a mat you should always use pattern weights. I actually just got giant washers from Home Depot and I love them! It has been the perfect thing to use when cutting out fabric with a mat. They hold the pattern and fabric in place so that you can cut accurately. If you want actual pattern weights you could also use these from Joann.
5. Stretch needles — Anytime you are sewing with a stretchy fabric you need to use stretch needles. These needles are a ball point needle and won’t snag your fabric or create a run in your fabric like a sharp needle might. You should use a single stretch needle and if doing a double needle stitch as top stitching make sure you are using a stretch needle for that as well. When I first learned to sew swimming suits I broke quite a few twin needles so I would suggest having at least two on hand. (the needles would brake because you sew through the elastic and fabric so it can be really thick for the needles to get through.)
6. Safety pins — I always have safety pins on hand in my sewing room because you never know when you will need them. When you are putting your bra cups in you want to make sure they stay in the exact place you want them. To do this I always put the bra cups in close to last. I put the swimsuit on and then put the bra cups in exactly where I want them to go. Instead of trying to use pins and sticking myself or having them fall off when I’m taking the suit off, I prefer to use safety pins, to keep the bra cups in place.
7. 5” Gingher — Now this is not necessary to have to make a swimsuit BUT they make things so much easier for ANY sewing project. I am always grabbing for these scissors.
8. Swimsuit elastic — You always want to make sure you are using swimsuit elastic when making a swimsuit. Swimsuit elastic has been pretreated so that it will hold up in chlorine and salt water. You can use regular elastic if you are somewhere where you can’t get your hands on swimsuit elastic but know that your swimsuit probably won’t hold up as well or as long as it would if you had used swimsuit elastic. You can use braided swimsuit elastic or clear elastic. I only found clear elastic online, here, Joann stores can be hit or miss, some stores have it and some do not.
9. Ultra Fine Glass Head Needles — You don’t want to use just any pins to make your swimsuit, you want to make sure you are using very small needles, or ballpoint needles so you don’t create holes in the fabric, snag it, or create a run in the fabric.
10. Bra cups — Always use s good bra cup that works well for you! You can find bra cups specifically for swimwear or you could go to Walmart, Target, whoever and get a well fitting bra and use those bra cups. You could even sew in a bra, back straps and all, that you love, so that you have extra support. Just be aware that a regular bra is not meant to go in chlorine often so it may wear out more quickly. But you will have great support! I like to use these soft molded bra cups and I just got these molded foam bra cups that I’m excited to try out and see which one I like best.
So there you have it! My top 10 Tools you Need to Make a Swimsuit! I hope you will continue to follow along on the Swimsuit Sewbration! Make sure to enter the giveaways happening over on my Instagram for the next three weeks and check out my YouTube channel to see all my posts in vlog form.
I would LOVE to see all the swimsuits you make so make sure to tag me and use #swimsuitsewbration!
Have a fabulous week!
Alex
(affiliate links have been used above.)
