North Shore Swimsuit

How many swimsuits does one land-locked Midwesterner need? Don't answer that.

The theme for May's Fabric Fairy Promo team is "self-care". To me, that means "sew stuff you like". I LOVE making swimsuits. I have way more than anyone "needs". Somewhere along the way I had to give myself permission to sew them because I like it, not because I need them. I try to limit myself to one per year, but that usually turns into two or three #sorrynotsorry

This year, I went with a new pattern, the North Shore Swimsuit from Greenstyle Creations. There are a TON of options in this pattern, I won't even try to list them. I've had a similar swimsuit pinned for a century and the North Shore seemed like the closest match I could find. I made the Deep V Full Cup Front, with a Pullover U Back. I cut the mid-rise bottoms but used wider elastic, so mine are not a great representation of the accurate mid-rise. My bust is 33" and I made the top in XS. My hips are 38" and I started with a medium, but they were too big. I cut them down to a small and they fit great.

This print is called Abstract Monarch. The last two years, my kids and I have raised monarch butterflies. It's fun and this suit reminds me of that. I like how it's abstract though, you might not know it's an homage to monarchs at first glance. I completely forgot to order any lining fabric, so I made due with some black and green solids leftover from last year's swimsuits (here and here). Construction was done with my sewing machine and I topstitched the elastic with my coverstitch.

I ordered my swim elastic from The Fabric Fairy as well. This was my first time trying "rubber swim elastic". It was a lot like sewing a rubber band. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing! We'll see how it holds up over time, but I did think it felt sturdier than the Dritz stuff I usually buy at Jo-Ann's.

I think this suit is super cute and turned out how I envisioned. The pattern directions were great and I could even recommend this as a first-time swim project. Now if we could get the leak in our hot tub fixed...