The Imaginative Seamstress

I'm going to take a minute to bragg on my Mother-in-Love, Jackie, and share some pictures of a swimsuit she made for her Daughter, Amy. Last Spring my Mom and I hosted 2 sewing classes for several friends and family members. I demonstrated one style and my Mom did another. This spring Amy was in need of a suit for camp. With only a few days to spare, Jackie whipped one together. She sent me pictures of the finished work. I didn't take the time until I was about to write this to ask Jackie how she'd gone about this, since I knew she didn't have a pattern. So I've just gotten off the phone with her. I didn't know if she'd taken the suit Amy had used in the past couple years or if she'd just taken a tank and pair of shorts that fit Amy, and gone by those. She said she had the suit out to look at, but mostly went by a tank and shorts that fit Amy snugly, just as my mom had taught the ladies to do in the sewing class last Spring. This is also how I was...

I'd had this suit in a bag, unfinished, for a while now... too long really. Yesterday my sister Isabel helped me finish it, and then modeled it for me. Sisters are great aren't they? :-)  I wanted to share the pictures to show how the print is used for the top and pants, but the skirt is solid. Its just a bit different. Sometimes you can't imagine how something will look until you see it. Just another cute version of modest swimwear :-)

I've posted about this Foldover Band before, but the pictures I had were not very good at all! This is another option for a waist band which doesn't use elastic, just the stretchy swimwear fabric doubled over into a 3" waist band. This option is very comfortable, and its really great if you've just had a baby, or if you have a bit of a 'fluffy' middle. This won't cut into the waistline like an elastic band would. Even though I use 3/4" elastic which is a nice thickness, this is even more gentle with the waistline. Shown here with the nursing top the bottoms were ordered with.

This is something new I decided to try this year. I wanted to try something a little different for my little toddler. Something other than the regular modest swimwear tank and skirt top with shorts under it. I've done the women's scrunch top with bottoms and loved the way it looked. I wanted to try the same thing for girls, only slightly less complicated. This one does not have adjustable ties. Not that it couldn't, I just figured it didn't need them. I mean, think about bow ties that other children might pull on, that might get caught somewhere, and they'd never stay tied nicely I'm sure. I eliminated all those probable issues by substituting with elastic added to the inside seam. Here are the pictures in the order I made them. At the lake At the beach! I was about 5 months along, expecting baby #2 I was lounging in a chair, taking a mini nap, when I looked over to see my girl mimicking me...