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...

My mother-in-love sent me this video and I would like to share it with everyone. Its a little long, but very worth watching. Here is another woman, perhaps more accomplished than I, who has a swimwear making company. I have seen her suits o nline, and though I would not be comfortable in them (just because I've been so well covered my whole life, I can't seem to do less :-) And my husband wouldn't want me to), they do cover more than many modern swimsuits. Her message is great! It comes with some research about how men view a woman in a bikini, pretty interesting stuff. I think my favorite suit she has is the Holly: http://www.reyswimwear.com/collections/holly  Unfortunately I couldn't get the video to embed here so here's the link from youtube: Evolution of the Swimsuit

Wow! That's about all I can say about the volume of emails and orders I've received this year. I guess I should say "Praise the Lord!" My dream of selling modest swimwear online definitely came true. I'm hoping my next dream comes true in the beginning of next year...stay tuned :-) In May of this year I had more orders than I had the entire previous year. Recently, as in 2 weeks ago, I had orders coming in every day, 1 or 2 each day for more than a week. Now, really, I'm not used to having so many so close together. Maybe 4 most in a week. Not 10 orders with over 15 suits..in one week! My turn around time has gotten pushed back a bit and at the moment I've put a hold on orders until I get these cleared out. Its been really crazy. Some very late nights and no time to do a few things I really want/need to. Like tend my garden, (its over run with weeds, and if I get it back..it will take a lot of work) and teach my daughter (20 months) to swim. We did get in ...

This past week I was working on a nursing suit order for a lady in Switzerland, that's right, Switzerland. Didn't I feel big and important to have an order from way over there? I sure did :-) Anyway, as I was finished with all sewing on the top, I usually put the suit on so I can know about how much to cinch up the sides and tie the pretty bows. I had put it on top of my t-shirt and as I was looking in the mirror, I had an idea! :-) Several people had asked me questions like "what does the suit look like inside?", "how far does the front panel come up?"...etc. Since I had a t-shirt on underneath, I could take some pictures that would help answer those questions in a visual way. So I asked the dear hubby to help me out with the picture taking. Here's what we got...  Yep, that's a knife in my pocket, its a kershaw. I'm so in love with my knife <3   #countrygirl   Holding the top panel up so you can see where the bottom panel comes ...