The little swimsuit that just couldn't

We apologize in advance for poor picture quality. All the pics are from my instagram, if not stated otherwise.

From top left: polyvore.com, lyst.com, asos.com, choice.com, anthropologie.com

As I stated at the beginning of the year, 2016 will be the year I concur swimwear sewing!

I have a pretty damn good idea what I want - one-piece with few clever cutouts. I decided to draft my own pattern, using Nettie bodysuit and Ralph Pink's free swimsuit patterns.

I made three muslins, first two to finalize the leg opening height-shape, and one to make sure everything else fit me.

Since my poor old plastic Brother sewing machine skips stitches whenever it damn pleases, I can't just serge the elastic to the edge and do the whole "fold and zig-zag". Which would be so EASY!

Enter the Mara Hoffman swimsuit! No topstitching in sight, everything is nicely hidden between main fabric and lining.

Not so hard to sew by the way, as I discovered. And yet my first attempt was a huge fail!

So, what went wrong?

• The bottom half ended up being too short. I think it's because my muslin fabric had more stretch lengthwise.
• The lining kept crawling out. I kept convincing myself, that once everything is done, it will stretch in place. NO.
• Elastic application. Need more practice, nothing more!

All that being said, I will try again. Someday. Soon. And I think I will try to sew something wee bit more beginner-level.