DIY: sun bathing suit

I am calling this a sun bathing suit because technically that is what it is. I don’t go in the water at the beach or the pool so I wanted to make a cute bathing suit to tan in!

Materials:

1. Polyester fabric
2. 100% Polyester thread
3. Bathing suits or bralette that you own to use as a pattern

I couldn’t decide on the style of top I wanted so I decided to make two different styles.

Top Style #1

The first thing I did was stretch my fabric in both directions to see which side was stretchier. With the stretchier side, fold it in half so that when you pull the bathing suit on, it would stretch. (If that makes sense?)

Next, I laid out a Calvin Klein bra to be the pattern for top #1. I then traced it out on the fabric. At this point, the fabric is folded in half so when cut the pattern out, you will have two tops. This is correct. But then do it again, so you have four in total.

You will put the two sides together, right sides touching each other. Then sew along the edges, keeping a small section unsewed so you can flip the top outside in.

Do this again with the other two sets. Once you know have two tops, sew them together, right sides touching to make your complete top!

Top Style #2

For this style, I grabbed a bralette that I already owned and used the width to create the pattern.

Instead of creating two of each side, I created the pattern closed to the folded side. As you can see in the photo below, the top is folded over and the bottom will be sewn.

After sewing the bottoms of the top, I sewed the two tops together with the sides, having right sides facing each other.

After that, I took leftover fabric and created straps. I kind of cheated on the straps because I do not like making straps; so I took the left over fabric and just pulled it until they looked like straps, as you can see in the photo below. Once I finished that, I sewed the straps on.

Bottoms

I’m really into the high-leg bottoms right now so that is what I wanted to create! I have a one piece suit that has a high leg so I used that as the pattern to create my bottoms.

I made the bottoms similar to the first top. I created two patterns for the front, and two for the back. I sewed the two front together, leaving a little space to flip outside in. then did the same for the back. Once finished, I sewed the sides and bottom together, right sides touching.

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And taaa-daaa, here is the finished product!

Disclaimer: I am self-taught. I look at pieces and get ideas on things to create then I basically create from how I think it should be done. So I am sure there are much easier or different ways to sew and do what I do, but this is how I do it 🙂