Tilly and the Buttons Coralie Swimsuit in Deadstock Swimwear Jersey by Katherine

Well I am seriously lucky to have been able to do another blogpost for the wonderful Sew Me Sunshine fabric shop. I was day dreaming in the back of the car after a brilliant holiday to Center Parcs in Belgium where I had worn my first ever handmade swimsuit. I then had a brain wave and thought I’d love to make another swimsuit to showcase the brilliant swimwear fabrics that Sew Me Sunshine stock. So after a cheeky message to Harriet asking if she would like me to make a swimsuit with their fabrics, the blog post was go!

I had quite a kerfuffle with swimsuit making last year and decided that this year I wanted to make a swimsuit using a pattern that I could trust, I decided on the Tilly and the Buttons Coralie Swimsuit. So after making a successful wearable toile that I wore at Center Parcs I knew that I was ready to make it in another swimming costume in a lovely fabric. I decided to use this fabulous Deadstock Fuchsia Cable Activewear fabric as I loved the texture and even more I loved the colour. The fabric has such a wonderful texture to it and despite the fabric being a plain colour the texture brings a great deal of interest to it. I also needed a lining for the swimming costume and thought it would be fun to have a colourful lining so I decided to use this brilliant Deadstock Taffy Pink lining fabric. It has a wonderful handle which feels lovely against the skin for the lining. Sew Me Sunshine also very kindly sent me the Prym swimwear elastic and a matching Gutermann Maraflex thread to use to sew up the swimming costume.

So lets get on with the make, I made the swimsuit option with the high back and neckline ruffles. I think the ruffles are what make this swimming costume so they had to be done! I made a Size 3 at the bust graded to a Size 4 at the waist and a Size 5 at the hips. I also took out 1.5 cm from the length as I am quite short in the torso and often find swimming costumes too long in the body for me. These adjustments worked well and I’m really pleased with the fit. I especially love the coverage on the bottom!

Now let's discuss the sewing of the Coralie swimming costume. The pattern is brilliant, well drafted with excellent and clear instructions. The swimwear jersey and lining was wonderful to work with. I used a stretch needle on the sewing machine and also used my overlocker for some of the seams. The only challenging part, which I think is true for lots of swimwear is getting the tension on the elastic correct. I had a practice run on some scrap pieces of fabric and then went for it! I got the tension pretty good on most parts of the swimming costume, however one of the leg holes the tension isn’t quite as good as the other side and it sometimes flips out. It doesn’t effect the swimming costume enough for me not to wear it and the tension is something I will get right on future swimming costumes I’m sure! I also should mention that I made the version with the built in bra and I added moulded bra cups to this by zig zag stitching them onto the built in bra section. When it comes to sewing up the ruffle the instructions ask you to sew the seam allowances down onto the wrong side of the ruffle and trim the seams. For this I used some duckbill scissors which were super handy and made sure I didn't cut through the ruffle.

I was really lucky and had a spa day with my Mum and my sister and decided it was the perfect opportunity to wear my new Coralie swimming costume in the gorgeous Sew Me Sunshine fabric and take some pictures.

Thank you once again to Sew Me Sunshine for gifting me the beautiful fabric and for giving me the opportunity to do another blogpost for your fabulous shop. I hope this provides some inspiration for swimwear makes using the fabulous swimwear fabrics from Sew Me Sunshine ready for this summer.

Happy swimwear sewing lovely ones!