The Suit That Made Me Cry

A late Wednesday check in. Hope you've had a lovely day. I found out that I have to get a urine sample from my dog first thing tomorrow morning. I made the comment to the vet that it will make for a great start to the day. He said, "look at it this way, the day can only get better!" Let's hope :)

So, the suit that made me cry and want to throw my sewing machine off the side of a mountain is now complete...and I love it!

My final post for the Papercut Patterns Soma Swimsuit is up on the Sew News blog and you can find it HERE.

I took A LOT of liberties with the pattern. With all of the sew alongs that I've done for Sew News, I always try and think about the sewist who doesn't have a store near by, and if they do, maybe one that's rather lacking in supplies. The pattern calls for the bodice of the swimsuit to be finished with foldover elastic. I used foldover elastic for the suit that I made for the magazine, but one issue is what if you can't find elastic that will match your fabric, like in the case of the metallic fabric that I used for this suit. 

The pattern also calls for a special ring for the straps. Here again, this may not be readily available and if you don't want to order your supplies, what can you do? I used a ring I found at the hardware store for the first suit that I made and for this suit, I was especially lucky and found this great hook that perfectly matched my fabric. I was ready to give up, but while I was in line at my chain fabric store, I just happened to notice these little flashlights with the hook attached. Score!!! 

I look at it this way, it's a swimsuit, so why not take a few liberties?!!

Pictures of me in the suit are coming up this Friday, along with a coverup. You may....or may not!!! want to pop back for that :) Actually, I REALLY like the suit and it looks fabulous on. Can't wait to actually jump in the water.

Be sure to pop over to Papercut Patterns as they have a number of new patterns up on their site that really look like winners.
I especially like the Bowline Sweater. 

With whatever project you are working on, just remember, just because the pattern recommends a certain product, it doesn't mean that you can't think outside the box and come up with an alternative. Sometimes the alternative is a whole lot more fun! 

The Soma Swimsuit From Papercut Patterns/Your Chance To Win A Copy!

The Sew News Sew Along for the Papercut Soma Swimsuit will begin next week!!! If you've never made a swimsuit, you should really join in as making a swimsuit is such a fun thing to do and a great way to kick off summer!

This is a suit that can be made out of basically, scraps of fabric. Next week I'll share the story behind putting this suit together. It was  a true "make it work" situation. Funny now, not so funny at the time. But I think that what I went through to put the suit together will give you lots of ideas and you'll see that fabric and materials can literally be found ANYWHERE!!!

In the picture grouping below, I included a picture of the bra cups that I added to the suit. Most of us enjoy a little extra support. This is not included in the instructions for the suit, but I think the cups are a welcome addition. Super easy to do and I'll be sure to walk you step by step through the process. 

The pattern offers lots of options, of course, the full suit that you see above. There's a bikini version that you see below. Although the top is basically a shortened version of the one piece suit, a separate pattern is included.   

You can also use the bottom pattern from the one piece version and make a suit with a little more coverage than the bikini. Another option is offered for the top as well. So you can really mix and match the pattern and come up with lots of options. 

Below are a few ideas that I pulled off of the Papercut site. Note that the one piece suit is trimmed in fold-over elastic. The one piece below is trimmed in a basic white fold-over and I think that it accents the suit beautifully. 

If you would like to venture into the wonderful world of making swimsuits, and would like a chance to win a pattern, just leave a message on this post. I will announce the winner next Monday, June 6, 2016. The pattern that you receive will be a PDF version.  

Just a little warning note, once you make your first swimsuit, you'll be making more!!!

Good Luck!
Rhonda