Hello everyone!
This week has been hectic but still I got some time off to sew a pair of bikini bottoms for my niece Aurora. She is 10 months old and is trying our swimming pool at home for the first time this year. I wanted to give her a present and I thought that a handmade garment would be something lovely. She loves clothes, even if she is so little 😄
For this sewing project, I had some inspiration. That is something important and I found two bikini bottoms for girl kids that are sooooo cute! Check them out in the following picture:
Both are quite simple designs but most of the times the simplest is the best. It is a normal cut bikini bottom with a flounce. What I also looked into were how the seams were made. For example, for the pink blue yellow mini floral print, leg openings and waist seam is first sewn with a serger (4 threads) and then they use a normal sewing machine with a normal zig zag stitch to finish all of those seams. See closely here:
For the butterfly and plants print bikini bottom, seams in the leg openings are made with a serger (4 threads) and then finished with a twin needle in a normal sewing machine. For the waist seam, they use a coverstitch, which not everyone owns one at home. It is a more professional way to finish swimwear, but, as you will see next on this blog post, I will show you another way of sewing it using what we all have at home, a normal sewing machine. Please, also have a look at the bikini bottom that I just talked to you about and pay attention to the way it is sewn. This is great to learn how a product is made!
Now, that we have checked our bikini bottoms for inspiration, I will show you the supplies that I used for the bikini bottoms I created.
♥︎ Swimwear fabric with heart print. It is from our shop. I used half meter and still I have some left for two more bikini bottoms :) You can find the fabric by
CLICKING HERE
♥︎ Gütermann Thread in Light Pink. You can purchase it by
CLICKING HERE
♥︎ Stretch Needle. Model 75/11. The ones that I use you can check them by
CLICKING HERE
♥︎ Scissors. These are my favourites! Their cut is really precise.
CLICK HERE!
♥︎ 6mm white swimwear elastic. It is from this shop.
CLICK HERE to see it.
For the pattern, I had the luck to find a similar design from the blog Oh Mother Mine DIY. Marta, the author from this popular blog, has two posts about girl kids bikini bottoms. I use her pattern to make the ones here. You can find the pattern
here.
The pattern pieces do not include seam allowance. As my niece is 10 months old, I chose size 1 year old. It turned out a bit big but using her diaper inside, it fits great!! Before cutting the pattern out, I added 1 cm seam allowance according to the instructions provided by the pattern. Then I cut all pattern pieces and cut the fabric. Two flounces, 1 piece for the bikini front and 1 piece for the bikini back. I sewed side seams using my serger (4 threads) and then, for attaching the swimwear elastic, I used my sewing machine with a normal zig zag stitch [Width 4; Length 3]. And now, you can see the beautiful result!!
I hope you liked this new blog post. Would you like to see more swimwear sewing tutorials or videos? Do you have experience sewing swimwear fro you or for kids? Leave your comments down below and share your thoughts. We love to interact with you!
