North Shore Swimsuit

It’s still as hot as ever this summer and I realized that I didn’t have any swim suits that fit me. I went to the store to try a few on and was so disappointed in what there was available. I find that my Ready To Wear size is vastly different making it near impossible to find a perfect suit. So I had a thought… why not make my own swimsuit! What do you know, Greenstyle Creations happens to have a swimsuit pattern that also starts with the letter N! For the #abcpatternstashchallenge I present the N pattern: the North Shore Swimsuit!

The Pattern

Options

So this pattern has SO many options to choose from allowing you to really customize this swimsuit to satisfy exactly what you are looking for. The North Shore has two main options, and each then has sub options.
Main Options: One piece, or two piece (bikini)
A lot of the options available for the top are the same between the one and two piece.
One piece bottom: option for the bottom portion to be full coverage or cheeky.
Top Options (for one and two pieces)

Front Piece: Deep V | Deep V full cup | Full Coverage | Tie Front Overlay
Back Piece: Pullover U-Back | S Hook U-Back | Pullover Halter | S-hook or Tie Back

Bottom Options

Scoop or regular Front and Back (think full coverage vs cheeky)
Waistband: Low | Mid | High waist

As you can see, there are a lot of options here that you can mix and match. I made two versions but there are so many other combinations you can do as well.

Sizing

The size range for this pattern is XXS – 3XL. To give you an idea of the size difference I will focus on the bust measurement. XXS bust is between 32-33 inches, and 3XL is 46-47 inches.

One Piece: Deep V, U-back with S-hook. Two Piece: Deep V, Tie back and Tie halter, Low waistband full bottoms.

The Fabric

So both of these fabrics I chose when I was starting to be interested in making a swimsuit. I’d had them just sitting there… waiting…for a few weeks before finally just diving in.

The blue fabric is from Mily Mae Fabrics and is called Pastel Jungle. It is a gorgeous blue and is a great material to work with.

The one piece was made with a fabric called Iris Triathlon from Amelia Lane designs. What I love about this fabric is all the colors! If you can’t tell, it’s a blown up version of flowers! Absolutely stunning!

Feedback and Final Thoughts

Likes and Dislikes

Like: I LOVE the fit and cut of this suit. Being a bit chesty has it’s disadvantages but for this swimsuit, I am so happy I can rock this deep V.

Dislikes: So there were a few things that I wish were different with this pattern and areas that I would adjust the construction for.

This pattern comes with a LOT of options. While that is good, it means that you are jumping quite a bit between pages to find the options that you chose. Ideally, I’d like to see a “link map” at the start that would allow me to always start in a central location and click to jump to where I need to be, vs scrolling endlessly.
Tie Back option: I personally love a good tie back suit, and had no issues with the halter top. The issue came up with the tie back on the waistband. I happened to choose a non-rolling elastic (1 inch) which made it near impossible to fold the tie around the band (you need to sew it inside out on top of the band to start). Going forward, I would either not use a non roll elastic, or add 1 inch in width to the ties to make it easier to sew around.
The elastic I used for the main construction was specifically cotton elastic 3/8″. Overall no issues until I got to the straps on my one piece. I’m not entirely sure if it was my fault (I may have cut them too thin) or if the pattern itself just isn’t wide enough for the straps, but I found that I had to really stretch the fabric in order to fold over the elastic, causing some issues when wearing that it keeps rolling over. Again, I would probably increase the width of these areas by around .5 of an inch to account for the elastic size going forward.

Any Modifications?

I didn’t do any modifications for these two suits, but I listed what I would do next time above.

Would I make this again?

Even with the issues ran into, I absolutely would make this suit again. The end result is just so flattering for my body type I can’t not make this again. I would implement all of the modifications I mentioned above to achieve a stress free sew next time.