Coast-to-Coast: A Swimwear Sew-along


Dear Deborah,
When I decided a couple months ago to (attempt to) make Goose a swimsuit, I ran it by your expert craft brain. Was I crazy? Could you recommend a good lyrca fabric store? etc.
Of course, your response made me laugh (as all your blogging/emails do) “well, if my mom could do it back in the 70s…you can too”. That built my confidence. And though you recommended an awesome Tranny-Drag Costume shop in Atlanta for fabric, I knew there had to be a swimwear shop somewhere online. And then….one day I found it…..on some blog I can’t even recall now….a link to:
SPANDEX WORLD
Yipee!

So I emailed you the link because:
A) who wouldn’t like to live in a place called Spandex World?
B) in the back of my mind I hoped you were itching to make a swimsuit too.

And….you were!
And you asked if I wanted to join you in a Coast-to-Coast sew-along venture. You in Atlanta; Me in Los Angeles. Um, totally. For sure. It’ll be nice to have a shoulder to cry on, as my seam ripper goes to town at 12am. But we’ll hope for the best!

So here we are, ready to cut and ready to sew. But let’s show off my Spandex World gems.
Since seafoam blue (if that’s what it’s called) is clearly a favorite color. So I’ll be making something for Goose out of this combo:
And if I’m really pleased with myself, I’ll make her a second suit out of this orangey/red number:
For me? Well, we’ll see if we get to me. But I have this when the time comes:
And as you and others recommended, some ball point needles to make the sewing process a little easier (though now I’m wondering if I should have purchased “STRETCH” needles instead):
No concrete pictures/patterns/etc of what I’m doing. I have an image in my mind though. And as I usually do, I’ll use her existing suit as the guideline and go from there.
I’m pretty sure though that I’d LOVE to make any of these from the link you sent me.

And for some FABULOUS swimwear sewing tips, check out Creative Chicks and their swimsuit info here and here.

Let the sew-along begin! Anyone else care to join us?
Talk to you soon Deborah.
– dana

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