Swimsuits!

I needed new swimsuits for the cruise. And I decided, since the average age on this cruise would be about 65, that I would give a bikini a shot again. First I made a one piece using my standard pattern. The colour is rather bland, though quite shiny. I used turquoise thread for the top stitching.

 I sent this to my husband and asked if he still thought the brown was boring. LOL. I don't seem to have a whole body picture. But it's Kwik Sew 3779, the same as these ones. I think I still need to add to the lower width and figure out a straighter curve for the centre edges. And why does it pull funny along the elastic?

 I made some adjustments to the cup portion of the pattern for the bikinis.

 When your beer matches your fabric...

 I learned how to make the fabric covered elastic straps from Ohhh Lulu! The part on the straps is partway through this video though I used info from the other parts too.

 Does this pillow make me look frumpy?

 And yes, I had a bit of an incident with slippage. Luckily it wasn't at the main pool!

 Next, I wanted to replicate a reversible bikini top I saw online, but I had a few other tweaks.

 I couldn't get the lower band to sew on straight so I eventually hand basted it.

 I loved how it was looking, but it just didn't work out. The straight tops across the cups wouldn't lay flat on me (the model had been much smaller and therefor the binding/straps were closer together). I don't have enough height in my bodice to make all the angles work properly.

 I did some fudging, adding the little pink ruffle and an upper portion, gave up on the reversible idea.

Still cute, right? I know I wore it on the cruise, but I don't see a picture.

I thought I had made another top, but maybe not. Even though it was a 10 day cruise, we didn't swim much. The pools were really cold when we got onboard, and the adult only Solarium pool never warmed up.