Shell in my hand; Sand in my toes...

Spring is in full swing and summer is just around the corner so, what are you sewing to get ready for the warm weather?  When I think of summer, I think of trips to the beach, water, gun fights, and finding a local water park to splash around in.  And what do all of these things require?  A swimsuit.

 In anticipation of all the water fun, I thought it would be fun to have a series on sewing swimwear for our tweens.  So for the next couple weeks we will be hosting "Shells in our hand; Sand in our toes..."  Hopefully we will motivate some of you to sew up some swimsuits and if you do, please share with the group on our linky parties!


There are a lot of people out there sewing swim suits!  I thought it would be hard until my first one three years ago.  I then found out that swimsuits are way easier than they seem and really worth the effort.  So often when I sew I am not really saving much money.  You can buy cheap kids clothes easily.  I really sew to get the particular look my children/I want and for the personal satisfaction.  But sewing a swimsuit can be much cheaper than buying one.

Zaaberry has a great step-by-step tutorial on how to make a basic one piece suit.  This tutorial should take all the mystery, and fear out of making a suit.

Everyday Chaos

Here is another tutorial by Everyday Chaos talking about how she made this simple one-piece.

Sugar cubes and spice cake

Sugar Cubes and Spice Cake gives some great tips on how to sew binding on your swim suits.

Now that you see how to make the basics, what about modifying that classic one-piece?

Creative Chicks

 Creative Chicks has a virtual laundry list of tutorials on various modifications to your one-piece.

No Big Dill

No Big Dill tutorial

And have you seen the suits Katy has made at No Big Dill???  Really, her's are amazing.  I love staring at them to get inspiration for my daughter and she has a tutorial on how to make simple but very cute modifications to a basic tank one-piece suit.

 There are a couple of ways to finish the edges of a swimsuit.  One is to use a lining without binding.  Another is to bind the edges with a contrast or self-fabric.  This can create a nice finished and professional look.  And I learned through reading several blogs that some of you are using fold-over elastic as a binding on swimsuits.  I bought some recently for my project that you will see later on in the series and watched this video on YouTube:  How to sew fold over elastic.  It was incredibly helpful.  I like the look of it but am unsure how it would hold up under heavy exposure to chlorine.  But since my girl does not swim often, I am not worried.

Now that you have some inspiration:

Ready,    Set,   Go!