HOW TO MAKE A BATHING SUIT WITH LEGS

I have a war with bathing suits. Even the tolerable ones make me nervous, and it hardly seems worth swimming if I'm too afraid to actually move. I've been meaning for a while (four years, actually, wow) to figure out how to make a bathing suit with legs.

As of this month, it has finally happened! It was surprisingly easy, and the process was very forgiving. The suit fits great - I recently wore it to a water park, and suffered no limitations whatsoever in my aquatic escapades. Here's how it worked:


1. Get a swimsuit fabric, such as lycra/spandex. Four-way stretch is the best - it's much less confusing than something that only stretches in some directions. I got enough to cover my torso four times; instead of dealing with a complicated lining method I just used a double layer of the same stuff.

2. Choose a well-fitting pair of stretchy leggings or shorts and a tank top to base your pattern from. The closer the amount of stretch is to your material, the better, but really you're probably ok with anything. Try the clothes on and put a pin in the shirt to mark where it meets the waistband of the pants.

3. Fold at least one thickness of your fabric in half, fold your shirt and pants in half, and line the fold of the clothing up on the fold of the fabric, with the waistband lined up at the pin you just placed. Don't worry if a bit of the pants fabric sticks out in the crotch area, but do pull the leg of the pants out slightly to the side, as though you were standing with your legs slightly apart.  (In the picture I'm just showing the alignment of the clothing, not the fabric...just put that fold on the swimsuit fabric fold.)

4. Cut around the shape of the clothing, about half an inch out. Make the strap longer (easy to trim later) and thicker, if it's thin like mine - I suggest a minimum of two inches. Err on the side of high in the neckline area, you can always trim it later. At this time, don't cut the crotch area, or, obviously, the fold line. If your shirt and pants don't line up exactly on the outer edge (like the picture), you need to estimate a curve. The most important measurements we're getting in this step are really the hips and chest (as well as the length of the body), so just make sure those areas are right, and estimate the curve in between them. If this step makes you nervous, you could also trace the shape onto a large piece of paper, then cut it out as a pattern.

5. Cut three more, a total of four of the same shape. If you want to think about pattern matching, now is the time to do it. Two of these shapes will form the outside of the suit, and two the lining. Choose two pieces to use for the front of the suit, place them with right sides together, and check the neckline - now is the time to cut it a little lower if you want to (for symmetry, fold the piece in half again while making adjustments).

6. With right sides still together, sew the two pieces for the front of the suit together with the seams shown here: neck, arm holes, and lower hem. Use half inch seam allowance, and a wide zig-zag stitch to give the seams some stretch. There's no need to finish these seams too carefully, as they will all be overlapped at the ends. Turn right-side out.

7. Repeat with the back pieces.

8. Align the front and back of the suit, right sides together, and sew the side seems, finishing well. At this point, you're sewing four layers of stretch fabric, which can be a bit tricky, so go slowly and make sure everything is lining up correctly.

9. Try the suit on. Pull it up to the right height and pull the front and back fabric together in the crotch area. Use pins to mark the correct rise for the crotch. Put it pretty much where it actually feels like it ought to be with the fabric a bit stretched, it should be forgiving enough that you don't need to (and in fact probably shouldn't) leave much extra room here.

10. Fold the suit in half and, using your marker pins (and referencing the leg of your pants again, if you like), cut out an inner leg curve. It doesn't need to be particularly wide. Do keep seam allowance in mind, however.

11. With the suit inside-out, sew the inner leg seam. Start just to one side of the crotch, sew across and down the opposite leg, then repeat in the other direction (see picture, although of course these seams actually go on top of each other). Doubling over the seam in the crotch area gives the suit extra strength to withstand leg movement.

12. Try the suit on one more time, mark where the straps should be attached for the best possible fit.

13. With the suit inside-out, sew across the straps. Trim any excess fabric.

And that's it! It's actually surprisingly fast and easy, or at least mine was.


(Note: if you look at the top picture closely, you'll see that the bottom edges of my suit legs are raw. This is just because after finishing my suit, I decided that I wanted the legs shorter. Following these directions should result in a suit that is finished on all edges.)