I have a little treat for you this time, and am super happy to be working with Fabriques. *
Fabriques are an online fabric store that sell many different types of fabrics. I found them a couple of years ago when I was looking for good value/high quality swimwear fabric with fun printed patterns, and completely fell in love with the rose patterned swimwear fabric that I bought from them.
The fabric that I chose for this project is a vibrant Toucan/Parrot print in the most amazing bright shades of pinks/blues and golds. I honestly think that the brighter the better when it comes to swimwear, and this fabric did not disappoint. It has good 4 way stretch and recovery, is super soft and washes lovely, and whilst it is digitally printed you cannot see the base colour of the fabric when being stretched.
* Fabriques are very kindly offering my readers a 10% discount off fabrics from their store. If you would like to take advantage of that discount you can access their online store by clicking here where your discount will be automatically taken off your order, alternatively you can just use my code ‘sew_dainty’ (without the apostrophe’s) at the checkout.
Along with your discount of 10%, I will also receive a small amount each time this discount link/code is used, so thank you very much for supporting Fabriques and myself.
Although I have sewn the Coralie swimsuit by Tilly and the Buttons before, I decided that I might like to make a different style suit this time. I still wanted a ruffle, but thought a cheeky one shoulder suit might be a good one to try. After a great deal of internet searching I finally found this one shoulder swimsuit on Etsy from a seller called Indigo Pattern. I haven’t tried a pattern from this company before, but on a half price sale at £4.28 I thought I might as well give it a try.
It is described as ‘perfect for beginners’ so I didn’t anticipate any problems with it. The pattern instructions are brief, so I’m not entirely sure I would class this as a beginners pattern. I also struggled with the frill placement when cutting out the pattern. The cutting layout is shown for a pattern that is non- directional, and so whilst I could work out how to correctly place the front and back body pieces, the spiral ruffle piece is always going to show a directional print ‘upside down’ at some point. Unfortunately on my version it is upside down at the front and correct at the back – typical! – although this is barely noticeable… I hope! Next time I make this pattern I will use a non-patterned fabric for the ruffle l 😉
The only other downside of this swimsuit pattern is that there are no elastic length measurements given for the neckline, armhole and leg openings. So this was just guesswork. I think I guessed the leg and armhole lengths well but the diagonal neckline edge I feel I might have been better with a shorter length of elastic to make it feel a little more snug. Oh well, you live and learn.
Don’t get me wrong, I do love the swimsuit and know I will enjoy wearing it (especially in a more tropical setting – these pics taken in Norfolk)! but I am very happy that I still have enough fabric left to make a matching cover wrap around skirt, or another swimsuit pattern – probably another Coralie swimsuit – see below.
I’m not sure if the toucan/parrot fabric that I am talking about here is still available on the Fabriques website, but if not do check out all of the other lovely prints they have to offer and let me know which one is your favourite!
Take care and I’ll be back soon,
Kathy x
By the way for those wondering what my first swimsuit looked like when I bought the rose pattern fabric from Fabriques here it is!
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