Pin up bathing suit

If you had told me last week that I'd be taking pictures of myself in a bathing suit and posting them online, I'd have told you to put down your crack pipe. But no, here I am only half a yard of lycra away from being starkers.

I've never had a bathing suit that I've liked. I really, really, really wanted a pin-up bathing suit. I couldn't find a pattern. I could have bought some lovely ones online, but they cost between £60 and £100 (which is more than I spend on a coat) and crucially none of them had an underwire bra built in. I am phobic about not wearing a proper bra in a snowsuit, let alone a swimsuit. So I made one. It cost me £2 and an old bra.

It has two layers with the under layer a tightly fitting sheath (ergo cinches me in) and the outer layer a ruched affair (ergo slimming eye-trickery).

The bodice is also two layers (plus the bra) with a tie that cinches the centre to make the neckline a sweetheart shape, with the ability to make it more or less modest. More, Dad, honest.

Speaking of modest, the legs are very low-cut and have bands like the kid's bathing suit I made. Perhaps not the most flattering look, but I see absolutely no wedgies in my future.

This was the first time I used the triple stretch stitch on my machine and I triple love heart it; I'm never zigzagging again. You have no idea how much I wanted my suit to be the fuschia polkadot that I used for Maia's (Jamie's?) suit but thought the matchy matchiness would be too twee. Maybe I should have just made her a different one!