Swim

Its technically still Zara's turn, but Elsa had an invite to a pool party and negotiated to jump a spot.

Her request?
A rash vest and board shorts.

As I didn't have anything she fancied in my stash she purchased the fabric herself.
Proper grown up.
 For the rash vest she chose a grey&black stripe swim suit knit.
And the shorts a bright red taslon.

The Twins love the firm fit of Oliver+S Field Trip tee so I went with that pattern.

 The last time I was in Spotters I picked up these ball point pins.
They are just the job!

I was keen to match the stripes as best I could, so I marked the pattern to help line up them up.
It worked okay.

Have you seen this before?
Its a Goddess sheet. The special properties of the cloth let you press synthetics at a high temperature without burning.
Perfect for swimmers!
I sewed three of the four shoulder seam.

Then I attached the neck band strip by sewing the right side of the band to the wrong side of the top.
I sewed with a big stitch length stretching the fabric as I did so it would have ease once relaxed.

I trimmed off any straggly bits and pressed the seam towards the neck band.
Using my Goddess sheet.

I then folded over the edge as you would do with a normal bound edge.
I did this at the side seams and then eased and pinned the rest.

After that I sewed again, with a long stitch, stretching the neck band as I did so.

I baste the final seam before running it through the overlocker as the neck band end is quite thick and the over locker can be a bit fussy.

 To keep the neck seam sitting nicely, I use a piece of interfacing to hold it down(Goddess sheet, anyone)

And then I topstitched it down from the right side.
Next time I will use this method

I have a coverstitch machine but I don't get on with it. I find this wavy stretch stitch on my sewing machine give me the longest lasting hemming stitch.

There we have it.
One rash vest.

Now for the shorts, they needed to be sturdy.
Evidently someone (no names) at school split theirs!
The shame.
I used a vintage pattern I had previously made the top and bottoms from.

So I re-inforced.

Split these Baby-Baby.
(Actually, please, don't)

The cord is purely decorative.

Good high coverage over the derriere.

Cute little side vents.

Lowered just a wee bit at he front.
Several inches off the length of the rash vest.

Yes, she is beautiful.

Have fun Elsa!
xx N