Bombshell - Inventory Check

Tomorrow is the first day of the Bombshell Swimsuit Sewalong hosted by Heather from Closet Case Files. I am scared and excited at the same time. The Sewalong will take two weeks and I am planning to spend a small amount of time every day during these two weeks, following each step carefully.

I ordered most of the material needed online from this shop sewy.de. They have everything needed to make lingerie and swimwear. They have a good choice of swim suit fabrics, they even have some really nice prints. First I fell in love with this one, because I wanted to sew somtehing with birds on it for ages. However, I had to be honest to myself and purple is not my colour. So I ordered this orange jaqcuard with stars woven into it (is it woven? Probably not but anyways, you get the idea from the pictures).

I was a bit surprised when it arrived because the colour is so, well, orange. But I guess this kind of signal colour is ok for swim wear. It probably helps when you need to be rescued from the sea. I really like the touch and feel of the fabric though. It's quite sturdy and has a good grip. Should be easy (with that I mean "easy") to handle when sewing and will hopefully have some good shaping effect. It's made of 80% nylon and 20% spandex.

However, the lining! Have you ever tried to imagine how Harry Potter's invisibility cloak would feel like? I know now. It just seems to slip through my hands. I fear it will be a nightmare to sew with. This was the only swim wear lining they had at this online store (the roughened one is sold out currently) and I wanted to save on shipping costs. I guess I have to face the challenge now. The lining fabric is milk white and is also made of 80% nylon and 20% spandex.

Then we have the swimwear elastic which feels save enough to put into a garment like a swimsuit indeed. Mine is grey and has some sort of rippled structure. I also went and got some stretch needles, just like Heather recommends. I will probbaly assemble the pattern and cut my fabric tonight. Then I definitely take some scraps of the fabric and test the needles and some stitches.

Strangely, I had a hard time finding a yarn that had the same colour as my fabric. The one I bought is a lot brighter now and I still need to check if this will work. If not, I have to find another solution quickly...

So, I'm going to soak up the good weather now and cut my fabric tonight. Looking at the sizing table I was exactly between two sizes but Heather herself helped me out quickly there and recommended to go up one size for a good fit. I will take the risk of not making a muslin. I'm such a daredevil. Rrrraw.