Danglez Swimsuit.

 

I ordered this suit pattern a couple weeks ago because it looked exactly like my favorite Lands End suit (pictured). I was very happy when it arrived until I opened it up to find this.

All the directions were written in Dutch. I tried to translate it in Babelfish and other online translators with little luck. I sent a quick note off to the website and by morning had a .pdf file in my inbox with the English instructions and a nice personal note from the owner.

Good thing I got the English translation because there were a few little bits that wouldn’t have made sense otherwise. Plus I probably wouldn’t have assumed that the pattern didn’t include seam allowances. (Should have known better, being a European pattern.)

How would you go about cutting that Body Back piece? After careful reading of the instructions I realized that you are supposed to join the main body side seam with the Back Top piece depending on what size you are using. You choose your size for the bust and the body separately which is really cool.

So today I traced off the pattern and started cutting. I ran out of lining fabric and wasn’t in the mood for a trip to Joann’s so I will have to wait to start construction on another day.

I decided on a 1/4” seam allowance. This handy double pencil has been in my tool collection for a long time so I don’t remember where I picked it up. It was either from a local art supply store or Clotilde???? It certainly makes tracing patterns and adding a 1/4” seam allowance fast and easy.

 

I am making this out of some bright red spandex that I picked up at Joann’s last month. I’m treating this as a muslin. I just ordered some Milliskin Matte fabric from Spandex World today to make my final version. I also ordered some black lining fabric. I wanted some “spacer” fabric for the bra cups but SW doesn’t carry it. Spandex House has it but I didn’t like their ordering system so I went with SW. I think I’m going to look for some ready made cups that will work.

For now I’m setting it aside until I get some more lining fabric. In the mean time I will be tracing off the Jalie 2908 for the next pair jeans.