I have no idea why. But, I was going through my patterns, found this old swim pattern and just decided to make a fitness swim suit and was done in less than two hours. I have ‘regular’ swimsuits purchased recently from eBay. They are underwire bikinis and great for fun time at the pool. But, not great for swimming laps. I have to highly recommend eBay if you are a non-traditional US size (i.e. small band, large cup). Those Brits and Germans make some really cute swimmers (Freya, Panache).
The swim top is an Out of Print (OOP) McCalls 8813 … such an old pattern. It comes in one size per envelope with the seam lines marked on the pattern. I’ve only seen that in vintage patterns! I bought it in a size 12 years ago after seeing Trena’s review of the bottom. LOL. I wasn’t even friends with her when she made the bottoms.
The pattern comes with A/B and C/D cups. I used the C/D and made a 1 inch FBA. Based on the envelope, I should have sewn an 8 on top. But, I bought this pattern in a 12 before I understood FBAs. So, when I make this again, I’ll reduce the band size by about two inches, add another 1/2 to 1 inch in the FBA and use power netting. I need the support. For the underbust elastic I used 3/4 inch and the upper bust 1/2 inch.
Actually, next time I might make the princess seam halter version. I have so much swimwear fabric and this was a quick make. It was all very slapdash. I was too lazy to get my twin needles and don’t have two spools of black (well, really dark grey since I’ve been out of black for a minute) thread that I zig zagged stitched for the topstitching.
Interesting note. I was complaining about the lack of swim lining in a one of my new suits and a friend said she’d never had a swim suit that was lined. Whaa?? Who would buy or even sell an unlined swimsuit!?!
