Bathing Suits

Dorothy is very petite and I could not find a bathing suit for her anywhere that fit properly.  If they were long enough, they were not small enough around in the leg openings to keep her covered.  I tried some two piece ones, and the rise wasn't long enough and the waists were too big, so the bottoms fell off.  After buying and returning several (I still have one waiting to go back to the store), I broke down and made her a couple the mostly fit.  They are a touch big in places on top, but at her age, that doesn't matter too much.

 Here they both are.  The one on the left I actually made last summer, just to see how it would go.  I didn't have a pattern and just sort of winged it with a tank leotard pattern as a base for the very bottom.  The bottom fit pretty well, but the top was huge.  I did some tweaking to it and it is good enough to be worn in public.  I'm probably the only person who even notices where it is a bit funky.

I bought the blue gingham fabric last summer on deep clearance.  When I saw it, I thought it would be cute for her to have a bathing suit loosely based on Dorothy, from The Wizard of Oz's, dress.  I broke down and bought a basic swim suit pattern, but added the ruffle, trim, and skirt.

 The backs.  It is hard to tell on the hangers, but the one on the left comes to a V in the back and the gingham one is an X.

 I didn't have time to take a picture before class started, so here she is afterward; cold.

 It looks like it did just fine in the water.  I was a little afraid it would stretch and get too big, but it still looks pretty good.

You can see under her left arm that it is still a touch too big, but it is much better than it was.  I cut about an inch out of the binding in the center back, then butted the ends together and sewed them.  I took a small tuck pleat in the fabric to make it lay flat, then covered the entire mess with a little bow.  It tightened it up nicely and looks much better now.  Not bad for just eyeballing how the top should have been cut.

 

 The bow gets a little saggy in the water, but I tacked it so that it mostly stays up.

I'm so pleased with how this one came out, and it went together relatively quickly.  I bought the pattern and trim on a Saturday afternoon, and when I had it finished on Sunday before the kids went to bed, my husband was shocked.

The white stripes are ruffled elastic.  I wanted something that would stretch with the material, and this was pretty cute.  The red ric rac does not stretch, but since it is on the skirt, it doesn't have to.  I debated if I wanted the red on there, and I love it so much.  It's a little nod to Dorothy's ruby slippers, and it adds a nice bit of color to the suit.

 The sun was too bright, so she covered her eyes.  It is just darling on her, and I saw/heard some of the teachers saying how cute she was on her first day of swimming lessons.

 The top is just a bit looser than I would like, but everything else fits wonderfully.  I cut this a size 3, but the length of a 4.

It lays very nicely across her back.


It cost me less to make these than what I was spending on ones that didn't fit.  I think next year, I'll just skip trying to buy her a suit and make her a couple.

New Leotard! (finally)

Each summer, the kids take a break from gymnastics.  Then, if they want to do it again the the fall, they start again then.  Just before summer started, Dorothy had outgrown one of her leotards, and the other was starting to get a little short in the girth.  When it was time to sign up for Fall classes, she didn't want to do gymnastics, and opted for a basketball and soccer class instead.  She hated basketball and soccer, I'm not sure exactly why, but the fact that she can't run very well (she's slow, and it is more of a jog, with an occasional skip/hop in there) might have been part of it.  Once that was over, she wanted to go back to gymnastics, and I promised I would make her a new leotard.

Well, she did an entire session in the one that was too small, because I didn't get it done.  I eventually, forced her to wear one that we received in a box of hand-me-downs because it actually fit and she would not be tugging at it every few seconds.  She hated that leotard for some unknown reason.  I promised her that she would only have to wear it for one week.  We picked out fabric (from my stash), agreed on a design, and I even got the front cut out.  Then I realized that I had cut it the same size as the one that no longer fit, not the next size up.  *smacks forehead*

I was frustrated and not motivated to get it sewn, so it sat in my sewing room for another two weeks (and she had to wear the leotard she hated, much to her disgust).  Finally, a plan formed in my head and I was ready to tackle the leotard again.  I cut out the back the same, wrong, size as the front.  Then I lined them up and cut them both in half and added a two inch insert of a scrap of bright lime green, holographic fabric so that there would be a band around her lower chest.  I just eyeballed the placement, and it could be about half an inch higher, but it isn't too bad.  Luckily, she is pretty tiny around, because her new leotard is not any wider than her old one, but the band bought her some length.  Hopefully this will last her for a little while.

The pictures are pretty terrible.  The lighting at gymnastics isn't great, and she doesn't hold still long enough for a photo with the lens open just a second longer.

 I embroidered three flowers on the front and the back because she wanted a "soft leotard with flowers on it."  She chose a wine colored stretch velvet for the leotard and agreed to my suggestion of orange, light purple, and hot pink flowers.  I had to surprise her with the green band, but she liked it because it sparkles.

 I had to guess as to placement of the orange flower I wanted on her hip/bottom because I have to do the embroidery before sewing the leotard together.  It got it just about where I wanted it

 Waiting for class to start.

 The colors look a bit off in both pictures (with and without the flash).  It's really somewhere in between how the photos look.

None of my action shots turned out well, but it seemed to move with her nicely, and I did not see her tug at it once, which is a huge improvement over the one that was too small.

Overall, I'm happy with how it turned out. 

Gymnastics Leotards

Dorothy has been doing gymnastics for a while and has just been wearing sweats to class.  The problem is that she only has a couple of pairs of sweats and they were often dirty and I was scrambling to get them washed and dried in time for her classes.  I have a bunch of leotard fabric that has been sitting around for several years now, and was never used, so I decided to try my hand at making her a couple of gymnastics leotards.

Here is my first attempt at making a leotard.  I decided to go with the bike shorts style because it offers more coverage (she has no rear end) and it meant I didn't have to add elastic, which I hate doing.  It's a dark navy stretch velvet and is so, so soft.

I appliqued a girl doing a handstand, since it seemed appropriate for a gymnastics leotard.  I used a scrap of lime green lycra with little holographic dots.  Dorothy likes that it is shiny and sparkly.  She wasn't willing to hold still and model for me, but I did manage some quick pictures with my phone.  The quality isn't great, and many were taken through the viewing windows, but hopefully they show the fit.  

For a first try, it came out really well.  I couldn't get the casings right on the arm and neck holes, so I cheated a bit.  They look fine from a distance, but I'm not entirely happy with them.  I did better in later attempts.

Ready to head into class, and the only semi-decent front shot I was able to get.

Warming up.  I like the line of the back of the leotard.

Waiting her turn.

She loves bars and the leotard seemed to move with her very well all through class.

My second attempt did not go nearly so well.  I let Dorothy pick out the fabric she wanted me to use, and she insisted on a hunter green crushed velvet.  It isn't something I ever would have picked for her, but she really fell for it for some reason.  She then wanted an orange fox on it, so I did that too (though when she saw it, she insisted that it was a cat).  This material was only a two-way stretch, instead of four, but I thought I could make it work.  I was wrong.  When I tried it on her, the legs were much too tight and it would not go over her (non-existent) hips.  Yeah, definitely needs to be able to stretch around as well as in length.  Too bad, because it was really cute.

I did, however, do a much better job with the casing around the arms and neck.  I didn't get the stitching quite close enough to the seam, but it got better and looked pretty decent by the next time I made one.

She was a little disappointed it didn't fit, and pulled really hard trying to get it on.

 My last try went much, much better.  Even the casing look pretty good.  Luckily, Dorothy was excited to get to choose more fabric (uh, oh, she might be turning into me a little bit) and a design to put on yet another leotard.  This time, she went with a jade green lycra with glitter sparkles all over, and a hot pink dinosaur.  Rawr! 

It's hard to capture the glittery-ness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dinosaur is made with a stretch material I had sitting in a box that was bright pink, but nearly sheer.  It wouldn't work for a full leotard, but is fine for appliques.

Waiting for class to start.  The shoulders are set a tiny bit wide, so next time I'll trim them in a bit.  I cut this one a touch larger than the navy one, and it looks like she has a little bit of growing room in it. 

This one seems just a little more comfortable to her.  The legs and girth are a little longer, and she seemed to hardly tug at it at all.

She is pretty strong and can hold this for a good amount of time.  Now, if she would just focus a little, she could actually do some more difficult skills.

This was supposed to be a front kick.  Not quite there yet.

I had a lot of fun making these and learned a lot.  I would love to make some more, but she only has class once a week, so I think two leotards are more than enough.  I certainly wouldn't buy her more than one if I was buying them.  I justify the two because they were "free" since the fabric was just sitting here, but I need to wait and not make more until she outgrows these.