Centauree~Ava Swimsuit

This week’s contest for The Monthly Stitch is Franken-Indie!  This is the challenge I’ve been most excited for Indie pattern month.  I originally ordered Deer & Doe’s Robe Centauree pattern for the New to Me challenge but quickly realized it wouldn’t get here in time for me to do the dress justice.  Instead I started thinking up ways I could hack the pattern.  I had just ordered some lovely swimsuit material from The Fabric Fairy so a new swimsuit would be perfect.

Since my fav part of the Centauree Dress is the bodice-the design and cut is perfection- I thought I’d mix that with a bottom to make a one piece swimsuit.  The Ava high waist panties from Ohhh Lulu Sews were a perfect match.  I’ve been an admirer of Ohhh Lulu on Etsy for some time now but hadn’t tried out any of the patterns yet.  I love the almost boy cut of the panties and the high waist meant it would be easy to attach to my bodice.

I started my dress version of the Centauree first- which is almost done now!- to make sure I had the fit of the bodice down before I tried to make this in a stretch material.  I cut the top in a size 40 and the fit was spot on. I decided to make the same size in my swim nylon/lycra blend since it would be easy to take in the sides to adjust the fit if needed.   This bodice was a dream to sew up.  The way the pattern shapes are drawn makes it so easy to match up all the lines and fit the piece together.  It’s really a well thought out and designed pattern.  Plus the packaging for Deer & Doe patterns is so lovely.  Beautiful envelope and two booklets inside with instructions in French & English plus links to the sew along on the blog!  The pattern itself is on a nice heavy weight paper as well making tracing easy.

Materials and Notions:

• Black & taupe tie dye print in nylon/lycra from The Fabric Fairy
• 1/2″ black swim elastic also from The Fabric Fairy
• Nude lining
• Size B Lingerie Bra cups from JoAnn’s

The Ava high waist panties are a PDF pattern with fabulous instructions and tons of pictures, perfect for me since I’m a visual learner.  The pattern was super simple to put together and a nice easy make, even if it’s your first time making lingerie.  For construction I used black thread in my machine with a zigzag stitch, I ended up doubling it around all the edged since i thought it looked nicer and was a bit more secure.  I attached my elastic first with the serger and then folded it over for topstitching.  My double needle broke right before I started on this so I went with the zigzag and like the effect close up

.  The straps are a folded over edge of the fabric cut slightly wider then my .elastic and then serged right sides together and then turned.  I used the idea of the bias edge from the dress pattern straps but needed the strength of the elastic.  The strap goes all the way around the back up the side bodice and then crosses to the back.  I played around with the strap placement quite a bit and really liked this position since it made the suit feel a bit more secure for swimming.  I also used a narrow zigzag stitch to top stitch the bodice and waist as well.

Here are some more images of the interior and construction:

I LOVE this suit.  So glad I live in Florida so I have a great excuse to make up a ton of swimwear- it’s just so fun to put together!  This suit also performed great in the water.  Nice and supportive and I love how the silhouette looks a bit modern but also a bit retro.

I have some more swimsuits to show soon.  My makes from Me Made May are almost all fixed up and I have a new suit in the works with this awesome paisley print here so I’ll have another swim post up soon.  I love summer!  Happy sewing!

P.S.:  Thanks so much to everyone who voted!  I was one of the four lucky winners winning the Lekala prize pack-can’t wait to try my new patterns out!  Thanks again!