Sunday, July 5, 2009

Swimsuit Cover Up!

I saw on one of my favorite blogs, Craftzine, that they were having a contest for making a swimsuit cover-up. First place is a sewing machine and three runner-ups get dress forms. I would LOVE a dress form! Especially after having made this swimsuit cover-up!
My idea for the cover-up was to use a Hawaiian shirt and make it into a fitted cover up. And that's what I did! I went to Wal-mart to get a 2 XL Hawaiian shirt, which I thought was going to be $13... but it rang up for $3! And I bought some ribbon (you'll see what for later) so this whole thing costs $5!!! And I love how it ended up! I will be wearing it for the rest of the summer!

My mom came up with the suggestion of moving the pocket from the left chest down lower. It's a great place to put a cell phone or keys or whatever I'm carrying down to the beach.

I ended up just cutting the sleeves off - they were huge! Then I sewed up the arm hole along the edge. For the shoulders, they're actually adjustable! There's ribbons that you can pull the material up on to gather and tie or let loose if I want a little more coverage.
I really wanted to give the whole thing some shape and emphasize the waist, so I fitted it. It was my first time doing something like this and it took some thought, but it worked! I took it in along the sides and placed the pleats so the material would flow out. And I took it in on the back as well. And I did some darts in the bust area (though there aren't any pictures of that - it was strange enough for me to put pictures of me in a bathing suit online... we don't need any close-ups of that area).

I am sooooo happy with how it ended up! And I would love to win the contest, but even if I don't - I've got a super cute bathing suit cover up!
I've added a picture to the flickr group with the rest of the entries... Wish me luck!

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