Day 170: Butterick 4526 review

 First I would like to welcome everyone stopping over from Katie's blog!  I hope that the techniques I wrote about are useful in your own swimsuit construction!  If you have any questions on them let me know.  Alright, now down to business.  It took me a bit to be comfortable sharing photos of myself in a swimsuit with the whole internet.  Here is my review.

Butterick 4526

 Pattern Description: 

Lined one piece or two piece swimsuit has neckline variations, front darts, low back and panty shield. Wrap laps in front and ties at back neck. I made the lined one piece.

Pattern Sizing:

6-20. I made a 20.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

Yes it did.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

I am not really sure, I didn't look at them.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I like that ease with which it went together without having to read the directions. I like that the suit provides full coverage in the bust and crotch areas. I won't have to worry about anything hanging out that should not be. I am not a big fan of the darts. Something about darts on a swimsuit is just off putting for me.

Fabric Used:

I used 1 yard of gingham printed spandex for the shell, 1 yard black tricot for the lining and scrap bits of purple tricot for the built in bra and crotch shield.

Notions Used:

1/4" braided elastic for neck binding and 3/8" elastic for arm and leg holes.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

I didn't follow the directions because I wanted to use my own elastic techniques. For around the neck opening I added bound elastic and the leg and arm holes I did turned and stitched elastic. To read about the techniques I used go to my guest post here.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I don't know if I will sew this suit again. There are a couple of other swimsuit patterns I want to try and I am not sure I need more than 5 swimsuits. I do live in Indiana, not a beach area. I would recommend this pattern to others though. It is a great beginning knit sewing project.

Conclusion: 

I surprising like this suit more than I thought I would. I originally made it just to demonstrate elastic techniques for my guest post. But now it has grown on me.

Day 169: Slow news day

I, unfortunately, do not have much of anything to post today.  I am sewing my costume tonight but will not be revealing it until Friday.  I finished my bathing suit but won't be posting it until tomorrow.  And that is really it!  Rough!

Day 168: Busy Busy

Wheh!  Today has been busy every since I got home.  I had errands to run and then I had to finish my swimsuit and take tons of pictures while doing it. I have a tutorial to finish writing tonight for the Swimalong.  It will be posted on Katie's blog here in the next few days, so watch out for it.  Once it is up I will be posting a review of the pattern I used.  But for the night it is back to editing photos to go with what I have written.

Day 167: New way to donate

Hey everyone, guess what!  I have been living under a fundraising rock!  I just found out about this cool fundraising site called Go Fund Me!  Another adoption blog I follow is using this site to raise money and now so are we!  You can still make secure donations through our PayPal button on the right sidebar as well.  Whichever option you are more comfortable with.  On our Go Fund Me site you do have the option of selecting to be a Dress Sponsor as your donation level.  If you have already sponsored a day, thank you!  If you have not, please consider donating $10 and you can pick the theme of my outfit for a day!

Day 166: Don't judge me, but...

I had a lazy kind of day when it came to getting dressed.  I work my workout shirt as my top today.  That's why I said don't judge me.  I am doing enough self judging for everyone today.  Also, I took a two hour nap and as a result didn't take my picture until it became a little gloomy and dark out, hence the poor lighting.  I just cannot seem to kick this cold.  I thought it was almost over but today has been miserable.  I have had a headache all day and am just exhausted.  That being said I did make time to go to Jo-Ann's to catch their Red Tag fabrics on sale for 50% off.

I just ran out of muslin fabric a couple of weeks ago and I am getting ready to make Eric a new dress shirt from Vogue 8889 with the pintucks at  the shoulders.  I have not tried this pattern before and with him having such a long torso and arms, I definitely want to test it first.  I was intending just to buy some cheap quilting cotton for just this project, but instead found solid white, gray and a mushroom brown cottons for $2.00/yd ($4 regular).  I bought all of them, which was close to 16 yards!  Major score!  I think I am actually going to "test" this pattern in the mushroom cotton and hope it works well enough to become a wearable muslin.  I also picked up a couple of other remnant pieces on sale to make a cute skirt.  Total I left with 19 yards of fabric.  Not doing so well on the using more than I buy this month considering I just got more fabric from Fabric Mart too.

Day 165

Happy Friday!!  I am so excited for the weekend.  I have big sewing plans for this evening and all weekend for that matter.  Eric will be gone most of this weekend between work and gaming with friends so I will be making up for some lost sewing time this past week.  Then tomorrow it is the Farmer's Market.  I haven't been in two weeks and I am craving some delicious local cheese and bread!

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

Day 164

Well, I am starting to feel better, even if I still sound terrible.  I made it through a whole day at work!  I even did a little bit of cleaning when I got home.  I am exhausted right now though.  It may have something to do with a thunderstorm rolling through last night and a puppy that did not like it.  At any rate I want to take a nap but can't.  I going to try to do a bit more cleaning and actually cook dinner for the first time this week.