Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Remember the gym dress?

For those of you from the S&S site who have seen my sewing for Olivia, remember this gymdress? I made this for her in Jan. of '08.





Darling Olivia keep growing and her once lovely, well fitting gymdress now looks like this:



It's gotten shorter and she now has holes in the knees. Look how short those pant legs are? It's time for a new gymdress. This gymdress served her very well for her sports classes. She will be in sports again, in the fall, so now I have to think of another gym outfit for her. She's so skinny that nothing stays up on her waist. This dress was perfect for her....so maybe I will just do another one. Oh, and remember her swimdress?





It's a very good thing I made that large tuck on the inside of the bodice. It has now been let out, giving her more room in the trunk, but the legs and skirt are just starting to get short. I am hoping I can use it in the fall, when she goes back into classes. If not, I will need to make a new swimdress for her. My outdoor fabric place shut up shop this year, I will have to keep my eyes open for good swimming fabric, elsewhere.

7 comments:

Diane Shiffer said...

Oh Carol, how well I do remember those! I'm still thinking in the back of my mind about making a swimdress like this for my Millen. I also want to make myself a swimdress of some kind, but I'm not at all sure of how to go about it... I'm thinking maybe a two piece sort of arrangement? but then I'm concerned about the floating up problem *blush*

May I ask what you and your older girls use for swimming? (if you don't mind sharing of course!)

Mama Sewing said...

How funny-I have been thinking about making a swimdress for My littlest one this week but haven't gotten the time to look up inspiration. Of course, your past ones for Olivia were the first I was going to look at!

Persuaded - I am also thinking about one for me, but, oh dear, how to go about it and not look silly. (For some reason children don't look silly in things that I do!)

Mama Sewing said...

Carol, I love Olivia's look of determination while riding the bike!

jennstar said...

Here is a site I have looked at and I would like to either order their pattern or try to make one myself: www.modestswimwearsolutions.com
I especially like that they are 2 piece to make using the facilities easier!
I have a swim suit from this site: www.wholesomewear.com
It has served me well, but it is one piece and just a little bulky - but it has been good - I always feel modest in it. I think they used to sell a sewing pattern???
:)

Carol said...

Diane,

My suit consists of two pieces, but I am considering 3 pieces. :) I have a Lands' End one piece, to hold everything in, then with swim fabric (lycra) I made a dress using my old trusty EL#204, altering it for a swimdress, skipping the nursing part of the pattern. It's getting too big on me, so I am considering making a new ensemble. My third piece I would add would be capri style pants, for underneath. I saw that being used by a swim instructor, years ago, and thought I must add that to my ensemble. :)

I am also considering using the Folkwear swim pattern, as I picked it up, second hand. I could alter the design a bit and make it from more modern fabric. http://www.folkwear.com/253.html

Olivia's skirt portion of her swimdress is made from suplex, which is what men's swim trunks are often made from. It worked really well for Olivia. I might consider doing that for mine as well.

Cheryl, Olivia was very determined. :) I love that Samuel was so willing and wanting to assist her in learning to ride.

Jenny, wholesomewear use to sell patterns, they stopped several years ago and only do ready to wear. I do know of one family who has used the modestswimearsolution pattern and she really liked it. I'm not a fan of it. ;)

For me, my goal is to find a modest swimming ensemble that does not cling or weigh too much when wet. I'm still working on the balance. For Olivia, that worked well for her. Since most of our swimming is done in the pool and not for long periods of time, having a two piece (for bathroom purposes) has really not been an issue. Two pieces have a way of exposing the belly when the skirt portion floats and I, personally, don't like that.

I guess I should mention, Olivia's swimdress as well as her gymdress were made using the S&S Regency dress pattern and combing it with the pantaloon pattern.

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

I remember those!

I also used the swim dress as inspiration for my almost 7 year olds swim clothes for this year. The only change I made was to not attach the bottoms to the top - quicker for potty breaks!
It turned out great and she loves it!

Carol said...

Deanna,

I am so encouraged to hear that, thank you for stopping by to share that with me. I go back and forth on the separate vs. one pieces. Still debating..... :)