Baby Swimsuit

I'm no stranger to sewing swimwear.  In the past I've drafted my own pattern from store bought suits.  Recently I came across Patsy Aiken Designs and fell in love with this adorable swim set.  I have a little baby niece and let's face it, sewing for babies is so much fun! 

 Though I've sewn quite a few suits for my daughter you can see HERE and HERE, I can never leave well enough alone.  I feel pretty comfortable using my coverstitch machine for most things, but have not had success with swimwear. 

 So like the crazy lady I am, I spent all weekend conquering my machine and all this spandex.  After much trial and error, I finally got it to work, though I'm not positive I could do it again.  The striped suit came out great, but my first one was a bit of a disaster.

 This flower print fabric is heavier than the stripes, and I used a thicker elastic.  Not sure if that was the problem, but my machine did not like it.  I kept getting skipped and uneven stitches.  It looks cute if you don't look too close.

 Ultimately I put in new stretch needles, went with a thinner clear elastic, a lighter fabric and it worked much better.

This pattern is very cute, but be forewarned, the instructions are all words, hardly any pictures.  If you've never sewn swimwear before, you'll need to have your computer closeby for help.

Can't wait to see this suit on my little baby niece!