This swimsuit pattern would have to be my favourite. It is Merckwaerdigh BAD24.  I love the design, especially the ‘flow’ of the black bands, and is very flattering.  It would also have to be one the most comfortable suits I’ve worn and is my favourite to wear kayaking – lots of freedom of movement in the shoulders.

In the beginning…

If you are a longtime reader of my blog, you might remember the togs I made using this pattern back in 2016.  I loved them… loved them to death!  Sadly I had to retire them at the end of last summer.

 

Time for a new version! 

For this version, I’ve raised the neckline by 2cm so it sits above the zipper on life jacket I wear while kayaking.  I’ve lined it with a tan lining fabric and used a lightweight powermesh of the bra lining.  The bra lining has darted cups  and gives enough support.

The print that I’ve used was a bit of a pain to layout for this design.  The back piece extends to the front princess seam, so it is quite a big piece.  It took quite a while to get the right positioning so I didn’t end up with a big ink splat at in inconvenient location.  It is a bit of a shame as I think the patterning on the front of the suit isn’t nearly as colourful and vibrant as the back.  I was a little disappointed at first, but I do like the way the background colours are similar across the princess seams.  It’s made it a little easier to resign this pair to lap swimming at the indoor pool.  If they had looked as good as the first pair, there would be no way I’d wear them in a chlorine pool.  I’ll just have to make another pair of kayaking 🙂

Pattern Review Mini-wardrobe Contest

Quite a while ago ( actually it was back in the old days of Polyvore), I put together this collage for a sports themed mini-wardrobe.  I’ve had it up on my pinboard, waiting, waiting,…waiting for me to get around to sewing some of the pieces.  I thought that the joining in with the mini-wardrobe contest over on PR would be the spark to get me going.  The togs were the highest priority, with the cycling nix a close second.

The other weekend, I managed to get the togs, nix and leggings done.  And I’ve almost finished the tank top (More on those soon).

I’m a little dubious that I will get the 6-looks to suit the contest rules, especially if the swimsuit isn’t considered a ‘look’ by itself.  Possible if I had made the bike nix without the bib, it would have been easier.  But I don’t think I could go back to wearing elastic waist bike shorts after wearing the bib-style ones.  At any rate, this plan, that has sat around for so long, is finally getting off the drawing board.

The shrug is next on my list.  I’m debating whether to add the zip or not.  The zip would be handy to get it on and off while on the bike.  However, I rarely would need to peel a layer off on a ride.  For kayaking, it would be useful to keeping the sun off when worn with the togs.  In that case, the zipper would likely be more annoying to wear with the PFD.  I think I just talked myself out of adding the zipper for the mock up 😉

 

 

At a Glance:

Pattern	Merckwaerdigh BAD24
Type	View A
Fabric	Swimwear lycra, swim lining, lightweight powermesh
Difficulty	3 – much easier than you would think.  Exceptionally well drafted.
End Result	5 –  TNT. One of my favourite patterns
Cost	$25 ( $20 fabric, $5 elastic + thread).