Sewing Swimwear: Hacked Tilly and the Buttons Coralie

Sewing swimwear can be intimidating, but it is so empowering being able to sew a swimsuit that fits your body AND is cute!

I used the matte black tricot fabric and swim lining for this suit and it was amazing to work with. I was using my backup machine, so wasn’t super comfortable with it, and was also using a different method type of elastic, so had to unpick a lot more seams than usual! However, the fabric was super forgiving to the unpicking and sewed beautifully!

I used the Coralie swimsuit by Tilly and the Buttons, cut a size 5 at the bust and waist and blended to a size 6 in the hip. I also hacked the ruffle to end at the shoulder instead of going around the entire neckline. It was a super simple hack- I just decreased the size of the ruffle gradually towards the shoulder side, and blended it down to the seam allowance size at the very end. The only other change I made was lowering the front neckline by a 1/2”.

My top tips for sewing swimwear:

use a new stretch needle
use a rotary cutter to cut your fabric
turn up your tension a bit so that the thread doesn’t show at the seams when the fabric is stretched over your body
cotton swimwear elastic requires a bit of stretching, so getting the tension right can be a bit tricky!
make sure the zig zag catches the bottom edge of the elastic, or it might show on the inside once folded over
don’t stretch the fabric as you sew

The suit is super comfortable, and I cant wait to wear it at the lake all summer!