Stretch & Sew 1250 – girl’s swimsuit pattern
The copyright on this pattern is 1967, 1975, and I think that’s part of what I love about it. This pattern has modest leg openings – read as: child’s butt is not sticking out.
After looking at the pattern measurements, I decided to completely ignore them and make a size 7. I probably could have made a size 6x, possibly a 6, but this one is pretty good and will hopefully still fit at the end of summer when the girl is half a foot taller. Seriously, it’s ridiculous how fast this child is growing.
I used foldover elastic (FOE) on this, shiny side out. As far as I know, it makes no difference if the shiny side is out, but that’s how Zoe likes it. Cuts were 12″ FOE for the leg openings, 13.5″ for the arm holes, and 28.25″ around the neck and back.
I really enjoyed seam ripping the elastic on one of the arm holes after I didn’t catch the suit fabric in it. Particularly annoying since that was a section where no stretching of the elastic is needed and it should have been a very easy application. Note: while it may seem like a good idea to attach the FOE in one fell swoop, resist the urge. The additional time needed to pick out the three step zigzag stitches negates any time saved.
This swimsuit fabric is one I pulled out of the sale bin and thought it would be good to practice on. It turned out to be one of Zoe’s favorites and this is the second year she has a suit from it.
I made this pattern often when my own daughter was small. We made this in a sewing class I took. Stretch and Sew sells a cotton elastic on line that is really nice for swim suits. The technique we used was to sew it on the right side of the fabric and then turn it to the inside and stitch once more with a zig zag, slightly stretching. For the legs, we applied it with a 1:1 ration across the front of the leg, and stretched it to fit across the back. I never had an issue with cheek peekage doing it this way.
FOE was not something available in the 1980s when I was using this pattern, but I’d be interested in giving it ago with this pattern. I have a young granddaughter who will probably be getting a swimsuit or 2 this summer.