Hey, look, it’s another wonky swimsuit picture! (wait, it’s the picture that’s wonky, not the actual swimsuit, really!)

I know, I know. Laying stuff out on the table and then trying to take a picture of it with the overhead room light hitting it in all kinds of strange ways isn’t helping me here. That’s okay, we’re not really here for the beauty of my photography, right?

Anyway, this is size 7 again, but this one is completely lined and I attached that pesky foldover elastic by straight stitching the back side of it through both layers of the suit and then folding it over and running the three step zigzag across the front, going through the swimsuit layers and the other side of the elastic. MUCH better than trying to apply this elastic in one step!

Using the foldover elastic makes the full lining a breeze since you can really just sew the suit up and then sew the lining the same way, put them wrong sides together and apply the elastic. Easy peasy!

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.