Jalie Racerback Swimsuit



I made activewear… the Jalie Racerback to be specific … not a sentence I thought I’d type. I’ve been making pretty much all my clothes for the last 2 years with a deliberate exception for technical/activewear. In fact I believe I may have even claimed I'd never sew activewear, but then my training togs started to get chlorine rot + I saw how much RTW togs cost + I had all this lycra leftover from my bikini... and here we are 😂


Pattern/ Fabric


Pattern is the Jalie Racerback ($12) this is the first time I’ve used a Jalie pattern and I was pretty happy with the drafting and instructions.

The fabric is spandex ($10/m) from the Spandex World and lined with their swim lining ($5/m). I bought a metre of each and so far I have made a bikini and these togs and still have heaps to spare.

The swim elastic is from Leather Sewing Supply Depot (turns out they now have a fancy new website and sell online) and I think it was around a $1/m I’ve had it for a wee while?

So all up I’m calling this a $22ish swimsuit which is half the price of the TYR ones I was looking at, yeaah!

Performance wise (this is always what I’ve been the most worried about with sewing activewear, that somehow industrial machines/ fabrics can make for better/faster/stronger) it works great, as is usual with sewing this is the best fitting swimsuit I’ve ever worn. I used to swim competitively (haha hence the shoulder adjustments!!) and have owned a lot of suits in my life, in order to fit my short torso I’ve usually had to size down when buying RTW which has resulted in either uncomfortable squashed boobies or dangerously spilling out. This suit is super comfortable on land and when I put it through its paces I found out it can last a full training session without riding or gaping, whoop!

Stretching pic to show off the no riding

Adjustments


Apologies for the mixed metric and imperial that follows... it's a weird habit I seem to have developed using both, mostly I think because I like round numbers?!

My standard adjustments:


  • approx. 1 inch forward shoulder

  • approx. 4cm FBA (I always size based off upper bust measurement)

  • bodice shortening + overall shortening (I'm 5'2" / 1.59m)

Pattern Adjustments:


Based on my measurements I made a V for the torso length and used that for the bottom and back. To fudge an FBA I blended up to a Y on seam that goes over the bust on the centre front and front inset panels starting at the lowest notch, the front neckline seam is also a Y

Believe it or not this was actually the best of the front pics (and a lesson to check your pics before calling it a day) it does actually fit really well

Thanks for reading my ramblings!

Hils x

Comments

  1. The fit on this is fantastic and I love the fabric you chose. I always had the same fit problems so I’m excited to hear you found something that works!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! Yeah I'm pretty stoked how it turned out, there are simpler patterns out there but I think the panelling was key to be able to adjust the fit so well :)

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  3. Thanks for a very interesting blog. What else may I get that kind of info written in such a perfect approach? I’ve a undertaking that I am simply now operating on, and I have been at the look out for such info. swimsuit

    ReplyDelete

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