Last year for my Dad’s 60th we went to Bunker Bay in Western Australia to celebrate and had the most wonderful magical time playing on the beach and exploring the sights. I made new swimsuits for Bunny, Birdie and myself, and now that I’ve released the Cottesloe swimsuit pattern I can finally show you a few family photos of us enjoying our swimsuits on holiday!

For myself I made the View D bikini – this is the high waisted bikini with wide waistband and wide underbust band. I actually didn’t include a waistband in this set initially, instead opting to use 1/4″ elastic at the waistline as you would do for View C. After a while of wearing it this way I found I didn’t really like it and much preferred my suits with the wide waistband, so I unpicked the waist and added the waistband. Super easy. Isn’t that the great thing about sewing? I love being able to alter my clothing whenever I want! I actually used an athletic fabric here from Sew Active Fabrics as a bit of an experiment (this one), and gosh it works well!

You probably recognise the fabric from our View C pattern sample. I loved this fabric so much I couldn’t help but use it again in our samples! I’ve worn this swimsuit swimming in the ocean and the pool and everywhere for two years and it still looks brand new. I even use the top as a sports bra! I’m pretty tempted to try more active wear fabrics for swimwear from now on. It feels so supportive and didn’t need any lining so that’s another win in my book.

For Bunny I made her a bikini crop top to go under her rashie, bikini bottoms and a matching rashie. The rashie was self drafted but for the bikini top and bikini bottoms I used the Peekaboo classic panties pattern and it worked really well! By the time I made Birdies i got a bit smarter and instead of drafting a whole new pattern for the rashie I just used the Mini Briar tee as my base and it sewed up like a dream! Her bikini bottoms are also the Peekaboo classic panties pattern. Poor Buddy missed out this time on a handmade suit as I honestly couldn’t find any good boys swimsuit fabric. It was so frustrating!

I bought swim lycra for both of these swim sets at Tessuti fabrics and though Birdie’s suit has lasted really well, Bunny’s is absolutely shredded. This is one of the ways that I learnt that swim lycra is fantastic but has it’s limitations. Bunny does weekly swim lessons year round, and I think that just sped up the natural rate of decay for swim lycra. Birdie’s set on the other hand is still perfect.

This year when I made my kids new rashies and swimmers for summer I ended up purchasing the rashie pattern from Peekaboo patterns. I would definitely recommend that rashie pattern – it’s fantastic!

So that’s a little run down of our handmade swimsuits! I haven’t got photos of me wearing my other Cottesloe swimsuits, so i’ll try and take some flat lays so i can show you what they look like! I may or may not have made Bunny and I matching swim sets…