BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Sewing question about sewing bathing suits

My fiance has a t-shirt company but the shirts are mens shirt and dont sell much. I had the idea to turn them into womens shirts and bathing suits. Here is my question, I made the first swim suit, but the shirts are cotton, I compensated by lining it with swimsuit lining so that it would hopefully retain its shape when wet. Will this work? How do I sew swimsuit elastic on them to make them fit a lil better?

Icm -

I'm really curious about how you are turning t-shirts into swim suits.

Generally, the reason nylon, lycra, etc are used for swimsuits is because they dry quickly. However as long as the shirts are lined, cotton should work just fine. I'd recommend suggesting that people rinse their suits after swimming with fresh water (which is a good idea no matter what the suits are made of), because I think cotton might be weakened more by the chlorine in pools than some other materials. (On the other hand, Stretch-and-sew recommends using cotton covered elastic for swimwear, so maybe not.)

As for sewing swimsuit elastic on, it's pretty much like any other covered elastic. You sew a piece together to form a loop, pin it at equal intervals to the fabric you are sewing it to, stretch the elastic to the length of the fabric and sew it on. Then you fold it over (once or twice depending on your pattern/goal), stretch it out so it is smooth, and sew it again.

You can often find outdated styles of Stretch and Sew swimsuit patterns in thrift stores very inexpensively. They have good directions useful for general swimwear construction.

Julie

I think it would take more time,effort and money to make swimsuits. Why not buy one?

Unless the t-shirts are white, wouldn't they end up fading when exposed to pool chlorine?