How to Make a Sewing Pattern from Your Favorite RTW Swimsuit

Last year I finally found a one piece swimming suit that I felt good in. I was walking through Walmart (probably in there buying thread or looking at their fantastic clearance fabric) and saw it on sale for $9. I’ve wanted a swimsuit like this, so I snapped it up without trying it on. It happened to fit my body well, and I felt great in it (which, as far as swimsuits go, is kind of rare).

It became my go-to swimsuit. I wore it so much that the fabric is already worn out. Quite sad. You can see how stretched out it is in the photo.

So I decided to see if I could cut it up and make myself a new swimsuit with the same great fit.

Here’s how to do it!

Step 1: Look at how the swimsuit is constructed. Remember how it’s sewn together so you can use the same sewing techniques (or different ones if you have better ideas) when you sew the new one together.

Step 2: Cut the swimsuit along all the seams. This was easy in this case because it’s only two pieces! I debated whether to also take out the elastic along the arms, legs, and neck, but it was really difficult to get the stitching out, so I left it.

Step 3: Fold the pieces in half and trace around them. Since I didn’t take out the elastic, I added about 1/4” - 1/2” length to the places that had elastic later.

Step 4: Draw the folded edge using a ruler to make sure it is straight.

Step 5: Add seam allowances. I decided to use a 1/2” seam allowance all around. (Here’s where I also added some extra length to places where there was elastic — the crotch and the shoulders.)

Step 6: Cut out the new pattern pieces.

I bought this beautiful blue swimsuit fabric from my friend’s previous fabric store, Cloth Story. It’s smooth like silk yet thick and firm. It’s delicious! For some reason the idea of another blue swimsuit that matches the color of my eyes was appealing. Isn’t it nice to wear clothes that bring out your eye color? Plus, Maycie (the owner) had such cool branding. I love her fabric tags!

Step 7: Cut out your swimsuit fabric. I decided to do a double layer, so I cut two of each pattern piece.

Step 8: SEW!

I sewed the crotch and the shoulders together in such a way that the seam allowance would be hidden within the double layer.

Then I measured the openings of the arms and legs and cut elastic that length minus 2” (depending on the stretchiness of your elastic you may want to cut more or less than that). I did the same thing for the neck opening, except I reduced the length of the elastic by 7” instead of 2” because of the greater length. I used 3/8” wide elastic.

I overlapped the ends of each elastic strip together and sewed them shut. Then I made sure the elastic was evenly distributed by clipping it in place along each opening (this is really important!) and serged it to the wrong side of the fabric.

Then I folded the elastic and the edge of the fabric it’s serged to over once and zigzag stitched along the folded edge with matching thread.

DONE!

Sewing swimwear is quick to sew, I’ve discovered. The fabric is forgiving and fun to sew. It’s a bit slippery and hard to work with, ha, but fun. I didn’t have blue serger thread, so I just used white. But I think blue would look nice. Next time maybe I’ll buy matching thread so the insides will match.

Now that I have the pattern, I can make another one for myself next spring! And the next spring.

Check out this post that shows the finished swimsuit at the pond.

What do you think? Does this make you want to whip out your scissors and elastic right now? I hope so. It’s really a satisfying project.

Blog Posts about the Raspberry Rucksack

So thrilling to see people start blogging about the Raspberry Rucksack! Here are three beautiful blogs with posts about their Raspberry makes.

NOT A PRIMARY COLOR

Sienna is a talented artist and sewist who brings a quality of work with everything she does. It was a real honor to have her test the pattern and she provided really valuable feedback. Aren’t her drawings lovely? Her blog is pretty amazing to have a look through.

Endearing Everyday

Emily has such a beautifully thoughtful approach to sewing. Her thoughtfulness shows in her creations and photographs. I’m so happy we’ve had the opportunity to become friends through sewing in the last few years. She made this beautiful bag and did such a wonderful job on it. In her post she talks about how it was scary at first to start such a big project. I love her honesty because it can be so daunting to start something like a backpack if you’ve never done it before! It’s special to read her words and then to see how beautifully her Raspberry turned out. Such good work!

The German Edge

Edina put together a lovely post about her Raspberry Rucksack and even waxed her own canvas! She also added a side pocket which looks nice and is so practical. And look at her beautiful lining fabric!

Raspberry Rucksack Sew Along Number Three - Popup Pocket

The Popup Pocket on the Raspberry Rucksack is fully lined and may be the most challenging part of the pattern to sew. So rest assured, if you can sew this, you can sew the rest! I’ve taken lots of photos and broken down each step to aid you in smoothly completing each phase of the Popup Pocket construction.

This tutorial is made specifically to accompany the Raspberry Rucksack, but the techniques are applicable for any bag you wish to add a lined popup pocket!

First, make sure you have all the pieces.

• Top Pocket outer layer

• Top Pocket lining

• Bottom Pocket outer layer

• Bottom Pocket lining

• Zipper Ends

• Single Pull Zip - 7” (17.8 cm) for the Little Raspberry or 9” (22.9 cm) for the Big Raspberry

Fold the Zipper Ends in half and press (you can either press with an iron or just firmly with your fingernail). Then fold both ends in toward the center.

Trim off the tails off your single pull pocket zipper (I’m using a cut-to-length zipper so mine doesn’t have tails). At this point, it’s very important to check if the length of your zipper is actually 7” (17.8 cm) for the Little or 9” (22.9 cm) for the Big with the tails cut off. Some zippers are slightly longer than that and will need to be trimmed. Be sure to use one of your not-so-nice scissors to trim the zipper, especially if using a metal zipper

Place the Zipper End directly against the beginning of the teeth and sew them in place. Be careful navigating your needle through the zipper teeth.

Once the Zipper Ends are sewn on, check again to make sure the length of the zipper is still the same.

Top of the Pocket

Place the zipper face down on the right side of the Top Pocket outer layer. Make sure the zipper is centered and has about 1/2” (1.3 cm) clearance on each side. Place the Top Pocket Lining right side down on top.

So just to be clear here, the outer layer and lining are right sides together, and the zipper is sandwiched in between facing the outer layer.

Sew the length of the seam through all layers with a 3/8” (1 cm) seam allowance.

Fold the lining back. Press the seam allowance toward the lining and edge stitch through all layers.

Fold each of the four corners right sides together and mark with a fabric pen where the width across is 1 1/2” (3.8 cm). Sew along the line you marked on all four corners.

It should look something like this with all the corners sewn.

Fold both the outer layer corners toward the center of the long side. Edge stitch both of the outer layer corners along the seam.

Trim all four corner’s seam allowances to 1/4” (6 mm).

Fold the whole piece in half with right sides together so that the corners you just sewed are aligned. Here are some photos of what it looks like from different angles.

With the corners aligned, flatten out the folded bottom edge (this is the zipper flap that will cover the zipper when turned right side out) with your fingers. Sew up the sides leaving a 3” (7.6 cm) gap in the middle. Use a 3/8” (1 cm) seam allowance.

It should look something like this.

Tip: When leaving openings where something will be turned right side out, turn a corner and sew the the edge of the seam allowance. This makes for easier turning with less stress on the fabric.

Turn the piece inside out through the opening. Shape it to look like this with the zipper flap cover the zipper. Give it a good press with an iron. Neatly press in the seam allowances of the opening. Those will be sewn shut when the Popup Pocket is attached to the front of the rucksack.

After shaping it and giving it a good press, stitch along the top of the zipper from outer layer side of the piece.

To do this, I move my needle to the far left side of the foot (not all machines have this option - a zipper foot would work well if your machine isn’t able to change the position of the needle). I place the left edge of the foot right along side the zipper (you can just make out the bump under the fabric in the photos) and stitch along the whole length of the piece going slow and steady.

Here’s a view of the outside and inside of the stitching. You can see from the inside that it just barely catches the edge of the lining. Thankfully no one sees this so it doesn’t have to line up perfectly in the inside. For this stitch it matters more what the outside looks like.

The top of the Popup Pocket is done!

Bottom of the Pocket

Fold the zipper flap up (by the way, the ends of those Zipper Ends can be trimmed off at any point).

Place the whole top pocket piece you just sewed face down on the right side of the Bottom Pocket outer layer. Make sure that zipper flap is folded back so you don’t stitch through it.

Place the Bottom Pocket lining right side down on top.

So to clarify, the lining and the outer layer are right sides together, and the zipper of the top pocket piece is sandwiched in between the two facing the outer layer.

Sew the whole length of the seam through all layers with a 3'/8” (1 cm) seam allowance.

Just like the top pocket pieces, fold all four corners with right sides together. Mark where they are 1 1/2” (3.8 cm) wide and stitch along the line.

It should look something like this.

Again, fold both outer layer corners toward the center of the long side and edge stitch along the seam.

Then trim all four corner seam allowances to 1/4” (6 mm).

Fold the whole piece in half so that the corners of the lining and outer layer you just sewed are aligned.

With the corners aligned, sew up the sides with a 3/8” (1 cm) seam allowance and leave a 3” (7.6 cm) opening in the top for turning the piece right side out.

Trim both bottom corners like so and turn the piece right side out.

Shape it with your hands so it takes the shape of a box and give all the edges a good press with an iron.

Fold the zipper flap back and edge stitch along the seam.

Popup Pocket is DONE!

Raspberry Rucksack Sew Along Number Two - Cutting Pattern Pieces and Fabric

All the pattern pieces of the Raspberry Rucksack are simple rectangles! Here’s what you need to make the pattern pieces.

Firstly, it’s nice to have sturdy paper so the pattern pieces are durable and can be used multiple times. I like to use this brown packaging paper you can find at Joann’s or Walmart or other basic stores. Another good option is freezer paper or any paper that is large enough for the pattern pieces.

Secondly, use a ruler that has a true 90 degree angle. You don’t need to have one of these fiberglass quilter’s rulers, you can use a simple straight edge ruler combined with a piece of typing paper or a book. It’s just helpful to have something that you can use to check if your angles are exactly 90 degrees.

Thirdly, you’ll need a pen and paper cutting scissors.

Starting on a straight edge of whatever paper you are using, make a line perfectly perpendicular to the paper’s straight edge. Once you have one straight line horizontally (the papers edge) and vertically (the line you just drew), you can base all of your measurements off of these two lines.

Using the measurements provided in the pattern and these two lines, cut out all the pattern pieces.

Once all the paper pattern pieces are cut, you can trace them out on your fabric. Trace around one pattern piece and then lay another piece right next to it so they can share the same line. Less marking, less cutting, less fabric!

You can also be strategic about cutting out the fabric pieces. You can lay the lining and outer layer on top of each other and cut both pieces at the same time. Just be sure to check that both pieces have their grainlines going the same direction. You can get away with cutting two layers stacked on top of each other like this, especially if the lining is a thin material like quilting cotton. I wouldn’t recommend also trying to stack interfacing on however. Cut the interfacing separately.

Once all your pattern pieces are cut you can move on to sewing!

Raspberry Rucksack Sew Along Number One - Collecting Supplies

The Raspberry Rucksack pattern is due to arrive March 6th! I’m so excited to release this pattern, and I wanted to give you a head start on the supplies needed. This pattern comes in two sizes, Little and Big. Here is the supply list for each.

Little Raspberry

• ½ yard (0.5 m) - outer layer

• ½ yard (0.5 m) - lining

• 1 yard (1 m) - interfacing

• 3 ½ yards (3.2 m) cotton webbing 1” (2.5 cm) wide

• 2 rectangle D rings for 1” (2.5 cm) webbing

• 2 slide adjusters (non-adjustable) for 1” (2.5 cm) webbing

• 7” (18 cm) single pull zipper

• 22” (56 cm) double pull bag zipper

• 40” (1 m) double fold bias tape 1/2” (12.7mm)

Big Raspberry

• ¾ yard (0.75 m) - outer layer

• ¾ yard (0.75 m) - lining

• 1 ½ yard (1.5 m) -interfacing

• 3 ½ yards (3.2 m) cotton webbing 1” (2.5 cm) wide

• 2 rectangle D rings for 1” (2.5 cm) webbing

• 2 slide adjusters (non-adjustable) for 1” (2.5 cm) webbing

• 9” (23 cm) single pull zipper

• 32” (81 cm) double pull bag zipper

• 1 ½ yards (1.4 m) double fold bias tape 1/2” (12.7mm)

Outer Layer

The outer layer should be a heavyweight fabric such as cotton canvas, waxed cotton canvas, heavyweight denim or corduroy, or upholstery fabric.

This bright yellow is 10 oz duck canvas from Joann’s Fabric and Craft.

Lining

Using simple quilting cotton works well for the lining. You can use any woven fabric as long as it’s fairly lightweight and brings you joy! It’s nice to use a bright fabric on the inside of bags so it’s easier to find things and it’s like sunshine whenever you peak inside.

Interfacing

It’s easy to get overwhelmed in the interfacing department. Don’t over think it. Just choose something medium to thick in stiffness. You want something that has a stiffness similar to thick, nice paper (like card stock) but not something that feels like cardboard. This pattern requires sewing through many layers at one time, so you don’t want to overwhelm your machine with too thick of interfacing.

If you’re using waxed canvas or another stiff outer layer, interfacing may not be needed.

Webbing

It’s nice to use thick webbing for this pattern because it gives the bag a really durable and sturdy feel. Pick your favorite color of 1” (2.5 cm) webbing and make sure it’s the same size as the hardware you’re getting! I like to use cotton webbing because of the nice feel, but you can use nylon or other webbing.

Hardware

Two rectangle D rings and two (non-adjustable) slide adjusters. You can find these in a bunch of styles and colors and materials. Have fun picking something that matches your fabric and is the right size for your webbing.

Zippers

Last and not least, zippers! You need two zippers - a single pull zip for the front popup pocket, and a double pull bag zip for the main compartment. You can use any style of zipper you would like - metal, molded plastic, or coil. This pattern was drafted for a zipper that is 1 1/4” wide (a common zipper width - if you’re ordering online, #5 is the gauge you want to go with.)

Here are some things to know about zippers:

The length of the zipper is defined by the length of the zipper teeth, not the length of the total zipper including the tails on the ends. So if you’re using a cut-to-length zipper, you will want to add an additional 1/2” or 3/4” to each end for some extra breathing room on the double pull bag zip. For the pocket zip, it needs to be exactly 7” (Little) or 9” (Big) and the tails actually get cut off anyway, so you don’t have to worry about adding extra.

It can be somewhat difficult to locate double pull bag zips. Surprisingly difficult actually. Jacket zips are much more common. The good news is that many jacket zips can be turned into bag zips. Let me show you how.

Here is a visual of the difference between bag zips and jacket zips. Bag zips are open in the middle and are closed on the sides (just think of how a duffle bag zips!). A jacket zip is open on the sides and is closed in the middle.

Not all zippers can be changed like this - but molded plastic can! If you have a jacket zip you want to change to a bag zip, simply zip one of the zipper pulls right off the end (you may have to cut the end of the zipper). Then turn the zipper around so you’re holding the open teeth on the other end. Turn the zipper pull around so the wide end is facing the open teeth. Insert each side of the teeth into the wide end of the zipper pull and then slide it on. Be sure to check if the teeth are lined up properly. Sometimes one end gets longer or shorter than the other. Simply take the zipper pull off and reinstall if the teeth aren’t even on the first try.

One more note about zippers. You see how the red zip on the left is 1 1/2” wide and the orange zip on the right is 1 1/4” wide? That has to do with their gauge. See how much larger the teeth are on the red zipper? Online you often see zippers advertised by a number. Something like “Lime green coil zipper #7.”

The red zipper on the left is #10 molded plastic and the orange zipper is #5 molded plastic. For this pattern, #5 is what you want.

Most longish zippers you find in the stores are #5, so I don’t worry too much if you’re shopping local. But if you’re ordering online the numbers can be confusing so bare that #5 in mind.

If you like this orange molded plastic zipper in all these photos, I am going to be offering it for sale when I release the Raspberry Rucksack Pattern!

Here’s another online zip resource with a wide variety of good options and an easy ordering process: Zipper Source.

Bias tape

Bias tape is used to bind the raw edges of the very last seam in the Raspberry Rucksack. You can either make your own out of your lining material, or you can buy double fold 1/2” (12.7 mm) bias tape in a matching or contrasting color! The seam it’s going on has a seam allowance of 3/8” (1 cm. If you’re making your own, the strip should be 1 1/2” (3.8 cm) wide.

That’s it!

You’re well on your way to having your own Raspberry Rucksack! More posts in the sew along series will be trickling on in the next few days as I get ready to launch. Release date is March 6th!