Is it time to refresh your swimwear wardrobe? We’ve got you covered! At Cashmerette, we know that curvy sewists deserve stylish, well-fitting swimwear—which is why we developed our incredibly versatile Ipswich Swimsuit and published an entire course all about swimsuit making for curves.

In this post, we’ve rounded up all of our best swimsuit sewing tips and tricks; from adding a swim bra to any swimsuit pattern to hacking our Ipswich Swimsuit into a tankini—plus an exclusive preview of our Swimsuit Making for Curves class!

We know that making swimsuits can be challenging: which fabrics are best? What stitches do I use? Do I need a serger? We cover all that in this video. Bookmark anything else in this post you find useful, so you can go back to it while stitching up your new swimsuits!

If you want to truly immerse yourself in these techniques, there’s always our best-selling workshop “Swimsuit Making for Curves“!

How to Sew a Swimsuit: Fit Resources and Stitch Types for Swimwear

To sew swimwear successfully, you need two things; great fit and proper technique! The most perfectly stitched garment is useless if it stays in the drawer, and we want our well-fitting garments to look professionally made!

Cashmerette patterns (including the Ipswich Swimsuit) are designed to give curvy sewists a head start on fit.

• We’ll get you started out on the right foot with our size calculator.
• If you’re like most sewists, you’ll need to grade between sizes. Use this guide to grading between sizes on the Cashmerette Ipswich Swimusit.
• If swim and activewear is new to you, check out this blog post all about negative ease—which is super important when choosing your swimsuit size!

If you’re unfamiliar with knits and spandex fabrics, it can be hard to know where to start as you construct your swimsuit. Check out this snippet from our Swimsuit Making for Curves workshop where Jenny explains the different stitches used when you make a swimsuit for yourself. Guess what- you don’t have to have a serger!

Swimsuit Pattern Hacks from Cashmerette

We just can’t help ourselves! Even when we develop, design, test and release a pattern, we can’t stop there! If you own our best-selling Ipswich Swimsuit, you should check out these hacks:

• How to Hack the Cashmerette Ipswich Swimsuit into a Tankini: The Ipswich Swimsuit comes in two views; View A is a one-piece and View B is a two-piece, but sometimes we want something in between. Our free expansion pack includes a peplum add-on for the two-piece version of the Ipswich, making it an even more versatile pattern!
• How to Add a Shelf Bra to the Ipswich Swimsuit: In this post, we show you how to simplify the Ipswich from an under-wired bikini top or one-piece into a suit with a shelf bra. This is a great option if you don’t need the level of support that an underwire provides, or if you make a suit for someone else who doesn’t!
• How to Add a Swim Bra to a Swimsuit Pattern: Before we developed our own pattern for a curve-loving swimsuit, Jenny hacked her way into a supportive swimsuit by adding a bra herself. This can actually be relevant when increasing support in a ready-to-wear swimsuit too!
• How to Hack the Cashmerette Belmont Leggings into Swim Shorts: If you want a little more thigh coverage (bye bye, bikini-line maintenance!), you can hack the Belmont Leggings into swim shorts! Swim shorts are also nice for water sports or to provide more protection from the sun!

Preview the Swimsuit Making for Curves Sewing Workshop from Cashmerette

Want to take a deep five (pun intended) into swimsuit making? Let Jenny be your guide in Cashmerett’s Swimsuit Making for Curves Workshop

How to Shop for Swimsuit Making Supplies

Getting into sewing activewear and swimwear is an exciting time in your fabric-shopping life– so many fun prints and finally, suits that fit your curves! However, if you’re having trouble sourcing supplies, you’re not alone.

We’ve got a post all about sourcing swim supplies here, with info about these essential supplies:

• Swim Lining Fabric– depending on your main fabric color and opacity (and where it’s going on your body), you may want to line your entire swimsuit or just part of it.
• Swim Bra Supplies– a supportive, well-fitting swimsuit is worth the time and effort, but you need to know where to go for the right kind of foam and underwires.
• Main Fabrics– from pretty to protective, this is the most fun part of shopping for your swimsuit!

Have you sewn a swimsuit for yourself? Share your most valuable advice for new swimuit-stitchers in the comments!