Pants Hiatus, Another Tankini!

But first, here's a funny pic of Drew crossing the Spartan finish line - he and Dean made it in 4 hours, 45 minutes with a pulled Achille's tendon and lots of leg cramps. This face looks happy, though!


And remember I mentioned buying my SIL's mother's vintage Singer? Well I had to make room for it, so I bought this awesome "kitchen island" from Target last weekend and put it together myself. (I have now assembled 3 pieces of sewing furniture - I AM the woman!) Had to put it in the closet because there's no room in the guest bedroom to keep it out, but one day it will be a showpiece!


And it holds 2 machines! Love it.


Now the Singer was apparently made in 1953-54, Elizabeth, did you know that? It's at the shop being serviced, and I can't wait to sew something on it! It weighs about 300 pounds - very solid. I'll have to look up how to thread it, because there are no handy arrows to tell you where to go next, and I think I did it wrong the first time. We'll see....


In other news, cleaning up the sewing room to make room for another machine set the mojo off, plus we're going on an anniversary trip to the Bahamas, so I needed a new suit! The last black tankini I made is fine for hanging around the dock, but the cover-stitched seam was pretty horrendous, so I wanted to try again. Same pattern, though, with some funky fabric I bought last year from Joann. Uh, why do my front and back not match up? Apparently you sew the upper top to the lower top with more than a 1/4" seam allowance, because this didn't work out at all!


That was all the fabric I had, so I made it work like Tim Gunn would, and gathered the upper front, which added a ruched element, I guess. Or it just looks horrible, I can't figure out which. I didn't want it skin tight anyway, because I haven't been running in a week and have been snacking too much.


Lucas thinks the black bottom doesn't match, so he recommended a purple bottom, but it's not the same shade. Kid must be color-blind or something. I did plan to wear this top with my pink bottoms from a couple of years ago - the palm trees match.


I really think that looks okay, to be honest, and it's funny that Jake's posing in the same direction.


(You knew you were going to see this suit with the purple Ivanka's, right?!) One question - should I keep the little tie in the center that's kind of floppy...


or shorten it to a band, which might reveal my poor fit? ("I'm Miss Alabama, and I believe the children ARE our future!")


Okay, so I'm also attempting a one-piece if I have time - what patterns have you tried that you like? I'm thinking Kwik Sew 3153 or 2962, and possibly McCall's 6759 - would love the Jalie one-piece but I don't have time to order it...