I’ve made another Sandpiper Swimsuit in my continuing love affair with Helen’s Closet‘s patterns! I made significant changes to my first one/set (?) and I had to make other changes with this one. The fabric was the second one I bought from Fabriques. Like the other one, it’s not that high quality but good enough for another wearable toile. This fabric also has a leaf print on it, but with added toucans!

I originally made the size 6 but realised when I went to cut out this second one that I had misread the high bust measurement for the full bust measurement so for this one I made a size 2. I still did have to take it in a bit – 2cm extra off the shoulders; 2cm extra off the top side seams, grading out to 1cm 7cm from the bottom; 1cm off the bottoms side seams. And of course I had to shorten the hem/waist bands by the equivalent amount.

The other main change I made was to reduce the width of the hem band and waist bands by half – I just folded the pattern pieces in half lengthways. I felt like they basically met in the middle on the first one and it looked more like a one-piece – not that I’m against one-pieces, but that wasn’t what I had made! I’m really pleased with how this change worked out – any more of a gap and I think I would feel a bit exposed honestly! I won’t be making the low rise bottoms any time soon!

I think I did a better job of applying the elastic this time around. Someone commented on my previous blog post (about my first sandpiper) to be aware not to overly stretch the elastic – which I think I definitely did the first time. I still had to stretch it a bit obviously, so it still looks a bit weird when it’s not on a body, but it’s not as extreme as with the other one. I do realise, however, that the crotch looks rather wrinkled so I think I need to shorten the gusset next time I make this pattern. Don’t judge me but I have some more swimsuit fabric ready to be sewn into more Sandpipers!

Sorry if you can’t really see the toucans by the way – they are there, I promise! I also love the little accents of orange to give it a bright, Summery vibe.