despite my lack of blogging recently, i was flattered to be invited to the summer swimwear tour by Ajaire of Call Ajaire.  she recently released a really adorable swimsuit pattern called the Classic Maillot that is just the pattern i’d been looking for!

it seems that a lot of kid swimsuit patterns i’ve come across seem to be halters, which are adorable, don’t get me wrong, but lately i’ve wanted to start sewing leotards for E’s new gymnastics obsession.  i’d been trying to find a good, simple, one-piece tank-style swimsuit and was coming up empty-handed.  but then, i got an email from Ajaire and the Classic Maillot was just about perfect!  it has 8 views including a tankini and more fun and flouncy tops, but i was drawn to the most basic suit, View A.  

my goal was to check fit and then eventually tweak the pattern a bit to work as a leotard.  they’re expensive to buy, but so simple to make once i have the right pattern!  this is my view of E most of the time these days – she goes to gymnastics 3 days a week and still never stops turning herself upside down when she’s at home.  it’s been pretty fun to watch her learn so much so quickly.

i sewed a size 5 with 1 1/2” added in length (she’s 8 but still tiny).  i added a bit of length to the straps too but ended up taking it back out after trying it on her.  the suit is fully lined and aside from me messing up the zigzagging around the back curve (i topstitched too close to the edge which caused the elastic to flip out a little), it finished really nicely and fits her great!

the front fabric was a gift from my buddy Rachel of Stitched Together.  she made a swimsuit for her daughter out of it two summers ago, and it was super fun seeing exactly where she had fussy-cut the pattern out of the large scrap she sent me!  one of the neatest side bonuses of blogging is that my kids have developed many long distance friendships with other bloggers’ kids.  E and Indigo share a love of animals and silly jokes and have such kind hearts, so it’s now fun that their sewing mamas have made them similar suits, even though i’m sure Indigo has long outgrown hers.  haha.  the back is navy spandex i still had on hand from these suits (so little!).

i worried a bit that the straps might be too wide-set, but they were totally great!  she wore this suit for hours and was cartwheeling and hardstanding and jumping into the pool and even bouncing on our neighbors’ trampoline, and i think i saw it slip off her shoulder ONCE.

great job to Ajaire for writing a pattern I know I’ll return to over and over, and for getting me to blog again!  i’m out of practice and much slower at sewing and blogging after some house remodel projects zapped all of my creative energy for the first half of the year, so i’m a bit late to the tour, but i’m glad to sing the praises of the Classic Maillot pattern.  you can get the pattern HERE in Ajaire’s shop.

happy summering!