We made it to the last day of the Sew Along!! You’ve all been doing amazing this past week. All we have left to do (for both the youth and adult Minute Maillot) is to finish the arms, legs and neckline opening. This consists of three steps, sewing the elastic in a loop, attaching the elastic to the opening and hemming.

Tip: Write on each elastic where you will be adding it, eg: arm. This way you make sure you don’t accidentally add an arm elastic to the leg opening.

I highly recommend sewing the elastic with a wide zig zag stitch to minimize bulk. If you prefer using your serger for this step, you can. It’s just not my first choice. When hemming I love using a wide coverstitch with wooly or bulky nylon in the looper. If that is not an option, a zig zag stitch on your sewing machine will work just as well.

You did it!! All you have to do now is post a picture of your finished Minute Maillot swim suit (modeled or not) in the comments of the day 6 photo of this sew along’s album. Reminder, only photos posted in the comments of DAY 6 photo will qualify for the prize. You are most definitely welcome to share on the wall as well (the SAL group and P4P group). Good luck!

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 1

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 2

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 3

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 4

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 5

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 6

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 7

Almost there! Today the project will take swim suit shape when we stitch the side seams and the bottom seam. woohoo! 🙂 Grab your lining and main swim and let’s get started!

If you are making the partially lined version then your lining side seams are already sewn from day 3. For the fully lined option you will lay the lining and main fabric similar to the way you did the shoulder seams yesterday. ALWAYS triple check with the pattern instruction before stitching the side and crotch seam to make sure all layers are placed correctly.

Ruffles 

If you added ruffles to your little one’s Minute Maillot today you are adding them to the swim suite. I recommend using a disappearing pen like the Frixion to mark the placement of the ruffles.

Tip: use a Wash away Wonder Tape to keep your ruffles in place when while sewing them on with a zig zag stitch. It will not gum up your needles and as soon as the suit hits the water it will disappear.

Here is day 5’s video. Take a look and once you finish sewing the side and crotch seam, snap a picture of your progress and post it in the comments of day 5 photo of the MM sew along album.

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 1

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 2

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 3

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 4

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 5

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 6

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 7

Good morning, friends! Today is a short, quick sewing day. We are only sewing the shoulder seams. You can do this step on your sewing machine using a triple stretch stitch or a lightning bolt stitch or you can use your serger.

The most important thing is to layer the pieces exactly as instructed in the tutorial. This is imperative to ensure that the seam allowance in enclosed and feels comfortable against your skin. If you are adding the bust lining AND full lining you will have 6 layers at the shoulder seam, instead of 4.

Below is today’s video. Once you finish your steps post a picture in the comments of day 4 photo of the Minute Maillot SAL album in the Sew Along group.

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 1

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 2

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 3

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 4

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 5

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 6

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 7

Ahoy, pirates! On day 3 of our sew along we sewing the bust lining if you are making the adult Minute Maillot and/or prepping the ruffles if you are doing the youth swim suit. You will need the bust lining if you do not want to fully line your MM or if you want to add cups to a fully lined one.

Bust lining

Note: If you are sewing the low back option you will have 3 pieces for the bust lining, one for the front and two mirrored ones for the back. For the mid and high back the bust lining is only two pieces, one front and one back.

For extra support, I have decided to add cups to my bust lining. The cups should be sewn to the wrong side of the bust lining, this way when worn, they will be sandwiched between the main print and the lining.

Ruffles

Tip: When gathering the ruffles use two rows of stitching 1/4″ away from each other. This will yield uniform gatherings and a “back up” should the one of the stitching break.

Take a look over the day three video below and post  picture of your progress in the comments of day 3  picture of the Minute Maillot SAL album.

 

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 1

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 2

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 3

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 4

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 5

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 6

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 7

Welcome to day 2 of our Minute Maillot sew along. Today we will be choosing the fabric, cutting it and gathering all necessary notions. To make the MM you will need swim fabric, lining, swim elastic and optionally power mesh or swim cups.

Judy made this very in depth video about various swim fabric, notions and how to accurately take your measurements to create the perfect custom swim suit. I highly encourage you to watch it:

For my Minute Maillot I decided to go with a gorgeous nylon swim I got from Boho Fabrics. I will be making the low back, mid front, high leg option with a bust lining. I am using solid black swim, also from Boho, for lining and cotton swim elastic for the arms, legs and neckline.

The Day 2 video is posted below. Check it out and once you are done cutting your fabric post a picture of your prepped fabric in the comments of the Day 2 photo of the SOS SAL album in the M4M & P4P Sew Along group.

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 1

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 2

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 3

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 4

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 5

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 6

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 7

Welcome to the Minute Maillot

Sew Along!

Day 1 is for purchasing the patterns, printing and cutting the size(s) you need. If you plan on sewing for yourself you can get the Minute Maillot here, if you’re sewing for your little one, the Youth MM can be purchased here and if you’re sewing for both of you (just think of the mommy and me matching outfits!) you can get the bundle.

This Sew Along will take place in our M4M & P4P Sew Along group so be sure to join the group not only for the exclusive discount code available for the patterns but also to post your progress this week. As always all daily posts will be here on the blog but you’ll be checking in with your completed steps in the group.

This sew along is sponsored by Boho Fabrics. Emily has graciously offered our pirates and mermaids a discount. Code MAILLOT20 (valid until July 14th) will save you 20% off swim fabrics, notions and mesh in case they needed other supplies for the perfect suit 😊 (Happy hour bundles are excluded from the sale code since they are already discounted )

Now that you have your pattern printed, time to cut the correct size(s). Patterns for Pirates drafts for 5’5″ height for the Women pattern so do not forget to adjust for height too. For swimwear, especially one piece swim suites like the Minute Maillot it’s important to measure your trunk as well. Measure inside shoulder, across your bust, down through your legs, over the booty and back up and over the shoulder.

P4P has an amazing blog that gives you tip for accurately taking your measurements. You can read all about it here. If your measurements put you in a different size for bust/waist/hips be sure to check out our P4P University blog and grade to achieve the perfect fit.

The Basics of Sewing Swim blog post has a lot of useful information, especially if you’re making swimwear for the first time.

Check out the day 1 video below and then comment “done” on the Day 1 picture of the SOS knit pants SAL album in the sew along group. We don’t allow pictures of the pattern pieces so this will count as your day 1 check in. Let’s get started!

 

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 1

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 2

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 3

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 4

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 5

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 6

Minute Maillot SAL | Day 7