DIY Pistachio bandeau bikini

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Summer is almost over and, not to forget the blue sea and the golden sand beaches, here is the bikini I sewed up in July and I wore this summer on holiday.

It’s made up of a bandeau top and a string bikini bottom, both lined. The main fabric is a pistachio Lycra with a vintage texture that I bought in a local shop here in north Italy. It cost just 2 € for 50 cm (50 cm are enough to make a bikini like this). The lining is instead a light cream Lycra, bought at the same shop for 2 €. So I spent 4 € for the fabrics of this bikini…a good deal!

I designed the pattern on my own starting from a size 42 (Italian) block pattern I drafted over Swimwear pattern making classes included in the professional pattern making course I attended last year.
I used a 7 mm wide washable white elastic and two 8 cm high plastic stays for the bandeau.
I used the overlocking machine to finish the edge and to apply the elastic and the zigzag of my sewing machine for finishing the pieces up.

The bandeau has two strings on the back and it’s lined only on the front. I inserted the two side stays in two channels I made up with a simple pink cotton ribbon, 2.5 cm high. I folded the ribbon and pressed it to make a channel. I sewed it on the bandeau top with two parallel seams. Then I inserted the stays and closed the channel with two small seams above and below the stay, to fix the stay inside the channel.

I made also a long string for the bandeau, so I can wear the top as a conventional bandeau or tying the central part of it with the string to the neck.

The string bikini bottom is lined on both sides instead.

Here are a few pictures of me wearing the bandeau bikini…

I also like mixing my bikinis together and I’ve often matched this two pieces with other bikinis’ pieces I’ve already had in my wardrobe. Here is an example…the pistachio bandeau with a black bikini bottom.

After this amazing holiday in the south of Italy, I’m ready for new projects…autumn projects this time…