In my research, I realized that very few bloggers who posted pictures of themselves made the larger sizes. Also, none of them are that short! I wondered how much I should shorten the pattern, which is made by someone who is 5'6", while I am 5'1". I ended up shortening it only 2 inches.
Going into the pattern, I knew beforehand that I would make a couple changes. First off, no matter how much people raved that this was a "modest" suit, there was no way I would be as modest as most of these other bloggers. Either I would spill out the center of the plunging halter, or out the top of the maillot. I planned on making a couple modesty adjustments. Also, I wanted more support, so I knew I would be inserting foam cups at the least. I wanted to use an old bra for its underwirse, but I'm still nursing, so none of them fit. I just went with the cups. I had plans for using boning, but once I was making it during the baby's naptime today, that went out the window in favor of finishing it quickly. I figured the halter would be more supportive, so I chose that view, and I made the triangles larger so they could cross over. I also put them a bit further back on the sides to eliminate the side boob problem of my last bathing suit. I had the idea of using white buckles on the straps for some contrast.
After I put together the whole polka dot body, I tried it on. The suit was horribly short! I have a pretty short torso, so I was pretty disappointed with that part of the pattern. I ended up adding a five-inch band to the top, which doesn't really show with the polka dots. So--wow! I probably could have just added four inches, but I wanted to make sure I had enough. If I make it again, I'm actually going to have to add a couple inches to the length.
The finished suit looks really nice. One advantage of following an actual pattern is that it tells you how to sew a swimsuit correctly, especially with the seams! My last swimsuit doesn't look nearly as polished. My husband thought this looked store-bought.
When the suit is actually on me, I'm not sure how flattering it is, but then again, how flattering is anything going to be when I'm at a weight I'm unhappy with? I lost all my baby weight months ago with hard work, but now I've stopped working as hard, and well, you don't lose weight unless you work!
I cropped out my legs, which are my least favorite thing to show off. The back view is also not super flattering in the picture I took. Overall, I think I'm happy with the end result. My husband thinks it's cute. My baby likes to grab the halters and yank on them. My kids think it's super cool. I wouldn't mind trying view A, though I would extend the neckline higher and definitely have more support then just foam cups.
Your suit looks awesome.
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