I blame Cindy. She pointed this fabric out to me at Spandex House the last time I went there with her for Elizabeth’s meetup, and I could not get it out of my mind for my summer swimsuit. And hey, that’s why I make my own clothes. So I can have whatever I want. And I WANT A LATEX SWIMSUIT! Regardless of whether that is actually a good idea.
I thought that if I use the most boring possible tank suit pattern, it might take away from the fetish aspect. I had a Kwik Sew pattern that I got at the thrift shop a while back that would do nicely. It’s a basic tank suit pattern that is almost certainly oop at this point. I changed up the back so, instead of a regular tank suit back, there are criss-cross straps. Now the straps should stay on my shoulders better.
My first version of this suit did not come out quite right. The body needed to be 1″ longer and the neckline needed to be 1″ higher, but I did not have quite enough scrap fabric to cut another suit. If it had a horizontal seam somewhere, it would have worked, but horizontal seams in general bother me, and horizontal seams in knits make me run screaming to get away. Then this morning I realized how I could cut the back into 2, horizontally, without a seam. It was super quick to make, and fits nicely.
I wrote all of the above before I went to the pool today. After putting the suit through its paces, I am less enamored by it. My biggest fear was that it would be too hot to wear outside the pool because it’s black and the fabric does not breathe. Surprisingly, I did not find this to be an issue, possibly because I spend at least 80% of my pool time in the water. When I was just hanging out with my kids in the pool, it was fine. However, when I tried to swim laps, the water kind of bunched up in my suit in a very odd way and seemed to get kind of stuck there. It was sort of like I was wearing a down jacket, but instead of down, it was filled with water. Or maybe like I was wearing a waterbed. You know how a waterbed kind of wobbles? It felt like my swimsuit was wobbling in the same way. Not really a pleasant sensation. So, even if you really like my suit, be advised that I don’t recommend buying this fabric and making a swimsuit out of it if you intend to wear said suit for actual swimming. On the other hand, I felt supremely cool walking around on the deck in my new suit.
back view
close-up of side seam. This construction allowed me to have a horizontal break in the back piece without a horizontal seam.
All possible photos of me wearing the suit fill me with horror to the point where they remain untaken. This was the only one I could even imagine posing for.
Rolling in Cloth 
20 Comments
Well, at least it’s cool looking!
I think this is my favorite post of yours so far! A latex bathing suit – that’s pretty cool, just the fact that you decided to try it. And you did a great job on the suit too!
Thanks! I am fearless. I will try anything.
Spandex House can really suck you in with all the possibilities, can’t it?
Second what Shams said!
Well, it does look cool. Too bad it fails in the actual use test.
Super cool looking. Love it. Too bad you won’t actually use it.
Elizabeth
http://www.sewnblog.com
So what if you can’t actually swim in it? The suit makes you the coolest Bond girl in the suburbs.
I’m thinking it makes me look like Trinity from The Matrix.
This is not a bad thing!
Do you remember showing me this fabric?
Awesome! You’ll be the coolest looking person at the pool!
Claudine you made me laugh so hard. I know EXACTLY what you mean about the filling with water and I’m sitting here wiping tears from my eyes at Goth Gone Wrong at the pool.
Perhaps as embellishment on a more ordinary and water-friendly fabric?
HAHAHAHA! I now feel compelled to go back and change the title of the post.
Actually, yesterday I added some mesh inserts forming a sort of belt. I’m thinking it may help with drainage issues. I can’t get to the pool to test it out until the weekend.
I think it looks awesome, kind of like if the Matrix went into the pool!
I grew up in California, and for PE in the 9th grade I chose swimming. Why, I am not entirely sure, because I have always been a terrible swimmer. Anyway, I found the most AWESOME swimsuit. It was turquoise and black princess seamed, with the center panels turquoise and the sides black with an exposed zipper in the front. It was out of some sort of neoprene/latex fabric, adding to the scuba look.
Every day when I got out of the pool, I had to pull the elastic away from my legs and drain out the gallon of water it was holding.
But man, did I look good.
I think your swimsuit calls for lounging under an umbrella with a surprisingly sophisticated cocktail.
LOL that’s just what my swimsuit is like! I would think that the quality control people would not allow a swimsuit like this to get manufactured. I guess I’m wrong about that.
That is indeed a supremely cool pair of bathers! I’m imagining that this is something like what Supreme Commander Servalan (Blake 7) would have worn to go swimming. She was one of my favourite childhood heroes. You have inspired me!
That’s me. The Supreme Commander.
ahahaha hilarious. Thanks for the laughs-and good on you for giving it a go. Off to the op-shop with it-it’s probably awesome for someone out there XD
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[…] not perfected, but at least improved to the point where it’s wearable. You may recall my Goth at the Pool fiasco. After that experience, the wheels in my brain started turning, thinking about how I could make […]