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Fish Leotards and Oops

I volunteered to make 11 leotards for my 5 yo's dance class. They are dancing fishes. I found great lycra, iridescent turquoise & silver in a fish scale pattern,

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and ordered it on Tues. afternoon before class with ground shipping.

I though I would have plenty of time, since the show has always been in late May. At the end of class the teacher handed out an April calendar with the show in two weeks. I'm going to be out of town for 3 days during that time. I'm sure the teacher had actually mentioned that the show would be in April, but it didn't register since it has always been in May.

As soon as I got home, I called back and left a message asking to change the shipping. Thankfully, they did, and the fabric arrived Thurs morning.

I had a pattern to use, Jalie 971, view B

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the boy leg swim suit. I am making it without the strip inset. I also made the back one piece, with a seam at the lower back, but none above the round hole.

Since the fabric doesn't have nearly as much widthwise stretch as the pattern calls for, I have had to grade it for stretch. I also know that this pattern tends to run a bit small, particularly in the hips and length. It also assumes that little girls and women have the same body shape, so I have to take it in in the chest.

Since the shape of the girls in the class varies quite a bit, I have had to make it in slimmer and wider versions as well as a variety of sizes. Adjusting the pattern seems like more work than the sewing.

So far, I have made 5, and I just love them. This lycra looks better in real life than it did in the picture. It is great to sew and they look beautiful. I have used wide elastic at the bottom of the boy legs of the last 2. It makes them look a little odd on the hanger, but they look good on, are more comfortable, and quicker for me to sew that way.

I think I only have to make 8-9 since a few girls have dropped the class. I would like to have 7 done for class on Tues, hand them out and measure whoever is left in the class and doesn't have one. One girl came by today, and hers fit.

I'll try to get some pictures up. But I have to get back to sewing if I can get my toddler off my lap without waking her up.

--Betsy

Reply to
Betsy
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They sound like a lot of fun! Looking forward to the pictures.

Reply to
Kate XXXXXX

Your children sure are lucky to have you to sew for them! Barbara, still in Central Florida.

Reply to
Bobbie Sews More

They are fun. Here are some pictures of the fish leotards, also one with bear leotards I made but didn't post a few months ago.

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I haven't taken any pictures of them on yet, but they look much better when being worn.

At some point I'll get some 2010 spring skating show pics up too. I made tie dye pink/purple leos & purple/silver skirts for a "Purple People Eater" routine. It was meant to be silly. I sewed the purple people eater costume out of a purple dollar store table cloth. The one eye was a silver mylar balloon on which I painted a blue iris and black pupil. The one horn was a dollar store party horn. I attached them to a headband to be worn like antennae.

--Betsy

Reply to
Betsy

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Oh, gorgeous! And I love the teddies! I want one, in a fishy leotard. ;)

Reply to
Kate XXXXXX

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Those are all just darling!!!! The bears are so sweet. And the fish leotards are amazing! Great work, especially on the fly. ;) I hate when deadlines sneak up on me like that. Great work, Betsy.

Sharon

Reply to
Sharon Hays

Thanks, I wasn't so happy with the quality of my construction, but they worked and the girls were happy. The teddy leotards were color coordinated with my oldest daughter's gymnastics team leotards. Most of those girls are teens and consider themselves way to old for dolls.

The pink one I made as a muslin fits a couple of our bears, but my little girls prefer to dress their dolls in it. When I finish the fish leotards, I will be making some doll sized ones out of the scraps. Are you too old for dolls? :)

My oldest who is a competitive swimmer as well as a gymnast is begging for a fishy swim suit and fishy leotard. Maybe I will tack a scrap of the fishy stuff to my suit and test it in the chlorine. Even if it does handle the chlorine, with the foil printing, I will have to use a plain color for the straps and bindings to avoid chafing.

--Betsy

Reply to
Betsy

Thanks, they will be even more lucky if I persevere and teach them to sew to the point that they can make whatever they want on their own.

--Betsy

Reply to
Betsy

When my dolls left home to make some other girls happy, they took with them a wardrobe of over 400 hand sewn historical garments and accessories based on the covers of the Georgette Hayer books! I was about 15 then. But I kept my teddies...

What a good idea! I'll watch for your results, as I've seen some foil print Lycra I's love to use for a swimsuit...

Reply to
Kate XXXXXX

fishy leotard. ;)

but they

Most of

dolls.

my

the fish

scraps. Are

begging

scrap of

if it does

a plain

those are very cool , and my youngest thinks so too

My youngest who happened to see me looking at them recognized them as leotards and thought they looked like fish and wanted one with a tutu ( in our aqua marine sparkly tulle that we use for pretend water ) so she could be a fish princess ?

she says, "all we need is a pan-tern (pattern), right daddy".

is that chlorine safe lycra ? as a swiming suit (for the girls) would be very fun, robb

Reply to
robb

Betsy,

I am totally in awe, these are absolutely amazing. I love the teddies too. What a talent you have, thanks for sharing and inspiring.

Judie

Reply to
Judie in Penfield NY

I have no idea whether it can handle the chlorine. I will be testing it in the therapy warmth pool where I take my 2 yo and will report back in a few weeks. Since the additional chemicals in a therapy pool kill suits rapidly, this should help the testing go faster.

--Betsy

Reply to
Betsy

I will report back, but I think you would probably need to test each one separately to be sure, since foil printing seems to vary quite a bit in stability.

--Betsy

Reply to
Betsy

I took 6 leotards to class yesterday and had the girls try them on at the beginning. Each of the ones I already made has a girl to wear it. I was tempted to make a 7th before class, but I'm very glad I didn't because I would have guessed the wrong size. I'm so glad that none of the ones I've already made will be wasted. One girl will be wearing a plus when she could probably have fit a regular, but thanks to the negative ease planned into it, it still looks OK.

I wrote down all their names and the size they will need. I calculated that I would have to make 3 more leotards, 2 in a length M (about girls

8) plus and one in a length M slim. The smallest girl in the class wasn't there, but I was sure she would fit one of my length I (about a girls 4).

The real pain about it is that I thought I would only need one M plus and cut up the pattern I made for it when I was creating a smaller plus. I knew it was a stupid thing to do at the time, but I gambled and now I will have to recreate it.

About 15 minutes into the class, I took the leotards back to the car and took my other kids to do fun things. We visited a bike shop, fountain and toured the fire station garage. When we got back near the end of class, I counted and there were now 10 girls. I deposited my 2 yo with another mom, and ran back to the car for the leotards, clipboard and tape measure. The smallest girl fit in hers perfectly and the other extra girl fit the M slim. While I would be happy with less than 4 more to make, the sizing is perfect since all the ones I have left to make are the same length and cutting out slims next to pluses is perfect for fabric use efficiency.

--Betsy

Reply to
Betsy

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