I wanted to share my small swimwear DIY, and then talk about picking cheap bikini bottoms for your pricier bra-sized bikini tops. But before that, a quick reminder: have you entered the Ruby jewellery give-away yet? I'll be picking six winners, any maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones who gets to pick one of seven different beautiful pieces!
I own an older bikini set from Ewa Michalak. I love it to bits, but always wish the bottom was higher-cut. When my Freya Soda one-piece stopped fitting me in the cups, I realised it was the exact same shade of red as the Ewa Michalak suit. So I decided to refashion it into a high-waisted bikini bottom.
I cut off the bottom part, so that the bottoms would end an inch or so below the navel. Then I folded the top over once and sewed it with a zig-zag stitch (which is elastic). It is important to use a jersey needle on the machine, so as not to poke large holes into the fabric (the jersey needle sort of slips in between the threads instead of cutting though them). Because this suit has a lot of lycra, I didn't use an elastic, but you might want to if the bottoms fall off.
I also scrunched the bottoms on the back, because I find the look extremely flattering. Just watch out: this makes the bottoms quite low-cut at the back (if you scrunch all the way). I was lazy and simply pulled a thread through, but then the scrunch was very uneven. So I did a backstitch by hand to keep the folds in place. But my seamstress friend told me the right way would be like this, this would make the scrunch stable and stretchy.
My point here is that it is already hard enough to buy bikini tops in your bra size, in a style that works for your breast shape and appeal to your aesthetic sense. And very often the matching bottom is in the wrong style, or simply quite pricey. An alternative can be buying a cheaper piece that goes with your top, or even hacking off a one-piece.
If you choose a bottom in a different colour and you have a hard time seeing which colours go together and which don't, these simple rules might help you out.
You can also add elements to tie both pieces together, for example buy cute buttons in exactly the same colour as the bikini top and sew them onto the bottom.
I really suggest looking for matching bottoms in brick-and-mortar stores as opposed to online, since it is really difficult to match the exact shade through a monitor.
Over to you: do you mix and match bikinis? What is your favourite bikini in your bra size?
I own an older bikini set from Ewa Michalak. I love it to bits, but always wish the bottom was higher-cut. When my Freya Soda one-piece stopped fitting me in the cups, I realised it was the exact same shade of red as the Ewa Michalak suit. So I decided to refashion it into a high-waisted bikini bottom.
I cut off the bottom part, so that the bottoms would end an inch or so below the navel. Then I folded the top over once and sewed it with a zig-zag stitch (which is elastic). It is important to use a jersey needle on the machine, so as not to poke large holes into the fabric (the jersey needle sort of slips in between the threads instead of cutting though them). Because this suit has a lot of lycra, I didn't use an elastic, but you might want to if the bottoms fall off.
I also scrunched the bottoms on the back, because I find the look extremely flattering. Just watch out: this makes the bottoms quite low-cut at the back (if you scrunch all the way). I was lazy and simply pulled a thread through, but then the scrunch was very uneven. So I did a backstitch by hand to keep the folds in place. But my seamstress friend told me the right way would be like this, this would make the scrunch stable and stretchy.
My point here is that it is already hard enough to buy bikini tops in your bra size, in a style that works for your breast shape and appeal to your aesthetic sense. And very often the matching bottom is in the wrong style, or simply quite pricey. An alternative can be buying a cheaper piece that goes with your top, or even hacking off a one-piece.
How to pick a matching bikini bottom:
It is not easy to find a bottom in exactly the same shade as your top. However it is also hard to make a bottom in a different colour and style look deliberate. Black bottoms go with most tops. Also versatile are bottoms that look like denim, because in most people's eyes denim is a neutral and goes with almost everything. If your top has a pattern, you can pick any of the colours from the pattern and get a solid bottom in that colour (and vice-versa, if you are getting a patterned bottom to a solid top.).If you choose a bottom in a different colour and you have a hard time seeing which colours go together and which don't, these simple rules might help you out.
You can also add elements to tie both pieces together, for example buy cute buttons in exactly the same colour as the bikini top and sew them onto the bottom.
I really suggest looking for matching bottoms in brick-and-mortar stores as opposed to online, since it is really difficult to match the exact shade through a monitor.
Over to you: do you mix and match bikinis? What is your favourite bikini in your bra size?
