DIY Sunday: Practicalize your bikini

Written by nina 26 August 2012 6 Comments

For my upcoming trip to the Maldives, I was in desperate need for one or two new bikinis since I haven’t had a beach holiday in nearly 2 years and all I had were bathing suits. But the “Sweetie, with your bra size you really have to shop really early in the season and not at the very end of it, I’m afraid we don’t have anything for you” from the friendly shop assistant made me realize I’d have a hard time finding a bikini that fits AND kicks some serious beach ass.

As I grazed through all the notorious chain stores the only thing I could find were endless versions of cute strapless bikinis. Strapless tops are nice, but you’ll regret your choice the moment you’re asked to join a beach volleyball match with cute boys or a cannonball contest by the hotel pool. Then, I remembered the T-Strap-Bra tutorial by Love Aesthetics and thought why not add some broad elastics to a bikini top? The set cost only 6€, so I decided to give it a shot. Here’s how I did it:

What you need:

A strapless bikini of your choice. Or two.

Nice broad elastics. I bought 1,5m at my local market but you can get them at every craft store I guess
Pins
Measuring tape
Scissors
Sewing Machine (or a good hand-sewing needle)
A lighter to fix the edges of the elastics and keep them from ripping apart.

Step 1 – Essentials

Put on some 80ies music. (recommended)

Step 2 – Measure and pin

Put on the top part of your bikini, take a piece of elastic and pin it into position. I recommend trying out different lengths to find out what’s most comfortable to you. Don’t make it too tight, as you can’t edit the straps after half a day on the beach like with normal bikinis.

Step 3 – Sewing

Sew the elastic to your top. Use a jersey needle and a zic-zac stitch a couple of times forth and back to make sure it wouldn’t come off in any situation, because going topless by accident is exactly what we are trying to avoid. Be careful while sewing many layers of fabric. I accidentally broke two needles in the process.

Step 4 – Pimping the details (Optional)

The green bikini I bought had a little detail on the bottom part of the top. I cut it off and replaced it with elastic to give it a more put-together look, as I thought it would look a bit off with only the straps having a different color.

If you’re into it, you can also add elastic to the back closure of your top. For this, make sure the existing closure is not to big for the ribbon. This was the case with my bikini so I didn’t go for it this time and decided to just make it a little bit tighter. Also, when doing this: stitch a line very tightly to the closure to keep both layers of elastic in place.

Step 5 – The bottom

I also added elastics to the bottom. For this simply make a cut on both sides of the panties, cut off a small part and replace it with elastic. Same goes for any kind of ribbons that are sometimes on the side of those panties (see blue bikini above).

Et voila!

It’s as easy as that. There are numerous options, from different types of elastics to a t-shaped strap on the back or even normal straps over the shoulders. I’d be happy to see some variations of yours in the future!