New Patterns! The Zooey Bikini Top & Bottoms

Bikini with Side-tie Bottoms

Bikini with Bow Bottoms!

This is the Zooey Bikini Top. I must say, I LOVE PRINCESS SEAMS. Why? because they make fit alterations so easy! Plain old darts tend to work themselves into points and are not so great for anyone above a C cup. With a full bust seam, you can get more contouring, and I find, that it looks better than just a bust dart. You will see many bikinis with no bust seam lines, but those are really best for very petite ladies.  I personally have just upgraded my pregnancy-boobs to a (*gasp*) G cup, so that just doesn’t work for me. With a little pattern alteration, I can easily make this bikini top fit my ample bosom (full disclosure, I am still a petite lady, ladies with a band size 36+ will need to do more alteration than someone like me, who has a 30-32+ band).  In fact, I made one to wear when i went on vacation… but we had such terrible weather it didn’t make it out of my suit case! Even more petite ladies will find that bust seams are easy to adjust to get a good fit.

The coordinating bottoms can be sewn two ways – side-tie or with an asymmetrical bow. The pattern will show you how to make lined bikini bottoms, but this pattern makes a great bikini cut panty too! I’m planning a pattern hack in the near future to show you how to do that.  This pattern is quite different from the Jane pattern.  The Jane pattern is a similar cut, but is exclusively for woven fabrics.  The Zooey Bikini Bottoms are for stretch knits only! This is my favourite style bottom. I’m actually hoping to make a few pairs of undies using this pattern for myself today.