Bathing Beauties. Sort of.

You guys, I think we can just all agree that twins broke my blog. I mean, right? If wordpress could only create an interface to stick inside of my brain so that all the posts I think through in my head automatically got beamed here…well, that would be weird and creepy, but also efficient. I like efficiency.

I know I should really catch up a bit on all of the life happenings here, but really the idea of trying to actually write it all down makes me want to give up, so lets just pretend I filled in a bunch of details and move on, okay? I’m good. You are good. Husband’s good and kids are good. Good? Good.

You know what is hard? Trying to get pictures of three kids at once that don’t look insane.

I got chosen to pattern test this lovely bathing suit pattern from Amy at Peekaboo Pattern Shop. It’s really cute, and a reasonably straight forward sew.

The only down side of it is that it requires sewing with tulle and swimsuit fabric. In case anyone is wondering, this is a fabric combination made of evil. Other people are probably a lot more patient than me I am guessing….but basically combine impossibly slippery stretchy fabric with fabric that sticks to everything and stretches like mad….and yeah. I will never ever complain about the cost of dance costumes. Ever. Those seamstresses need therapy and danger pay.

But leaving that aside, it’s a really cute bathing suit. (And in the bathing suit’s defense, all bathing suits are made of this nutty fabric. I mean, great for swimming, performance, etc….but BAD FOR IMPATIENT PEOPLE.)

Let me tell you what happened when I tried to photo shoot this though. First, we are stuck in a groundhog day, never-ending ever winter situation up here. So there was NO WAY outdoor photos were going to happen….and if they did they would be of miserable shivering children in a snow bank. Not swimmy.

So I needed an indoor shoot which….fine. I ended up doing it in my room, on our bed (which is white) against the gray wall. It worked pretty well as far as makeshift sets go. I had visions of three sisters jumping on the bed, laughing at each other, playing…I mean, good in theory, right??

But it was pouring rain and dark out, so really hard to get decent light. Which meant getting decently crisp images was not so easy. And for some reason Lucy decided that my bed is The Worst Thing Ever and wanted no part of sitting on it. Or sitting near it. Or doing anything except crying her fool head off. Amazing.

This picture only exists because Lucy was crying so hard she couldn’t sit up. Hurrah!

Talia looked kind of sad and confused for most of it. I couldn’t figure it out for the longest time, because I am very slow. Eventually I picked her up and hugged her and realized her head was hot enough to fry bacon on and hmmm….where is that thermometer anyway?? (104. She had a fever of 104. And I was annoyed that she wasn’t being perkier for the pictures…while she was wearing a bathing suit. During a snow/rain storm. BEST MOM EVER.).

Way to go MOM.

Anika had a blast because she loves to pose and dance and jump on my bed apparently.

She also likes to do posey-dancy-stretchy things.

I like 8 year olds.

In all seriousness, this is a great pattern. It’s fun, there are super clear instructions. And the fit is really solid – it doesn’t pull or fit strangely anywhere. Good butt coverage with and without diapers. (Um…to be clear, the 12 month sizes had diapers under them and the 7 year one did not. Obviously.) I made Anika a size 7, and while it is a little big around the chest, she needed that size for length. Lucy and Talia got 12 month sizes, which is pretty much bang on for them.

If you are feeling inspired or, you know, it’s been awhile since you tried to sew difficult fabrics and you are feeling like taking a walk on the wild side, go for it! I really love how these turned out.