Suit Up For Summer 2020 – a Swimwear Fabric Tour

One of my favorite blog tours is back for 2020 – Suit Up For Summer – and it’s all about Raspberry Creek Fabrics’ swimwear 2020 collection! You know how much I love swim sewing, so swim fabrics are a staple at our house and I’m happy to report that the new line is sooooo good!

When Bean had her choice of which of the new fabrics to pick from, of course she immediately chose the cheetah print which I was secretly thrilled about. It’s a medium sized print so it’s not too busy and the background has a slight blush coloring to it that I was really drawn to.

Lately she’s not a huge fan of pink (it’s still all purple all the time around here) so we decided to pair her cheetah print with the tangerine orange microstripe and they fit so well together. She LOVES the combo and can’t wait to wear her new tankini at the pool this summer…. prayers that this crisis is over by then cause I don’t have the heart to tell her there might not be swim team!

This is the newest pattern I’ve been working on and it’s been “on the way” for almost two years now haha! But I’m finally back in the design game with three patterns on their way this spring, so look for a late May-ish release for this one as well. Bean is super into the dramatic flutter sleeve and since she’s not into ruffles anymore it’s a way to make her swimsuit super cute, but not too “girly”. My new pattern sizing goes up to 16 (and includes the elusive sizes 9 and 11 as well!) so her tween opinions are happily taken into consideration.

The bottoms are actually reversible and they have the microstripe on the other side which is fun. I’m hoping to get a post up soon for how I do my reversible swim bottoms so keep an eye out for that if it interests you. These are a size 9 which are a tad big on her now, but I know they’ll fit just right before long because her hips are right at the edge of the size 8. The top I made in an eight since her chest and waist measurements are more suited to the 8.

Since Kitty doesn’t have opinions yet and I super LOVE the pink microstripe, I had to have it for her swimsuits. It goes perfectly with the cheetah print and it’s just so pretty. Even Bean said it was the cutest combo.

I made her a Sash Swimsuit in size 12 months since she’s a little petite for her 16 months and her trunk measured right on the 12 month size. I couldn’t help but add in the short sleeve cause I love how it looks on those chubby arms. Plus it added a little more pink microstripe to the look, which is of course a win.

You guys, I can’t even handle that cheetah sash on a baby. It’s so stinking cute. I think I’ll make a version with the cheetah as the main and the pink as a sash as well, cause I can’t get enough of baby swimwear.

Speaking of baby swimwear, here is how I handle dealing with swapping out swim diapers for regular diapers and the general diaper change. It’s a massive pain to get a wet bathing suit off and on for quick changes, so I add a simple snap panel to make the job easier.

It’s amazing how happy those little snaps make me haha! It’s so much easier to get the baby in and out and not too much extra work when making the swimsuit. Again, I hope to post about this soon so let me know if you have any specific questions and the new flutter sleeve pattern will definitely include this option!

So I only made two swimsuits for the girls, though I have plans for many more before summer. With everyone home these days, my sewing time has dwindled so even though swimwear sewing is super fast for me, I was only able to complete two of the collection I have in my mind. So keep an eye out over on Instagram, because I’m sure to post there with the rest of my swimwear 2020 makes! And if you’re looking to sew some swim of your own, I’m still offering 50% off ALL of the patterns in my shop until the end of March when you use the code SD2020. We all need a little bit of happy right now and these swimsuits are doing the trick for me!

You can also use the code SWIMTOUR for 15% off swim fabrics over at Raspberry Creek until Friday, so grab these three before they’re gone cause you NEED them in your life! There’s also a black microstripe, that I regret not having in my hands, hehe.