Sewing swimwear - the question of lining part one for today

Let's talk linings.

One of the differences between a high quality and a not high quality swimsuit is the lining.

Not all are lined completely. Some are lined at the crotch only, some at the front piece only, some have a partial lining in sort of a soft bra, and some are fully lined.

For kids swimsuits I usually line only the front and leave the back, which will still have the front crotch lined, unlined. This is because show through, if there is any, in lighter fabrics is not such an issue. And with kids you have to be careful of not making anything more constricting than possible - with those guys it's all about how it feels first and how it looks second. (Come to think about it if we are honest are the rest of us that different?)

For grown-ups I like to line the whole swimsuit.

The tricky part is getting the right lining.

Being a person who spends a lot of time in the water I am sensitive to this. Hands up if any of you have had a lining that sagged more than the outer fabric when wet. This happens a lot and really is not a great feeling.

Which leads me to these two ideas:

• test your lining wet
• make sure it maintains the same stretch as the outer fabric

For my current and recent projects I have used four different linings:

• For my maternity First Crush suit I used a superb black lining from Halo Fabric Addicts - definitely the best quality lining I have ever used, smooth and soft with virtually the same characteristics as the outer fabric:

•  For my everyday Diane Jalie suits I made for the kids and I this summer I used a swimwear mesh lining I got from Fabric Mart. I liked that it was a bit less restrictive for heavy swimming, important for the kids especially, and in all our fabrics preventing show through was not a problem because the outer fabrics were substantial. Note this is lining is heavier than ordinary fashion mesh and not as stiff as Powermesh. It has the same stretch as the outer fabric when wet too:

• For my yellow parrot suit I decided I definitely needed a real lining to prevent show through in the yellow fabric so I used self-fabric, essentially a second layer of the yellow swimwear, throughout. This is actually my least favourite option as two layers of swimwear can feel a bit heavy, and makes for a slightly more restrictive feeling suit, but always a decent option if you want to make sure that your lining matches the characteristics of the outer fabric obviously:

• Finally for the white and cherries suit for my daughter I am using a traditional beige swimwear lining. This is always the best choice for white fabrics if you are careful to make sure the stretch when wet factor is the same as the outer fabric. I got mine from Halo but fabrics like these are available in most fabric stores:

Now there are lots of folks out there who use Powermesh, which is and behaves exactly as it sounds, as a lining to smooth things over. 

I find Powermesh pretty powerful, too much for my comfort, and I personally have never done this. If I want to smooth anything out I use a swimwear fabric with some texture to it, ribbed ones or those with little bubble texture on the surface like cloque are wonderful for disguising purposes, and feel the same on as the shiny fabrics that catch the light and can be revealing. A style with some shirring accomplishes the same thing.

That said I do have some ambivalence about getting real wound up about worrying how you look in swimsuits.

The pattern choices are so much better than they used to be. Tankinis, skirted options, boys shorts - you no longer feel you have to be trapped in something that will require constant tugging.

Also your body tells your own story and that is just fine the way it is. 

If you have spent decades going to work and then getting dinner on the table, if you have had babies, C-sections, hysterectomies or stood at the counter and ate crackers out of the box with your coat still on when life had thrown you a stressor, and your belly has some jiggles well then world -deal with it. You have done enough of other kinds of dealing.

You are still here and game and that's what matters.

On Thursday my 90 year-old mother is coming down for a visit. 

That woman has game I can tell you. 

I actually got a call from her to ask about the pools we go to. She is bringing her bathing suit because she wants to go swimming with the great grandchildren and wanted to know if there was a pool that a lady who walks down to the grocery store every day with her walker could get into. Fortunately there is, a pool with a slope in and a hand rail, barrier free and wheelchair inclusive, that she says she might use although she doesn't want to go in an "old person's pool" but she wanted us to know that she isn't that good about climbing down into a swimming pool on a ladder anymore. As if we were expecting that.

So don't let anything keep you out of the pool. Particularly the fact you don't have anything snappy to wear.

More on that later.