As my life was taken over by the marathon training, I parked most things on the back burner of my brain. Even a trip to Tenerife.

So I found myself sewing a last minute bikini (which I had been planning almost for as long as this trip was planned).

Now I wish I could say that I whipped up a perfectly fitting bikini in just a couple of hours, but not it was a labour of almost a week, and it’s far from perfect. It fits (mostly) and, as I told my friend in the airport on the morning we were leaving, I don’t have to swim in the Olympics with it.

I do feel proud, however, to have done my first pattern hack. And also my first bikini.

The bottom is a version of my go-to pantie pattern, Clover boybrief by House Morrigan. I just love this pattern: I can sew a couple of new knickers in a couple of hours – for real this time, and nicely fitting. But since I wanted them fully lined, I needed to figure out how by studying the only bikini I had. Needless to say, I could have search the internet a bit more, and I would have had found this amazing tutorial that, even if it’s not the same pattern, showed how to line it without changing the pattern.

So how this “hack” goes? Well, I attached the half of the gusset to the front, half to the back, and created new pattern pieces. Somehow, it worked out. But that wasn’t even the most dreaded part.

Lining and turning. That’s Korean horror kinda scary. I never get it right, and thanks goodness for the seam reaper.

But again, the amazing tutorial helped me, although I had to play it several times as I couldn’t figure it out. Sometimes my brain just can’t grasp certain things, like for example pro-lifer women or JKR.

Let’s now move up to the top: the Sum It Up (back edition) by George and Ginger. I can’t say I have a favorite bra pattern, because I’ve been using a few different ones from different designers, but I like that there are so many option to choose from. This is only my second attempt, and of a different view. But it was probably sewn in a couple of hours, scattered across the day, once I had all bits cut, it was pretty quick.

I forgot to take a picture before sewing it up, but the tiny little bows were adorable and very satisfying.

How cool would have been that I took pictures of my bikini in the wild in Tenerife? Well, I didn’t. So here’s a picture from my bed back in Dublin.

This rushed sewing project made me realize something: I need to improve my sewing, and not in terms of skills, but attention to details and patience, starting from better fabric cutting, to basting properly, and sewing straight: this is my resolution for 2023.

But since we are still in 2022, it would be totally ok to decide to sew a fancy dress for a Xmas party happening next week, right?