How to Make a Mix and Match Swimsuit with Fill-A-Yard

‘Tis the season for handmade swimsuits! Whether it’s a trip to your local beach or backyard kiddie pool, there’s no wrong way to soak up some sun when you’re wearing a me-made suit. Want to sweeten the deal? Make it a mix-and-match suit like Wilmington, North Carolina based sewist Morgan Sitton. See how Morgan made four different swimsuits (with eight total mix-and-match combinations!) for her growing family using two yards of Sport Lycra and the Fill-A-Yard® Cheater Quilt template,

Featured design: Bone Stripes on Red Rust

Morgan: This swimwear project comes on the heels of a very similar project I completed last summer for our son Fletcher, aka Biscuit boy. I had a vision for versatile swimwear that could offer full sun coverage when necessary, less coverage in shadier situations, and could coordinate without being super matchy-matchy. We’re a bunch of water babies so I knew I wanted more than just one option for when things needed to be laundered, but also didn’t want to spend big money on items I knew I could make myself. I turned to Spoonflower for their unique designs (and because I grew up 20 minutes from their manufacturing facility—makes me proud!) and settled on a solid and sea creature theme that believe it or not, still generally fits our chunky now 30 pound toddler! 

Featured designs: Gray Green by erin__kendal and Shark by katherine_quinn

This year I declared that making the season’s swimwear would be a new “to-do by Easter” tradition and I’d document the ins and outs of the design selection, printing process, sewing pattern choice, and eventually the final products! I have a passion for reducing textile waste in the form of sewing worn out or unwanted clothing into new clothes for kiddos + babies, and Spoonflower’s goal to only produce what’s needed speaks to my sustainable soul. I highly recommend anyone interested in their on-demand, sustainable, water-based printing process do a little research via their site.

With our second babe on the way I was even more excited then before to find designs and colors that could coordinate while also checking the above-mentioned boxes. I quickly settled on four designs by Erin Kendal because she has so many easy-to-coordinate options also available in more than one color!

Since each swimsuit pattern (more on that below!) didn’t require a full yard of each design I chose to use the 2 Yard Cheater Quilt Fill-A-Yard template. This allowed me to print four different designs on two yards of Sport Lycra, the perfect choice for swimwear. I knew I’d be challenging myself with the stripes being a directional design but felt up for the challenge. When setting up the Fill-A-Yard project, I made sure the two rust designs were touching and the two mustard designs were touching just in case I needed to squeeze parts of pattern pieces out of the “wrong” design. Spoiler alert: I did.

Don’t miss these top tips for making the most of Fill-A-Yard!

Before and after cutting out my pattern pieces.

Featured Sewing Patterns

Now for the sewing patterns: I decided to keep things consistent and make the same patterns from Brindille & Twig for Fletcher and babe on the way. Bonus: Two of the three patterns I used are free digital downloads!

Ringer Tee (free pattern) – available in sizes 0M – 6T and includes a short and long sleeve option
Bummies (free pattern) – available in sizes Preemie – 3T
No-cuff Harems ($7.50) – available in sizes Preemie – 6T

Since I was sewing with a stretchy material I completed most seams with a serger/overlocker, but a regular sewing machine set-up with a ball point needle and zigzag stitch is also totally acceptable! If you were to sew a stretch material with a simple straight stitch, the material would no longer stretch.

Take a closer look at the ins and outs of sewing swimwear.

I highly, highly recommend testing patterns (making a muslin) before cutting into your Spoonflower fabric, especially when wonky toddler bodies are involved! After testing the 2-3T patterns on Fletch I needed to take a few inches in on the length of the harem pants and shirts, then also the waist and length for the bummies. The leg holes were right on the money. I don’t think these are pattern flaws whatsoever; kiddos just don’t come all the same size! Had I not made a muslin, I’m not sure I would have had enough material to make all of the 2-3T items and I definitely would have wasted some precious material!

A quick try on before hemming!

With these patterns I was able to make a pair of harem pants, a long sleeve top, short sleeve top, and bummies in both the rust and mustard colors; 2-3T in rust for Fletch and Preemie/0-3m in mustard for our little one on the way because I make itty bitty babies and want these to get used this summer! In case you didn’t catch that, I can make four different swimsuit combinations for each child using just two yards of fabric.

I opted to not put cuffs on the tops to ensure I would have enough material and to keep things simple. Instead of the cuffs I serged/overlocked all the raw edges, folded them under, and then top-stitched with a zig-zag stitch to secure in place.

Our sea-Biscuit has already put miles on his swimwear between his backyard pool and quick dips in the ocean, and the itty bitty mustard pieces are on a shelf patiently waiting to be worn by someone we can only pray also loves the ocean as much as we do! I have chronicled this project in even more detail in my Instagram stories that are saved to a Spoonflower highlight. I would be so happy to share any other project details with anyone who may have questions for me!

Ready to make your own mix-and-match swimsuit? Search for summer-inspired designs in these collections curated by the Spoonflower community!

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