Bathing Suit Cover-Up Tutorial

It's been hot! I have been taking my son to the pool a few times per week. I need some sort of a bathing suit cover-up. However, after I got halfway done with this one, I was discouraged to note it was not going to be flattering on an almost-9-months-pregnant woman.

I will be saving it for when I'm done with this pregnancy in about 4 weeks!

...and after I lose the baby weight and feel like putting on a bathing suit...which could be next summer...

I used three t-shirts to make this cover-up. I determined how much fabric I could use from each shirt (I cut around any printing on the t-shirt to just use plain fabric) and planned a finished length of 35". That meant seven 5" strips. I made the strips 44" wide which was the full width of the t-shirts.

Note: I cut the white strips 6" tall to allow for seam allowance after assembling the strips. I also made sure to use the hem of the shirt at the bottom of the cover-up so I wouldn't have to do my own hem.

After sewing all the strips together and then sewing the assembled strips into a tube, I folded the top strip down about 1/2" and pinned it into place. Then I pressed it.

This will be the elastic casing.

I sewed around the whole top of the pressed-down piece but left a tiny opening.

I cut a strip of 1/4" wide elastic long enough to securely gather the fabric just below armpit level. I inserted my elastic into the casing and ran it through using a safety pin.

I securely stitched the ends of the elastic together.

Then, I sewed the casing shut the rest of the way.

I determined the straps needed to be approximately 18" long. I wanted the straps to be 2" wide in their finished form. I sewed two tubes and then turned and pressed them flat. To attach the straps, I tried on the whole cover-up to determine where to place them. Then I stitched them into place.

Somewhere along the line, I made a belt (I forgot to take pictures). I used leftover fabric from two of the shirts, stitched it together, turned it, pressed it, and sewed the open end together. It's about 3" wide and 44" long.

I made the belt loops 2" x 4". I sewed them together, clipped the corners, turned them, and pressed them flat.

I sort of had to guess where to attach them, but ideally, I would have measured where I wanted the belt to hit. Since my waist feels it is 100x its normal size right now, I just guessed!

Another free project! I love using old t-shirts to make new things. These shirts were such great colors, too.

I can't wait to get my 'regular' figure back so I can try it on. I have found that horizontal stripes are not the most flattering on my pregnant frame.

If you wanted to make this for a toddler or small child, you could just use one t-shirt, not strips. That would allow you to skip the first few steps.