Hello internet friends! Today is the last in the 3 part series of pre Bali trip makes and the one that came together the fastest (click here for part 1 and part 2!). A three sisters bikini made in around 24H! 

When I decided to go do a retreat some where tropical, I decided I also wanted to take the opportunity to up my surfing skills through some lessons. I had previously surfed before but only in Tofino meaning I had to wear a full wetsuit since the ocean was so cold. This time, with the tropical waters of Bali, I would just be wearing a rash guard on top of my swimwear so I knew I needed something with decent coverage. While the bikinis I made on my last trip to Bali were still in good form and still fit, I was worried about the low cut of the bottoms while surfing, I didn’t want a missing bottom situation! 

I had some swim fabric that I had previously bought from blackbird fabrics and meant to turn into and additional Sophie swimsuit but I wanted to try something different for this bikini. While I love the support of the Sophie I wanted an underwired bikini with a bit more of a plunging neckline similar to an old RTW bikini top I once had, after doing some searching I landed on the Three Sisters pattern from the Pin Up Girls after seeing some amazing examples on the Bra Maker Supply Instagram. 

Unfortunately this pattern only comes as a printed version, so I had to play a bit of mail chicken and order it while hoping that Canada Post didn’t have any delays. Worst case scenario I figured I could make a high waisted bottom for one of my existing Sophie bikini tops since I had some bits of that fabric left over. 48 hours pre flight the patten arrived in my mailbox and I got started! For this version I decided on the Violet Style from the pattern.

I thought things were going well when within a day I had traced, cut, and sewn the majority of the pattern when I realized I had made a huge mistake….I had meant to sew a size C for the bottoms and a size D for the top but had made a size C in both…….I was devastated and while the C sized cup technically fit, it was too small in the cups and would for sure cause issues while surfing……so I made a game time decision to start again on the top…with just over 24H pre flight.

I was lucky that my flight was a red eye departing at 12:30 am so I had a full day to sew a swim top, get money exchanged, run errands, and pack! No problem right?!?! What’s a vacation with out some panic sewing anyway?? Well reader I was able to accomplish all of that and made a new top with time to spare! I’m so glad that I did because this bikini was a workhorse for my surf lessons! I love the way it turned out! The bottoms were the perfect amount of coverage for surfing and combined with the rash guard I didn’t have any missing bottoms for the few times I got rocked about by some bigger waves. The top was also perfect for coverage and support, it did shift a bit a few times but I think that’s to be expected with surfing.

The only thing I may have changed would have been doing some colour blocking but I didn’t have any matching black swim suit fabric…. I have a bit of this colourful print leftover so I may attempt an additional colour blocked set this summer. I also ended up shortening the the ties by a decent amount since they pretty much reached down to the end of my bum even when tied, it’s a bit a of shame that the pattern doesn’t have different strap lengths for different sizes because it was a of a waste of swimwear elastic and fabric…but at least now I know for next time!

Thanks for following along on my Bali sewing journey! I can’t wait for the warm weather to hit Vancouver so that I can wear these makes again!