Ever since I saw the Chloe version a few years ago I’ve yearned for a scalloped bikini – to me they seem like the perfect (ultra feminine) beach attire. Although this style seems to be everywhere this season (here, here and here), I’ve always wanted to make my own, however deciding on the right method and finding a black bikini I was willing to sacrifice has taken longer than it should (two/three years even!). When I was trying to work out the best way to do this I had soooo many different ideas, from cutting lycra into scalloped trim to cutting the actual bikinis themselves into scalloped shapes, but at the end of the day I knew that unless I could hem the lycra (tricky) those options would only be good for one or two wears, which wasn’t what I was looking for. Read on to see how I did it!
Wearing: DIY scalloped bikini, Madewell silk boy shirt, Whistles denim shorts, Coach watch, Horseshoe necklace.
You need:
- A triangle bikini set
- Matching polyester Rik Rack (curly trim) 1cm/half inch wide or more. If you can find it with some stretch opt for that version, if not that’s ok. Mine had a little bit of stretch but not much. Make sure to get polyester so it doesn’t shrink in the water.
- Pins
- Scissors
- Needle and matching thread
How to:
1. Measure the rik rak to your bikini size. In addition to doing this on the floor (as shown below) I put the bikini on and measured it that way. Lucky for me the reinforced edge of the bikini didn’t seem to stretch too much which was great for attaching the rik rack – too much stretch can lead to puckering.
2. Cut the rik rack to suit – I added a few more inches for each piece which I later trimmed off. When you trim the rik rack make sure to singe the ends with a lighter (carefully run the flame back and forth over the ends) or they will fray like crazy.
3. Now pin the rick rack to the underside edge around the bikini. What you want is the scalloped part to show without showing any hole.
4. Pin the top and the bottom. You can choose to put the trim where ever you want – I put it around all the edges but you can put it along the top of the bikini bottoms or just the sides. I suggest when you are doing this to put the top and bottoms on and pin that way – this will then allow for any stretch in the bikini. You will notice when you take it off the rik rack seems to be too big, but that’s just the lycra of the bikini stretching back.
5. Using your needle and thread sew the trim to the underside. Instead of sewing really tight, I did a stitch every two inches or so, allowing some slack in the thread to allow for the stretch of the bikini. I know this isn’t exactly the textbook way to sew stretch fabric but it worked!
Voila! All done. It took me a while to finish but don’t they look cute in the end?
Top photo by Lauren Engel
