1930s inspired bathing suit.

1930s inspired bathing suit, originally uploaded by gracefullady.

I don't know, but I feel a slight bit nekid posting this picture. But I decided to post it nonetheless. I'm kind of excited about this suit made from a dress and I wanted to share in case some of you might like to try it yourself. I actually wanted a more simple suit and it would have been, but then I screwed up by cutting a low back. And guess what? You cut a low back and suddenly there is no support for the front and sides! So I had to cut off the top/front, gather it and attach this woven binding I happened to have on hand. I was seriously about ready to throw the dang thing across the room. But yay, it worked out after all! And I modeled it off of my original wool bathing suit from the 1930s.

Notes from flickr:

remember this? using this dress from forever21, i transformed it into a bathing suit similar to this original wool suit i own. i had some problems along the way and initially thought it would be much more simple, only shortening the skirt and changing the straps into halter straps. but i was stupid and cut the back lower and suddenly, the front didn't fit right. anyway, it worked out in the end.

{pardon my whiteness. i'm not used to showing this much skin! unless i'm at the lake, where 99% of the women there are wearing bikinis!}

1930s bathing suit

1930s bathing suit by graceful_lady featuring Forever21

So, I saw this dress on Forever21 the other night and instantly what came to mind was a wool bathing suit from the 1930s. No, it's not made of wool, but it's a knit dress and you know what? I don't think it would take much to alter this into a '30s inspired bathing suit. I may be completely out of my mind to actually want to wear a knit suit to go swimming in, but hey, if they did it in the '30s and '40s it shouldn't be so bad. I plan to shorten the skirt, remove the metal piece attached to the back straps, criss-cross the straps in the back and then make knit under shorts (trunks) from a 1930s vintage pattern I own. If I decide to get creative, I may remove the straps and attach rope instead, cut the back lower (as seen on most '30s suits) cross the rope in the back and bring it to the front to tie at the waist. Clear as mud? I thought so. Anyway, we'll see what happens. It could be disastrous failure and in that case, I'd be out $25. Not too bad me thinks. I'll let you know how it goes.