Yep! It's winter here and yep it's been bitterly cold and so at first I didn't think doing a swimsuit tour was a very good idea but I figured, what the heck, because how can you say no to this? Also the day I started sewing up this adorable little swimsuit set the sun has been out and the weather has been AMAZING! Shortest winter ever, thanks queensland!

Ajaire from Call Ajaire sent me an email to be part of the Summer Swimmear Tour 2016 showcasing swimsuits designed by herself (the classic maillot), the wolf & the tree (just keep swimming rashguard) and gracious threads (swim & surf shorts) with fabric sponsored by imagine gnats! Unfortunately being in australia means that shipping costs & time don't make it that easy for me so while i stared wistfully at the fabric i pulled up my big girl pants and made the executive decision to use one of the fabrics i already had in my stash (i said no to fabric)(i did it!)

I sewed up the Just Keep Swimming (formerly O Captain! My Captain!) Rashguard by the Wolf and the Tree! I chose the bikini length (it's the shortest length for the top but it skims eddie's ribcage so it's perfect!) with the long sleeves. I also did the pieced front but instead of any contrast panels I added some black stretchknit as a sort of piping between the seams.

The bottoms are the standard regular briefs, but they do come up to eddie's bellybutton when she wears them right (she prefers to have her tummy hanging out when she wears cropped tops so keeps pushing it down, lol).


 I absolutely adore the arty print on this fabric! Eddie has been the cropped rashie as a top for the two weeks? I always feel that's a huge win when it comes to handmade clothes for our kids, don't you think! So easily they can turn their noses up at our *vision* haha, but lately my kids are really into just the fun of it all - which is what fashion should be about! Also a huge factor with sewing for my children is COMFORT. Although vincent is quite happy to wear things too small for him, eddie will only wear things that feel good (or make her look good)


The pattern is pretty great! I've never put eddie in rashies when we went to the beach or anything, opting instead to slather her up in sunscreen but that was before this pattern where she'll actually be adorable and sun safe! The australian sun is brutal, you can get burned even on a cloudy day here (and I often get appalled at my american friends not putting their sunscreen on! it's ingrained into us as kids here ahah). Usually she wears little tankinis and bikini bottoms because i love seeing her adorable little toddler body (hold up, she's FOUR now. not a toddler!)


It's straightforward, the pieces all fit together perfectly and the instructions for the style I made didn't give me much trouble (which is good because I'm not the sort of sewist who reads instructions!). There's so many variations you can make with this pattern, including the top length, sleeve length, and also with the bottoms! You can make it lined too, but with the thickness of my fabric that wasn't something i needed to do!



There's sales and coupons and a giveaway to win patterns & fabric too, check out the info at the bottom of this post.


She wanted to hold hands with the palm tree 8)


thank you so much to my wonderful friend Amanda who delivered the inflatable pool toys for us to use as props! I was seriously doubting where to get blow-up palm trees from in our small town - in winter!

You should go check out my love Kat's post for the tour too. We chose the exact same pattern to sew up and she did THREE for her girls (also please click around her site a bit because she's just worked so hard giving it a huge makeover and branding it and it legit looks so freaking amazing. i'm in awe of her. she's incredible)