Rockabilly Summer Swimuit

You wanted more summer lessons, you got em. This week learn how to take an old mens shirt and turn it into a rockin new rockabilly swim suit.

Female Speaker: Great summer, I wish we hadn't moved here so late in the year. I have to spend the next two months babysitting my brother, and that is just as long as a year. [Voice Overlap] Female Speaker: Hey! Ronny Male Speaker: Hey what's up? Female Speaker: You are going to the lake tonight? Male Speaker: Yeah, you know, maybe that's some thing we got to do. Female Speaker: There's Tony, oh, so dreamy. If only he -- Male Speaker: So man, Rob, I got this little right, cherry paint job, white walls. Female Speaker: Hey, you are new here, aren't you? Mandy right? Female Speaker: A-ha! Female Speaker: You know, Daniel only goes for DIY girls. There is a party down by the lake later, you should totally come. I'll give you a make over. What do you think? Female Speaker: Okay. Female Speaker: Let's go. Female Speaker: For this week's project we are going in a request of a craft on the people on the forum and make in some Rockabilly fashion. Male Speaker: DIY, rule for our life. Female Speaker: First up, a pin up style bathing suit. For this project I am using a long sleeve polo shirt. I recommend a non striped one, because it's hard to match up the strips. I speak from personal experience. Start by cutting off both sleeves and put them aside for later. Now cut the shirt off both sides and off the shoulders to separate the front from the back. Cut around the collar and the button to leave as much usable fabric as you can. The back of the shirt is now the front of the bathing suit, and the front of the shirt is now the back of the bathing suit. Next, cut open both sleeves, even up one side of each sleeves, place the right side together, pin and sew them together using a zig-zag stitch. Then press that seam open. Now lay the front piece right side up, and place the piece you just sewed wrong side down on top of it, pin the pieces together and sew them together using a zig-zag stitch and creating one longest piece of fabric. Press the seam you just sewed to one side. Let's pin some elastic to that seam, lightly stretching as you pin and sew down both sides of the elastic. Determine how much room you want for your breast, and pull the front piece down for using a new top edge. Press that edge, then take off the back piece and place it on the back of your body for marking the tailor's chalk, where you want the sides of the back to start, pull the piece in half and cut along that chalk line. Now fold them through the hem along the top, and sew with a zig-zag stitch, pull elastic along that hem, the same way you did previously. Using a live model, Hey, Caroline, or Mandy, place the front piece right side in against the model, place the back piece right side in on the model, aligning each sides, top edge with each other and pin it. Use the pinch and pin method all the way down both sides, then mark along both sides of the pin line with tailor's chalk. Next mark a line where you want the suit to end in the back, doing the seam in the front, making sure they need up a side and remove the pieces from the model, pull the back piece in half and cut along the bottom mark not the side. Open it up and full pin and sew and hem along both curves. Do the same for the front making sure to only do it to the layer that will be on the inside of the suit. Fold up the bottom of the of the outer layer towards the same length as the top of the curves of the inner layer, pin, sew and cut off the excess. Pin all three layers of the suit together, right sides together, by lining up the chalk lines on both sides. Sew down both chalk lines using a zig-zag stitch, and cut off the excess. Sew the cross area together again using a zig-zag stitch, cut off any excess, but make sure you have taken the models torso measurement into account. Now from the middle of the front, and handful of running stitch starting about 3 inches down from the top, gather it together and sew through that gather a couple times to make it really strong, finally cut two straps from your strap and hand sew them in. Only sewing through the inside layers starting at the side seam, and you have a super cube vintage inspired bathing suit. Male Speaker: BEST JOB SEVER is a weekly series, profiling the coolest jobs in the text phase, check it out at BESTJOBSEVER.net. Are you listening? May be you will find your best job ever. Male Speaker: This is you, this is your style, this is Thread Banger. Female Speaker: Hey everyone, welcome back! So to create this little number we are using an old white sheet, I started out by dying the sheet a nice shade of blue. Once its all rinsed and dried, fold the sheet in half and iron it, pressing the fold as you go. Then find the middle of the fold, and make a mark. Now take out the tape measure and put a tack in the exact middle of the zero inch end, have a friend or your table hold the tack of the mid point of the fabric decide how long you want your skirt, and using that measurement and the tape as a guide, mark out a half circle on your fabric. Now take your waist measurement and add an inch. Divide that number by 3.14 or Pi, then divide that number by two, this will be the measurement you use to make the waist circle. Mark the waist circle in the same fashion as the big circle, pin both layers together and cut off the big circle, leaving about an inch for seam allowance. Next cut out the inner circle leaving a half inch for seam allowance, open up the circle and cut a back seam by cutting up the fold of one side of the circle, take out some leftover sheet, fold it in half and press the fold. Cut out a two inch light band, that is your waist measurement, plus one inch long. Now pin the bands to the waist of the skirt right sides together and sew. Insert a nine inch zipper in the back opening using Kate's zipper tutorial. Then fold up the bottom edge half an inch, sew and cut off the excess. I added an anchor appliqués to the front, check out how to appliqués for how to do it, and if you want to do an anchor, download the stencil from the Tread Banger blog, put your outfit on, use some extra fabric to create a hair bow, and go rock your new look. Female Speaker: Oh, my God it's amazing. Oh, my God, so cute! Female Speaker: I made it, with help of Raplic here. Female Speaker: Geez, Danny is going to flip when he sees you in it. Male Speaker: Hey Danny, check up the new girl. Male Speaker: Nice stuff over there. Male Speaker: Yeah. Male Speaker: Danny, I think you should go talk to her. [Singing] Female Speaker: Yeah, so what did you do in Math class? Male Speaker: Forget that class, Mr. Johnson is a communist. [Sings] Male Speaker: Hey! What's that fancy piece of technology? Male Speaker: I don't know, I found it on a spaceship.