How To Make a Hot Bikini Out of Old T-Shirts

Hey gals,

When summer time comes around, I think one of the worst things is finding a cute bathing suit that fits right. And when you do find one, its expensive! Well here’s a way you can make your own bathing suit from t-shirts…that way you can customize it to fit and make it your own.

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To watch the entire video, click below:

First, you need 1 extra large T-shirt..but if you like the mismatched look decide on two different colored shirts.

*important note* for this lesson’s purposes we are going to refer to the yellow shirt as the top shirt (yellow shirt = top shirt) and the white shirt as the bottom shirt (white shirt = bottom shirt).

Cut the bottom hem off both shirts 

 

 

Creating strips for the bathing suit ties:
Now take the top shirt and cut 2 one inch wide strips off the bottom, making sure to cut through both layers of fabric.

 

 

Take those 2 strips and cut both of them in half twice so you end up with 4 equal strips. (we’ll call them strips 1,2,3, and 4)  

 

 

Take your bottom shirt and cut 2 one inch wide strips of the bottom. Cut one of the strips in half once, so you have one long strip (call it strip 5). and Cut the other in half twice, so you have two equals strips (strips 6,7).

 

 

 

 

 
* You should have a total of seven strips 

 

Creating the bathing suit top:
Ok, now take your top shirt and cut 9 inches of the bottom, making sure to cut through both layers of fabric.

 

 

Pin both of the layers together and from now on consider it one piece of fabric.
as Megan put it in her book “to prevent the wet t-shirt contest look”

 

 

Sketch a triangle that measures 10 inches across the bottom and 8 inches down both sides. If you want, make a paper pattern first….we just freehanded it. Now create an arched bottom to the triangle. the lowest point should fall one inch below the bottom of the triangle. 

 

 

Turn your fabric in a half circle, and sketch another triangle of the same dimensions. 

 

 

Pin the triangles and cut them out.

 

 

Flip one of the triangles over and fold the top corner down one inch. 

 

 

Now place one inch of strip 6 (or 7) over the folded corner

 

 

Pin the two sides of the triangle in, half an inch, making sure to over lap the end of the strip. Sew a seam down both sides.

 

 

Carefully, pin the arched bottom up one inch. Sew a seam but be careful to leave an open “tunnel” so you can thread your strip through later. btw, does anyone know the technical term for that…or is it just tunneling?

  

 
 Repeat all those steps to the second triangle.

Now take strip 5 and attach the end to a safety pin. Use the safety pin to help you thread strip 5 through the tunnels of your triangles.

 
 And you are done with the top! WOOHOO!

 
Creating the bathing suit bottoms: 
Take your bottom shirt and cut a rectangle that measures 19 inches by 16 inches. Pin both layers of the rectangle together

 

 

Sketch an hour glass shape onto the fabric. Make a paper pattern first for preciseness.
You want the narrowest part of the hourglass to measure 4 inches across and fall 11 inches for the top of the rectangle.

 

 

Fold in all 4 corners of the hourglass. Stretch and place strips 1,2,3, and 4 over the separate for corners.  

 

 

Fold and pin the front of the bathing suit in one inch, making sure to over lap the strips.

Fold and pin the opposite (back) part of the bathing suit in one inch, again making sure to over lap the strips.  

 

 

Sew the front and back seams.

 

 

Make several small slits in the curved area of the hourglass. This will help the fabric give easier when you are folding in the edge.

 
Fold and pin the two sides of the hourglass in 1 inch and sew a seam down both sides.

You are done with the bottoms!
 
 

 

New bathing suit, very little cash. 

 
For more cool ways to transform a t-shirt be sure to check out Megan Nicolay’s book, Generation-T: 108 ways to transform a t-shirt