Introducing the Sophie Swimsuit Pattern

Happy first day of summer everyone! It's like the season conspired to make this pattern launch as perfect as possible, because today I am thrilled/elated/stoked etc. etc. to introduce the newest Closet Core swimwear pattern, the Sophie Swimsuit!!!

This pattern has been in the works for over a year. I had started sketching ideas and making plans for a cupped, underwired swimsuit when my homegirl Sophie over at Ada Spragg wrote a post bemoaning the lack of one in the pattern world, and I laughed to myself and said, "Well Sophie, you just got a pattern named after you". Can you think of a more glamorous or stylish pattern muse? YEAH ME NEITHER.

Sophie Swimsuit pattern_One piece bustier suit

This pattern has definitely been my biggest labour of love yet. Turns out designing the ultimate swimsuit isn't easy, but I couldn't be happier with the end result. Here are the details:

With curvy seam lines and a 3-piece balconette cup, Sophie is both va-va-voom flattering and reassuringly supportive, a silhouette equally appropriate in the south of France or the neighborhood pool.

View A is a classic one-piece with a pronounced hourglass shape and skinny elastic straps. View B mixes a bra-style halter tied top with an elegant high waisted bikini bottom. With a low cut leg and a full cup, both offer sexily modest coverage. Tap into your inner designer by playing with contrast fabric and colour blocking, and learn how to add optional underwires and foam cups to make the most supportive swimsuit ever!

View A has an iconic bustier look and I love it with a colour blocked body - it really highlights that curvy hourglass center panel.

Sophie Swimsuit Pattern// Foam cup underwired bustier style one piece // Closet Core Patterns

View B is a very supportive bikini top with a properly high waisted bottom. We've paired the top with a soft fabric halter strap but you can easily interchange the elastic bikini straps as well.

Sophie Swimsuit Pattern// Foam cup underwired bikini top + High waisted bikini bottom // Closet Core Patterns

My favourite detail of this pattern is the cup shape. We worked really hard to get a good fit here; it ended up changing quite a bit during testing based on everyone's feedback but I think we found a really flattering shape (shout out to the best pattern testers ever! xoxoxo). Sophie Swimsuit Pattern// Foam cup underwired bikini top + High waisted bikini bottom // Closet Core Patterns

Please note that this release is PDF only; because the pattern is massive with 55 sizes (each of our typical 11 sizes comes with 5 cup sizes) it quickly became clear that it would be impossible to go to print. However, each size is broken down individually by View, so you'll only be printing 10-16 pages depending on your size. Each size has 3 sizes nested above and 3 below to facilitate grading if that is a concern.

Our cup sizes are numbered rather than lettered since I think lettered cup sizing can be a little confusing when you're not using traditional bra band sizing (we're not), but our pattern goes from approximately A-DD. It is possible to go up more cup sizes with some creative pattern tracing and I will explain how to do that in an upcoming blog post. Oh and our French translation will be ready in a week or so!

Buy Sophie Pattern

ONLINE SEWING WORKSHOP!

I know sewing swimsuits is intimidating and I wanted to remedy that. For the first time we're offering an online sewing workshop! In Sewing Your Dream Swimsuit: The Supportive Swimwear Workshop, I walk you through Sophie construction from start to finish on camera. Not only will you learn how to work with swim fabrics & lining, insert swim elastic and sew a foam, underwired cup (on a regular machine or a serger!), but we'll talk about fitting, pattern modifications and swimsuit construction in way more depth than I could ever reasonably cover in a sewalong. The workshop has 11 lessons and spans almost 4 hours; you can work at your own time and pace. The class teaches a great mix of swimwear and bra-making skills and I'm really happy to be able to offer it. The pattern is included as a free bonus with the class and the entire thing is currently 20% off for the rest of the month! If you'd like to know more, check out the trailer below.

Enroll in workshop!

SOPHIE SWIMSUIT KITS

Finally, it was important to me that we make sewing this pattern as easy as possible, so we've put together some really beautiful kits that include swim fabric, lining, cup foam, hardware, elastic, stretch needles, channelling and underwire! I have extremely limited quantities of most of these (2 kits already sold out in our newsletter pre-sale!) so I'd act quickly if you'd like one for yourself. I won't be carrying permanent stock so the kit will only be available for a limited time.

*Please note there is no additional discount if you purchase a kit along with enrolling in class; we're using separate platforms and there was no simple way to do that so we're just offering the flat 20% off rate on the workshop until the end of June. Thank you for your understanding!

Sophie Swimsuit Fabric kit // Closet Core Patterns

Shop Sophie Kits

Phew!! So much information, thanks for sticking it out to the end. Even though I'm not hosting a sewalong, I will be sharing lots of Sophie related posts in the month to come. YAY SOPHIE SUMMER!

I hope you like the pattern! I really wanted to offer a more supportive swimwear option for you all and I hope this hits the spot. A big special internet hug to The Sophie herself for being such a great friend and cheerleader these last few months. Her creativity and spirit have inspired me for many years. I'd also like to give major props to my wonderful new model Yasamine; her beautiful smile and energy gave me life in the home stretch.

Let me know what you think and if there's anything you need more information about in the comments below!