The Banksia Swim Expansion to our Banksia Bralette pattern is here!
The Banksia Swimsuit Expansion turns your Banksia Bralette pattern into a swimsuit that you wont want to take off!
The bralette and tank feature our unique support slings that separate and provide light support. View B is a tankini top with a hidden bralette. The swim bottoms are fully lined and provide perfect coverage for your body.
All views feature a comfy edge binding that won’t dig in, whilst also providing a professional finish. The Banksia Swimsuit can be sewn on domestic sewing machine with a zigzag stitch, no serger required!
Hack your tank!
We're really excited about the possible uses for the tank from the The Banksia Swimsuit Expansion. Sew it up in cotton/lycra or bamboo/lycra for the perfect lounge-wear, with the added bonus of built-in support which you can customise to your own preference. Read more about the lounge-wear tank hack here.
Choosing your size
Because swimwear fabric has a much higher spandex content and will provide different support to the fabric you might have used for your Banksia Bralette. If you've already sewn the Banksia Bralette, you should begin with the same size (unless your fit is very firm, in which case try one size larger), however adjustments such as shortening the straps should be omitted until you try on your swim top due to the different behaviour of the fashion and swim fabric.
What's included?
The Swim Bralette
For support and comfort, we recommend lining the Front piece with powernet, cutting powernet slings, and leaving the back unlined- the recommended yardage on the pattern page is calculated based on this. Since swimwear fabric is more supportive generally, you may choose to omit the Powernet lining, fully line with the same 4 way stretch swimsuit lining as the swim bottoms, or omit the slings.
The Swim Tank
The hidden support for View B, the Swim Tank, is provided by an interior bralette. If you have already made either the Banksia Bralette or the swim bralette, you may want to choose different support options for the bralette inside the tank.
This is because the tank pieces (View B Front and Back) are not secured to the Band and will not provide any extra support. We recommend cutting the Bralette Front piece from powernet, cutting powernet slings, and cutting the bralette Back and Band from your swimsuit fabric, this is how the yardage is calculated. You may also choose to use 4 way stretch swimsuit lining for the bralette Front and Back pieces. Read more about the lounge-wear tank hack here.
Swim bottoms
The swim bottoms are fully lined with an enclosed crotch seam for comfort. The default option for the bottoms is a full lining using 4 way stretch swim lining, but you could also use dance mesh.
If you prefer support in your swim bottoms, you can line the Swim Bottoms Front with Powermesh, however this may change the fit.
Bound edges
There are several options for swimwear edge finishes, but we chose the bound edge for several reasons. The look of the bound edge is just beautiful in our opinion and looks very professional and high quality. It’s also one of the easiest to adjust, if needed, because you can try on the garment before the binding is complete and reattach the elastic with a different amount of ease without much fuss. Finally, it’s super comfy with a cushy edge and won’t dig in, even on long beach days!
To make cutting the band piece for the bound edges a breeze, we recommend cutting a series of 1.5” (3.8cm) wide strips across the width of the fabric and then cutting the strips to the required length. We suggest using a rotary cutting and quilting ruler for this, but you can also cut strips by marking the width with chalk and using scissors. We've got cutting layouts in the instructions which will help.