How to sew a beautiful triangel bikini ✔️ free sewing pattern size 34 - 54 34

Can you sew a bikini from jersey fabric? No! Yes, you can! It’s complicated. I wouldn’t recommend it for a bikini that you’re going to swim in the ocean with salt water and or be exposed to chlorinated water in the pool. However, there is nothing wrong with sunbathing on the terrace at home.

Jersey bikini is perfect to try sewing swimwear once or to test a new bikini cut.

We only need jersey fabrics for this or even jersey scraps if they are big enough. In addition, elastic band for the tie straps and to reinforce, so that the bikini does not wear out when worn.

I have enough elastic left over from sewing face masks, which I now use in jersey bikinis. The elastic should be between 0.5 – 1 cm wide for this.

About the sewing pattern

The Sunny Bikini is a fun sewing pattern for having easy going days at the beach. The pretty triangle shape of the top and bikini bottoms never go out of fashion.

You can sew countless variations with single-colored or patterned fabrics. Binders in other colors provide pretty accents.

Depending on your preference, you can sew the cut from either swim fabric or sport lycra, making it suitable for salt water and chlorine. The jersey fabric alternative is a good choice for the sun band on the balcony or terrace.

With step-by-step sewing instructions, the pattern is great choice for advanced sewing beginners. We do not need a special sewing machine, such as an overlock or coverlock. For these sewing works a domestic sewing machine quite enough.

Download the free sewing pattern

The pattern for the Sunny Bikini is available in my shop.

Sizing Guide

Material: Sewing the sunny bikini

ca. 75 cm Jersey oder Badestoff für alle Größen
approx. 5 m normal elastic (for a sun bikini) o,5 – 1 cm wide
or approx. 5 m rubber swimwear elastic for chlorine and salt water o.5 – 1 cm wide
Jersey sewing needles or better super stretch needles (Jersey needles are not good choice for sewing elastic and fold over elastic.)
sewing yarn
Rotary cutter or cutting shears
pins
Safety pin or loop turner
Tailor’s chalk or washable trick marker

Material sewing a bikini from jersey fabric

Print and assemble the sewing pattern correctly

Before we start sewing, you need the pattern from my shop: free sewingpattern Sunny Bikini.

Please read carefully the instructions for printing the pattern.

This is how you print correctly:

Save the PDF pattern to your hard drive and open it preferably with the free Acrobat Reader or another program for viewing PDF files.
Do not open the pattern in an Internet browser immediately after downloading, because it is difficult to control the print settings there.
If you have problems with printing or scaling, do not print from a cell phone or tablet, but use the PC.
If you print the pattern in a copy shop, please point out the correct print settings.
Print the pattern on US Letter or A4 (German) paper size.
In the printer driver, the scaling should be set to 100%, otherwise the pattern will be printed too large or too small. Alternatively, you can also turn off the scaling.
There is a test square on the pattern for measuring. If the test square is too large or too small, the scaling is not correct and the printer settings must be corrected.
Printer drivers like to automatically set scaling so that the sheet is fully printed. This is not an error in the pattern, but a function of the printer.

This is how you put the pattern pages together:

You can find the position where which sheet belongs in the page footer with the reference grid.
—> The grid for putting the pattern together is formed from row and column thus: Grid (row, column).
The sheet “Grid(1, 1)” is located in the 1st row in the 1st column.
A sheet with the specification “Grid(3, 4)” is therefore in row 3 and column 4.

Example: How to assemble the bikini sewing pattern Size 40 40

To assemble the pattern, cut the narrow edge along the markings on all sides.
Then lay the sheets on top of each other along their markings and fix them with scotch tape.
The sheet without margin is glued to the sheet with margin. The overlap provides stabilization of the cut.

Cutting the fabric for the bikini

The pattern for the bikini already includes the seam allowances.
It is suitable for elastic with width 0.5 – 1 cm.
You will find the length for the binding bands on pattern piece 1 (bikini top).

binding bands for all sizes

For all sizes we need about 3 – 4 meters of binding band for straps, chest band and waist band. Their width depends on the width of the elastic. In order to determine the correct width, the width dimension z. B. 1 cm multiply with 4 and add 0.5 cm allowance.

Example:

Elastic 1 cm width x 4 = 4 cm + 0.5 allowance = 4.5 cm
Elastic 0.5 cm width x 4 = 2.5 cm + 0.5 allowance = 2.5 cm

Bikini top (pattern piece 1)

2 x Fabric
2 x Lining

Bikini bottom (pattern piece 2)

Plain or small patterned fabrics without direction

1 x fabric on fold
1 x lining on the fold

Note about patterned fabric

If the bikini bottoms are cut with patterned fabric, i.e. the pattern runs from top to bottom, pattern piece 2 must be divided at the dotted line.

Add a seam allowance at the dotted line.

Bikini panties with patterned fabric

1 x bikini panties FRONT on the fold
1 x bikini panties BACK on the fold
1 x lining on the fold

For my jersey bikini, I also worked a fabric with pattern direction and cut the front and back bikini bottoms in half. If you cut a pattern fabric in one piece like the lining, the back bikini bottoms will be upside down.

Sewing instructions for a bikini from jersey fabric

Sewing the binding straps

We start sewing the binding straps and need the previously cut jersey strips and elastic.

Fold the jersey strip over the narrow side. The right side of the fabric is on the inside.

Pin the elastic band at the beginning.

Set a zigzag stitch with width 2.5 and length 2.5 on the sewing machine.

Sew the elastic on the right side of the jersey.

Sew zigzag stitches on the left edge of the elastic.

To turn, insert a safety pin into the elastic and pass through the tunnel to turn. Alternatively, for these works can very well use a loop turner.

Turn all the straps. When turning, do not stretch and pull too much, otherwise the thread may break.

Sewing the bikini top

Zum Nähen des Oberteils benötigen wir die Schnittmusterteile aus Stoff und Futter.

Place pattern pieces on top of each other and pin

Place one pattern piece of fabric and one of lining fabric on top of each other and pin. The left side of the fabric is inside.

Settings for overlock stitch on brother sewing machine.

Set an overlock stitch with stitch width 5 and stitch length 2 on the sewing machine.

Alternatively, you can sew these seams very well with the serger.

Serge the entire bottom edge of the fabric with overlock stitch with the sewing machine or serger.

The elastic for reinforcement is not sewn on the whole seam. For this reason, before reinforcing each time we draw the beginning and end of the elastic on the fabric.

Mark a distance of 2 cm (0.8 inches) at the bottom edge and 1 cm (0.4 inches) at the top of the beam attachment.

Pin elastic to inside of top and cut to length needed.

Sew elastic with overlock stitch on bikini top

Sew on the elastic with overlock stitch or overlock and sage the outer edges at the same time.

Attach the straps to the Bikini Top

Trim the straps to the specified size. It is better to measure the strap a little too long than too short. If it’s too long when you try it on, you can always shorten it to the right length later. The lengths are noted on pattern piece 1 for the top.

Fold down upper corner for the straps. Place the strap in the center and pin it.

Fold outer edge with elastic inward and pin in place.

Using a zigzag stitch length 3 and stitch width 3, topstitch the elastic and edge, this will also secure the strap.

Sew a bartack for the strap

For the strap, sew an additional bartack across the top of the bodice.

bartack: settings for the triple straight stitch on the sewing machine

Set a triple zigzag stitch with the maximum stitch width on the sewing machine. Set the stitch length to 0 or lower the feed dog. Sew several stitches across the width of the triple zigzag stitch.

I can’t set the stitch length to 0 on my Brother sewing machine, so I have to disable the feed dog.

When sewing a bartack with a narrow zigzag stitch, as we know it from jeans, for example, the fabric is often jammed by the sewing machine. This can be easily avoided by sewing a bartack with a triple zigzag stitch on the spot.

The strap is secured by the bartack.

At a distance of about 3 cm (1.2 inches) from the bottom edge, draw a mark on the fabric.

fold in lower edge for underbust band and pin in place

Fold in the bottom edge up to the mark and pin in place.

sew folded seam allowance with straight stitch

Sew the folded edge with straight stitch.

sew the seam allowance on both triangles

Here a tunnel stands in, through which we now pull the tie (underbust band).

Shorten underbust band to correct length and attach safety pin.

Thread both tops and gather them a little.

Knot the ends and cut them off.

Finished is the bikini top.

Sewing the bikini bottom

For a bikini made of jersey with a pattern direction, we first sew the seam on the gusset of the upper fabric.

For a bikini, made of plain or patterned fabric without direction, this sewing step is not necessary.

Place the bikini fronton back and pin the gusset seam.

Sew the gusset seam with an overlock stitch or serger.

Put lining in the bikini panties and pin.

Pin elastic to the edge.

Using overlock stitch or serger for sewing the elastic to the outer edge with a slight pull.

The slight tightening when sewing on the elastic ensures that it fits snugly on the leg. In addition, it prevents the elastic band from getting longer and longer while sewing.