Yay!!! Day 1 is here! I am so excited that you have joined me! We will be sewing the Greenstyle North Shore Swimsuit together over the next 5 days, and I think we are going to have a lot of fun and have some awesome swimsuits when it is all over. Each day will have it’s own task, videos, and instructions. I will also be available to answer any questions you may have! Here is the schedule:

Day 0: Get Supplies

Day 1: YOU ARE HERE – Select Size, Cut Out Pattern, and Cut Out Fabric

Day 2: Sew Bottoms

Day 3: Sew Top

Day 4: Catch Up Day

Day 5: Show Me What You Made and Enter to Win Prizes!

Sound fun? Let’s get started! Our tasks for today are pretty simple, but very important! If you haven’t grabbed your pattern yet, you can purchase it here, don’t forget to use code “NSSAL” for 25% off through June 1st.

Watch the Day 1 Sew Along VIDEO here. 

In this video, I go over measuring to get the best fit, the pattern pieces and pattern options, and how to adjust your serger settings so that you do not get popped stitches on very stretchy knit fabric (like swim or athletic fabric!). 

(1) Measure.

To get the perfect fit, we need to get some measurements first. Do not use the size you would buy in the store! Measure your full bust (the largest part of your bust), your waist (smallest part of your torso), your hips (the fullest part of your bottom, should be 7 inches below your waist), and your trunk length. For trunk length, you will start at one shoulder, go under your torso, and back up to the same shoulder you started at.

Another measurement that is important for those with larger busts, is your upper bust. If your full bust is 3 inches more than your upper bust, you may consider doing an FBA to get the correct fit. For more help on doing an FBA on the North Shore, see this very well done post by Lisa Thrower.

The first 5 minutes of today’s video is all about measuring. You can watch the video HERE.

(2) Choose Your Size.

Now that you have all your measurements, you can select your size.

If you are making View A, use your bust measurement to select your bikini top size (unless you are doing an FBA, then follow Lisa’s instructions), and use your waist and hips to determine your bottom measurement. If your waist and hips are in different sizes, draw a gentle line and grade between the sizes to get the right fit in your waist. It is completely ok (and will give you the best fit!) to use a different top size as bottoms, even on view A.

If you are making View B, use your bust measurement to select your bikini top size (unless you are doing an FBA, then follow Lisa’s instructions). For the View B bottoms, use your hips to determine your size, especially on the scoop bottoms and low rise bottoms. I would only grade up or down for a different waist size on the high rise bottoms. The other bottoms have low enough rise that grading should not be necessary.

(3) Choose Options and Print.

This may be the hardest task because this pattern has soo many options. It is hard not to want to make them all! I will go over each option in this section with photo examples. You also can watch my vide HERE to walk you through all the pattern pieces and options. Starting at 5:15 into the video, I show all the pattern pieces and options.

To put all the options simply – (a) select the front of your top (deep v or full coverage), (b) select any extras for your front (straps or tie), (c) select your back (U back or halter), (d) select how you want your back to close (hook or tie) or whether you want to just pull it over your head, and finally (e) what style bottoms you prefer (View A bottoms connect to the top to make it a one piece while View B bikini has 4 different rises/styles of bottoms to choose from!)

I have some side by sides for you to hopefully help you visualize and make the best choice.

(a) The Front of the Top

For the front of the North Shore Swimsuit TOP, you have two main options to choose from (1) Deep V Front or (2) Full Coverage Front. The Deep V Front has two different cut lines on that pattern piece, one that shows more skin and one that shows less. The sewing/construction is the same for both options on the Deep V Front.

On my Deep V tops, I chose the fuller cup cut line because the deeper cup cut line had way too much breast tissue showing than I was comfortable with. If I was younger and perkier, I might have been a bit more enthusiastic about the regular deep V 🙂 The regular Deep V Front and the Full Cup Deep V Front are pattern pieces 1 and 2.

I used the Deep V Full Cup FRONT on my one-piece floral suit (far left), the blue gingham (bottom middle), and striped floral (bottom right) swimsuits.

I used the Full Coverage FRONT (Pattern Piece 3) on my striped floral (top middle) and pink (top right) swimsuits.

(b) Select Extras for the Front of the Top

These are optional, but you may select whether to have a tie overlay or strappy part on any of the front pieces you have chosen. I did the tie overlay on both the Deep V Full Cup and the Full Coverage Front. Here is what they look like untied.

I made the strappy middle on the Deep V Full Cup, but you could make it on the other front options as well. Or, you could keep your suit simple and not add ties or straps!

(c) Select the Back of the Swim Top

For the Back of the North Shore Swim TOP, you can have a U shaped back or a halter back. The halter will tie behind your neck, while the U goes over the shoulders. The striped florals (top left and bottom middle) as well as the pink (bottom right) are all halter backs. The gingham (top middle) and hot pink (top right) are U shaped backs.  If you choose the halter back, you will need to print piece 9 for the ties that will tie at the back of your neck. 

(d) Select if you want a mid back closure or whether you want to pull the top over your head.

If you want to have no closure in the middle of your back, you will print pattern piece 5 for the pullover U (the blue gingham, middle right) or pattern piece 7 for the halter that ties only at the neck.

If you want a closure in the middle of your back, you will print piece 6 for the U back (the top right hot pink is a U back with a swim hook closure) or piece 8 for the halter back with a mid back closure (the far left striped is a swim hook midback closure with halter ties at the neck and the bottom right light pink is a halter with ties in the mid back). If you choose to do ties in the middle of the back for your closure, you will need to additionally print the tie piece (pattern piece 10).

If you are making the View A one piece with the side cut outs and not the low back, you cannot do a back closure and will need to select a back option that is pullover. The View A low back can be matched with any top.

(e) Select bottoms style

 For the bottom of your swimsuit, you can choose between View A (a one-piece) or View B (a two-piece).

View A has two bottom options: one connects only in the front, leaving the back open, while the other connects in the front and the back, only leaving cut outs at the top of your sides. My View A (with the open back) is on the far right.

View B bikini has 4 different rises/styles of bottoms to choose from! The View B scoop bikini bottoms (pattern pieces 18 and 19) can be made reversible. My scoop bikini bottoms are on the far left, and I used light pink on my reverse side! These are low rise and show a bit more cheek than the regular view B bikini bottoms

View B regular bikini bottoms (pattern piece 16 and 17) has the option of three different rises: low, mid, and high. My navy blue bottoms are the low, the striped floral in the middle are the mid rise, and the blue gingham are the high rise.

(5) Make Torso Height Adjustments (for View A).

If you are making View A, you will need to adjust your bottoms on the lengthen/shorten line by cutting the pattern in half at that line and adding or subtracting length. For example, my trunk measurement is 58,5, but my size has a 56.5 trunk length. This is a 2 inch difference. To get the proper fit, I added one of those inches to the front pattern piece and the other inch to the back pattern piece.

(6) Cut Fabric

It’s time to cut fabric! Yay! You have completed Day 1. See you tomorrow!

Thanks for joining in today! I hope that I have inspired you! You may follow me on Instagram or receive updates by liking my page on Facebook. If you want to take a look into the things that inspire me, you can follow me on Pinterest. You may also follow my blog with Bloglovin.

Disclosures: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation when you purchase via my link. This does not cost you anything, and I genuinely appreciate the support. Any and all opinions expressed are still my own.