MN Mini Cottesloe

Hey guys! Long time, no blog, huh? I’m popping back on here to show off the newly released Megan Nielsen Mini Cottesloe swim pattern. I’ve tested her Mini line in the past and just couldn’t say no when this one came along to test!

My youngest daughter, Izzie, is eleven, but she is a tiny eleven year old, well within the MN Mini size chart. I let her select which version she wanted and she went with the two piece high rise bottoms. Her height put her at a size 10 or 11, but her largest width measurement put her in an 8. Because this was a two piece, I cut a straight 8. If I were doing the full one-piece suit, I would have done some lengthening.

The whole suit came together very easily and she absolutely loves it! If I had to do again, I might leave off the bottom band of the top and just finish it with elastic, as it is quite long. Also I couldn’t get my machines to top stitch the bands in place, it was all too thick, but the band stays in place just fine without the top stitching.

She really loves the high-waisted bottoms. They’re a nice modern option and provide good coverage. All the RTW suits she’s ever had were too loose, or safety-pinned at the waist, or too short in the torso for her size. I’ve long wanted to sew a suit for her so she could have something that actually fit well and was more comfortable—it’s no fun feeling like you’re about to lose your suit the whole time you’re in the water! Testing this pattern was great motivation to finally make good on that promise.

Finding fabrics locally was a challenge. I found these at two different stores and they happened to go together well enough that I could use them as coordinates. The pink is definitely a swim fabric (nylon/spandex) and the printed fabric was labeled as yoga or athletic fabric, but since it was nylon/spandex I figured it would work just fine, and it does. It is thicker than the pink so it was a little challenging once I also had the thickness of the lining and elastics in there too. Both fabrics have 50% stretch, which is the minimum stretch recommendation.

We took it to the beach a few times and it easily withstood a day of boogie-boarding and those ocean waves. This suit gets a big thumbs up from us! I’m guessing she’ll never go back to a RTW suit after wearing one that fits so well.

—lisa g