I never planned on making a swimsuit this year….I saw some rose printed swimwear fabric on sale online and it took me a week to realize I wanted it baaaaaaaaad. Ofcourse it was all sold out online when I finally admitted to myself I wanted it. I went to the store in person and found the same fabric but in green ( I had wanted the pink version). Once I had the fabric I had to find a suit pattern so I found the Opian Jamanota swimsuit pattern. It’s a swedish company and I have sewn one of their suits before. The Jamanota was signed as a single layer suit – no lining, no swim cups. Which is a problem for me because I don’t want strangers seeing my bits at the beach. I had lined their last suit so I thought it would be as easy this time.

I was wrong, the top was really difficult to line because it’s all drapey. I ended up doing a double layer on top which resulted in thicker straps but I don’t regret it. I lined the bottom easily.

The other issue was the pattern goes to size 10 but the instructions only go to size 8…..not sure what they are trying to say but I am a 10 and the pattern worked for me…once I guessed a bunch of measurements. Below are a bunch of images of the construction of my suit – just in case you are wondering what it should look like if you line it. I searched online and all I could find were reviews of completed suits where the pattern was a gift to them. I couldn’t really see how they constructed it. If I can help one person to line this suit….I am glad.

I like the end result for this pattern but I will say the pattern is not very good. Swimsuits for adults should have lining – end. period. exclamation mark. The markings on the pattern didn’t work if you were any bigger than the smallest size and further to that there were no elastic measurements for the larger sizes….which if we are being honest here weren’t that big. I have seen this type of swimsuit on the Shein Curve website and it looks great on larger ladies, there is no reason this suit can’t be sized up to a 22 – 24 US pattern size. Finally, the raw edges at the end of the straps looks sloppy. I don’t know why they would have designed it that way….and back to the lining and no swimcup issue….strangers don’t need to see all your bits at the beach. Why would they have designed it like that when it could have had a few extra steps to make it stylish with a bit of coverage? I reviewed this pattern on sewing pattern review and on the fold line (where it is sold) so hopefully other people will be able to navigate the pattern better. I wasn’t able to find any unpaid reviews when I sewed it…maybe one but that person didn’t line it which I think is absolutely nuts.