Swimsuits----12th Finish of 3rd Quarter Finish-A-Long 2018

Stitching the lining

It's the end of the month and the end of the quarter. It's time to check in to review my progress with my Finish-A-Long list!  Last spring, I had planned to take the summer off from teaching afternoon swim lessons and to pick up teaching again in the fall. The uniform for teaching is a black swimsuit. The two that I had made last year, barely made it to the finish. I was in dire need of replacements. I often make two suits at a time. First, it seems I can make two suits in about 1 1/2 the time it takes me to make one! Second, I have a back up suit so I have a little time to determine when I'll be stitching the next set!

Originally, my plan was to stitch these BEFORE the spring class session ended. Then, I decided June would be a great time to finish them. Next, I thought that I would stitch these in August; but, I didn't get to it. I put it on my monthly goal list to complete it this month because I didn't want to carry this project into another quarter!

The days seem to go by faster each month; but, a few days ago, I started stitching these suits. Unfortunately, the time that I had planned to teach beginning in October will not happen as the pool will be closed this year for lack of participation. It makes me sad because this particular program has been ongoing for about 20 years. Change happens and what I know about the cycle of change is that it is a circle. At some future point, the new will become the old. In other words, the afternoon time slot will open again.

Trimming some of the lining seam allowance

In the meantime, I had a choice of teaching from 4-6pm or from 6:50-7:45pm. Unfortunately, for at least the next two months, I have some commitments during those time frames so I'm not able to teach. It is best if the participants have the same teacher for each lesson and missing more than one lesson is not acceptable to me. Instead, I'll be available to sub. That will be a fun activity too.

I started with the pieces. I stitched the suits, the linings and then stitched the lining to the suit. The last step was to apply the elastic. I think with all the suits that I've made in the last year, I've finally figured out the stitch length and width of the zig zag that works well and how much stretch to apply to get the legs just right. I used two different patterns and I did do a little ripping because I had stitched a back to the wrong front of one suit! (My preferred suit style is the one of the left; but, I had some parts already cut for the one of the right so that was why I stitched two different suits. Usually, I make the same style or use a different fabric for a second style which makes the error I made more challenging to make!

Two finished swimsuits ready for duty

These are finished and ready for duty. This was goal number 18 on my 3rd Quarter Finish-A-Long list. I used 3 3/4 yards of fabric from my stash. This year, I have used 36 yards of fabric from my stash and have 14 yards to go to meet my goal of using 50 yards of fabrics from my stash!

Of the 24 projects I put on my list at the beginning of the quarter, I have finished 12 of them. This is the most finishes I have had in a quarter since participating in the Finish-A-Long group!

I am thankful for the Finish Along group because without participating in it, I know I would have many more projects still languishing about the studio! It feels so GREAT to see a finish and to have the space available that the projects once occupied.

Additionally, I enjoy checking others' posts about their finishes. It is inspiring to see the variety of projects, materials and colors people do and use!

Since this is the end of the month, I'll share the number of participants that I trained. I trained 19 in Basic Life Support (259 YTD); Lifeguard Instructor Review 11 (16 YTD). This is a total of 30 for September (Total 400 YTD).