Birdie Bikini by My Childhood Treasures

We hope you all have been enjoying all of the swimwear reviews and posts over the last few weeks. It's always great to have a wide variety of opinions and styles to look at before you take the leap into buying that pattern and sewing it up for yourself or your little one. Today we have a woven swimsuit pattern for little girls from My Childhood Treasures. Let's see what Kari and Rebekah had to say about the Birdie Bikini.

Hi there! I’m Kari from That’s-Sew-Kari, here with a review of The Birdie Bikini by My Childhood Treasures.  The Birdie Bikini is a super cute, two-piece bikini, suitable for light to medium-weight woven material.  The pattern is offered in two size ranges: 0-24m and girls 2T-6.  The baby range offers an additional style bottom to accommodate a diaper.
This was my first time sewing up any sort of swimwear and I had fun!  I knew my 4 year old would love to have a new suit to run around in this summer (she practically lives in swimsuits in the summer).  And I knew she’d love this Turtle fabric by Jack and Lulu for Dear Stella fabrics.  I embroidered a matching turtle on the bib portion.  She actually couldn’t wait for me to finish sewing!

My 4 year old has unique measurements which require some careful mashing of sizes.  She has a 19.5” chest, 19” waist, 21.5” hips, but is 39” tall.  She is average height, but very thin (despite her healthy appetite).  She measured into the 12-18m top, 6-12m waist, 3 bottoms with an overall 3 height.  So, I cut out a size 3 top and reduced the width from the middle of the pattern piece to match the width of the 12-18m pattern piece.  For the bottoms, I used a straight size 3 and reduced the elastic length to match her waist.

Following the tutorial, construction was rather easy.  The front of the bikini top is lined and the side seams are hidden in the lining -- which I love!  The bottoms are unlined and the leg elastic is hidden in single fold bias on the inside of the leg holes.  I do wish the bottoms were lined though, as I had to be extra smart with my fabric choices so I didn't choose anything that could become see-through when wet.

Overall, I am happy with how this turned out and my daughter couldn’t stop gushing about her new bikini.  However, I did come across two drawbacks:  1) The bottoms turned out roomier than I had expected.  I will likely go down a 1-2 sizes to reduce the excess next time.  2) Because my daughter is so slim, if I were purchasing this, I’d have to purchase both size ranges in order to get the (reduced) width that she needs or try to reduce the larger sizes on my own (which I have done before to avoid the double cost).
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Hey Everyone! I'm Rebekah and I blog (lately only occasionally) over at Rebecca Sews! Today we are having some fun in the sun with the Birdie Bikini from My Childhood Treasures. Being in the USA it is time to sew for summer! With warm spring days and longer nights I just can't wait for those summer beach days. Luckily we have had a couple summer like days already which was perfect for testing out baby girls new Birdie Bikini. This little vintage style sun suit can be made with all woven fabrics, a plus for those that are hesitant to use swimwear fabric. The top has halter ties for closing and an elastic casing back that is super stretchy for easy in and out. The bottom has a ruffle all the way around for a little extra flair and elastic leg openings and waist. With the top all seams are enclosed however the bottoms don't have this feature as there is no lining.

This pattern is quite roomy for little ones. When you purchase the pattern you have to choose the baby sizes or the older sizes. My girl wears 12-18mo in RTW. For the pattern she measured in-between the 6-12mo and the 12-18mo. I chose to pick the smaller size to sew up for her. I am glad I did! There is still plenty of growing room. In the baby sizes the bottoms come with one other option: nappy room or no nappy. My girl wears swim diapers so I chose the nappy version. They weren't tight at all, and for those mamas that cloth diaper, well there is room for those extra padded bums too!

This is a fun little pattern as it can also be personalized on the front bib too. It is pretty easy and a confident beginner can sew it up, taking about 2-3hrs to make it is a quick and cute sew for your little beach bum! I love how mine turned out and it looks super cute! It held up well getting wet and scooting around in the sand too. I know my girl had fun in it, can't you tell?!

You can read more of our My Childhood Treasures reviews HERE.