Third bit from the right

[read Part 1]
Here are my instructions for making rash vests. There’s nothing too complicated about them.

What you need

• A piece of lycra fabric (two-way stretch fabric with 75% stretch)
• A pattern (see Part 1 for details)
• An overlocker (mine’s a 4-thread machine)
• Two reels of woolly nylon thread and two of normal polyester thread

I’ve added this photo to show how brilliant a rash vest is when you’re snorkelling in tropical waters. Actually I’ve really only used it to add some colour to the page; the rest of the photos are all very duotone.

Cutting out the pattern

1. First up, work out in which direction the fabric stretches more
2. On the paper pattern look for the ‘greatest degree of stretch’ arrows and position the pieces on the fabric accordingly (the greater stretch goes sideways – across the chest, not down the length of the body)
3. Try to match any stripes or repeating motifs on the side seams and back seam. (I did a pretty lousy job of pattern-matching on this latest project, mostly because I was more interested in saving fabric.)

Setting up the overlocker

I use the overlocker for the whole rash vest. This is my set-up:

• Woolly nylon thread on the two loopers (tension set to 2.5)
• Normal polyester thread on the two needles (tension set to 3.5)

Sewing the pieces together

The seam allowance is 6 mm. I sew pretty close to the edge of the fabric, letting about 2 mm get cut off as I go.

1. Sew the centre back seam
2. Sew the back to the front at the shoulders
3. Sew the ends of the neck band together and fold it in half
4. Use pins to mark 4 equidistant points on the unfinished edge of the neckband, and on the neck opening as well (see photo below)
5. Pin the neck band to the neck edge, matching the marker pins and stretching the band slightly to fit. Then stitch the neck band (Note: I prefer to not align the neckband seam with the centre back seam. I offset them by 1 cm to avoid some bulk)

6. Pin each sleeve cap to the armhole edge of the bodice, matching the sleeve cap notch to the shoulder seam. Stitch the seams
7. Pin the edges of one sleeve together and pin the side front to the side back, matching the underarm sleeve seams. (The pattern I use has some ease at the bustline; I ignore that.) Stitch in one continuous seam. Repeat for the other side

Testing the fit

Once the seams are done try on the rash vest to check the fit. If it’s not firm enough, run in the sleeve and/or side seams by as much as you need to.

Hemming the sleeves and the bodice

I allow a 3 cm hem on the bodice and a 2.5 cm hem on the sleeves. Usually.

1. Turn up the hem allowance on the bodice and pin it roughly
2. Fold the turned-up edge back to the right side of the fabric and pin along the fold. You now have three layers of fabric pinned together
3. Stitch along the folded edge through all 3 layers of fabric (It’s a bit hard to explain this step. Click the photos below to see larger versions, if that helps)
4. Repeat steps 1–3 for the sleeve hems

1. Turn up the hem allowance

2. Fold the turned-up edge back to the right side and pin through 3 layers of fabric

3. Stitch the hem

The finished rash vest

This is it. A nice firm fit.

A few tips

• I only ever bother using white or black thread, no matter what colour the fabric is. Who cares about colour-matching on seams no one else will ever see? It’s only a swimming top and it’ll be dead in 6 months
• Sometimes my stitching looks pretty rough, usually because the overlocker tension’s not right. Again, who cares?
• If your top is starting to lose its oomph, tighten it up by running in the sleeve and side seams on the overlocker, cutting straight through the hems as well. Just make sure you leave a long thread chain at the start and end of the seams. You can then use a darning needle to sew the threads back up the seams to neaten them off