Bikini prototype

It has long been a dream of mine to Knit a bikini. I was always confounded by knit bikinis made out of actual yarn. This seemed illogical to me and I planned to make a knit bikini using spandex. 

THE DAY HAS COME.

                

Popp working on the bikini prototype  

After working for so long on trying to make exact patterns I was eager to begin something more free form again. I spent a lot of time slicing a large piece of spandex into thin strips, which could be used in the same manner as yarn. I wanted to see how the material would behave, and so I started making the bikini prototype.  I based this bikini top loosely on a hybrid of two machine made bikini tops I own. The process was slow going but I had the advantage of making it to fit my own body. This made shaping and sizing much easier as I could just try it on, rip stitches out or add some. It was pure experimentation. I even ended up making the right side of the bikini in a different manner than the left. The finished (nearly) product turned out to have much too much open space between the breasts. I remedied this with a very well placed shoelace. This made me wonder how many designers develop good ideas based on mistakes. 

THE GARMENT! 

   CLOSE UP

Here is the backside. It isn't 100% finished. It is still a prototype, the first in a line of hoochy coochy bikinis!

photos by Berd Whitlock and Sarah Swanson