As soon as I began conceptualizing Breakwater I was thinking about how fun it would be to colourblock this suit. It has three areas that feel distinct enough to be different colours or prints so it just felt correct! It is also a great way to use up swim scraps. All of the fabrics used in this project were leftovers from past swimsuits.
Breakwater is on sale this week for 25% off! No coupon code required. Sale ends June 30th, 2026.
Breakwater comes with two views and you can make the one piece or the two piece colourblocked, but I like the idea of the one piece because it makes it feel cohesive. I chose to make the whole bottoms one colour rather than a different fabric for the front and back, but you get to decide how you want to split it up!
There are few considerations you need to make if you want to colourblock your suit:
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What colour lining are you going to use?
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Do you need to switch thread colours throughout?
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What colour are you going to make the continuous strap?
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How much fabric do you need?
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I chose to use a beige lining for all of my pieces. Black would have been ok too, but the purple fabric is so light it made more sense to go with the lighter lining.
I did end up switching thread colours to match whatever fabric I was sewing on. It matters less for construction and for the initial elastic application, but once you get to topstitching the elastic, it is nice to have it match. I changed colours midway through the top to get it to match.
I chose to split my strap in the middle so each side matched the corresponding front. In hindsight, I don’t know that this was necessary and I could have gone with a pink strap to tie it together. It looks nice though so I’m happy!
You don’t need much of any one fabric for this one. The easiest thing to do is print the pattern and see what scraps you can fit it on to. If you are buying swim fabric for this project online, get half a meter/yard of each and you will have more than enough for however you want to distribute the pieces.
I love how this cute suit turned out and I’m so happy to have made good use of my swim scraps! This was a real win-win.
Breakwater is on sale this week for 25% off! No coupon code required. Sale ends June 30th, 2026.
