Trunks

[atherleisure]

I finished the trunks for the 1921 bathing suit. I'm not sure about the waist...it's low in back, which is always rather uncomfortable, and the ribbing doesn't feel like it's under much tension at all. If you look at pants patterns, the back is usually a much deeper and taller curve than the front. These trunks have the extra in the back leg that you would expect, but the back waist doesn't have any extra. If I were to make these again, which is extremely unlikely, I think I'd repeat the short rows from the bottoms of the legs at the waist. I'll see what happens when I trial them in the water, but I might end up adding beltloops at the waist so that I can put a cord around the waist or attach an elastic waistband.

Comments

[marianme]

Is the waist somehow backwards? Weird. Now makes me wonder if some of that 1920-30s swim suit belting was actually functional.

[atherleisure]

koshka_the_cat described these as being made by someone who then wrote down what she thought she did and published it. This is another thing that makes that seem likely. I suspect the original design had short rows at the back of the waist instead of the back of the leg. As written the pattern is symmetrical through the upper leg, hip, and waist. I decided it would be an improvement if I added on to the top of the back waist. I hope that will be successful.

[atherleisure]

And, yes, the belts on old swimsuits were indeed functional.