Level Water fundraising - swimming costume making!

Have you ever thought about making your own swimming costume? Perhaps you’ve always wished for a costume that is tailored specifically to you, whatever your size, shape and style preference? Well, this weekend Christine (Addison) and I were fortunate enough to join a bespoke swimming costume making course with The Swimming Seamstress - and the icing on the cake… it was all for the charity we support - Level Water.

Level Water help provide swimming lessons for children with disabilities and at The Flipper Club we are proud to work with this phenomenal charity, delivering lessons to children who need 1:1 support and teaching in the water.

Making a swimming costume…

The founder of The Swimming Seamstrress and Felixstowe Sewing School is Amanda Bowden. As well as being a professional seamstress and teacher, Amanda is an avid open water swimmer (and English Channel swimmer) and she has always been an advocate for body positivity, particularly for women in sport. Swimming can present many barriers for people, fear of being a non-swimmer, needing ‘the kit’ e.g. goggles, accessing swimming pools, the cost, and also bearing a lot of your body in a swimsuit. Through her courses Amanda empowers women to create a swimming costume they can feel fabulous in, giving them the confidence to at least leap the hurdle of what to wear in the water. Just like The Flipper Club - we’re all about inclusivity!

And with inclusivity in mind, this is how Amanda came to be such a prolific cheer leader for Level Water.

But back to the costume making itself! Thankfully Amanda takes your measurements and creates your bespoke cozzie pattern ready for cutting and sewing. We had time for practice runs on lycra fabrics, it’s of course very stretchy and can be tricky to work with. However, all assistance and guidance is provided and after A LOT of cutting, pinning, tacking and stitching of strips of elastic, eventually I had something that not only resembled a costume, it is something I can proudly wear in the water! Having only ever dabbled with a sewing machine before, this was not something I ever thought I’d be able to create.

Christine and I were on the course with a lovely group of ladies - all of mixed swimming abilities, all of which were very happy to be supporting such an important charity.

Below are a few pics from the course :-)