Knit Bikini

This price is per piece: top or bottom only.

Knitted on a domestic 1980s Singer lace machine, these knit bikinis take you from shoreline to sundowner. The yarns come from places as far as Hong Kong and as close as Adelaide. The piece challenges our relationship with traditional swimwear materials while honouring the craft-conscious spirit of the 70s. It asks: why can't sustainable fashion make a splash in its own right?

Like all Fleurieu Made designs, this one carries the stories of its materials. Each yarn is a remnant with its own history. The main red was an Onkaparinga yarn I bought in Adelaide when I was 16 years old.

The real conversation-starter is the accompanying lace merino babydoll overdress, floating over the bikini like sea foam over sand. This isn't your grandmother's beach cover-up, though she might recognise the silhouette. The delicate lacework creates a peek-a-boo effect that is both modest and mischievous, reminiscent of 1970s babydoll lingerie.

Materials

• Onkaparinga Mill (1872-1993, Adelaide) merino yarn, red
• Unknown wool, red
• Soco Textiles Hong Kong (1951-2020) fine merino yarn, orange
• Lot 3062 A/C2/29 Taiwan fine merino yarn, buttercup
• DEA Yarns New Zealand fine elastic thread, purchased 2015

Equipment

• Singer Memomatic 700 lace machine with lace carriage
• Punchcard no. 398
• DesignaKnit software and cable

How it's made

1. Design the swimsuit in DesignaKnit.
2. Produce a sample, wash and press it.
3. Update the design and prepare tensions for knitting.
4. Machine knit on the 1980s Singer, using the lace carriage for the punchcard sections.
5. Steam and block all pieces, then hand-finish the seams.
6. Specialised lace patterning for the babydoll overdress.

Each ensemble takes approximately 8 to 10 hours from start to finish, combining machine efficiency with the handwork the piece needs.

Dive in, lovelies. The water's warm and the outfit is hot.