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My first bra sized swimsuit after being stuck with 2XL halter bikini's with the straps pulled far to tight! This is the full one piece swimsuit in Curvy Kate's Maya line. I was nervous for two reasons, 1. if my boobs and the rest of my sizes -waist, hips, torso height- all would work out in one suit, since the only sizing was the boobs and 2. if the cups would be acceptable for swimming since I'm close set and fear I'd fall out of a plunge-style suit. So far my best fitting bras have been 34H UK and so that's what I ordered.
Standing Bust: 43
Underbust: 33
Belly-button ... level: 41
Largest around Hips: 45.5
Dry fitting (will update after swimming):
Butt/Hips
Currently I wear a US pants size 12. I'm not sure this suit is made for someone as hip-full as I am. I suppose I am like a pear with large boobs as a body shape, or a weird hourglass. When I tried to put this on by stepping through the neck hole, the suit rebelled and I thought I heard a rip, although see nothing, so I stopped and re-evaluated. Im a little conerned about popping a stitch some I ended up stepping though the back with the whole top half of the suit in front of me, and then flipped up the cups and rest of the top half and manovered the straps from in-front of me over my head to rest on my back. A little complicated to get on, but this seems tailored very well to the shape of my body once on. The hip fabric is very stretched over my hips (45.5 inches at the widest point). While it fits me nicely and goes over my butt/stomach great, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone bigger than 45.5 inches at the hip. As a modest person who also burns easily, I was happy to find that the but of the swimsuit actually covered my butt- almost the same lines as my underwear (low rise briefs from Fruit of the Loom). I was apprehensive about the ladder cut-outs in front, but they don't seem to show any lumps and bumps in stomach fat, and only have a slight shadow where I have a wrinkle in my stomach fat where my pants band normally sits. (sorry that's weirdly written, not normally something I describe). Honestly this part of the suit feels and fits like really great shapewear, but not to tight. I normally hate swimsuits because one pieces seem frumpy and and I feel vulnerable showing off my naked out-of-shape stomach. This really makes me feel like a pin-up 50's model without screaming that message with polka dots and hair curls. I feel fashionable instead of frumpy or embarrassed, it's really great.
Middle/Torso
I'm not sure if my hips stole some fabric that was supposed to be for the middle of the torso or if my torso is taller than this suit wants it to be. I'm 5'3" but what little height I have is slightly more in my torso than legs. Even trying to manipulate the stretch in the fabric, the wire for the cups stayed about a third of an inch below my IMF.
Just as I hoped, this swimsuit, when worn with the straps as an X, sort of push in the outer edge enough that the volume fits perfectly with no center puffing issue. Taller ladies may not be able to make this work for them, unless my hips stole the fabric that could be stretched into height, but tall and equally curvy ladies are probably out of luck. There is a band of royal blue that goes around the middle like a belt. A sewer may be able to take this out and put in a wider band for more height (my back-up plan if this doesn't work out unaltered for swimming). As it is, this again makes me think of shapewear in how it made my body look, but without feeling tight or squished. Even my little bit of back-fat was all hidden.
Bra Parts
The wire sitting 1/3 of an inch below my IMF is odd feeling, but not uncomfortably so, and I'm hopeful it will just mean I can swim without risking any wires pinching me. Luckily my boobs tend to fill up volume however they can, so the lower wires weren't a huge problem. It's an issue that I wouldn't accept in a daily bra but I think can pass in a swimsuit that's only worn occasionally.
The band fits me perfectly when dry, so I'm a little worried about what it will do when wet since I measure as a large 34/small 36 band and I really dont want it to stretch out more.
The padding on the cup shows no nipple.
To compare the cups of the suit, the only Curvy Kate bra I've ever tried on is the Curvy Kate High Hope in 34H, and that fits me well enough, however I puff out of the cups toward the center (either due to slightly center-full or just close-set), while my roots seem to be slightly short for the bra and make a small gap just where the cup attaches to the strap. I assumed this suit would have similar cups and I was hoping the adjustable straps on this would allow me to adjust for any center-puffiness, but that didn't appear in this suit's cups. (I figured the X straps would pull in the cup where there was a little gapping near the strap attachment and then there'd be more volume so my tissue didnt puff out near the center) Without any real fiddling the cups fit really great volume-wise, although I dont know if that's because the wire is sitting low and made things move around. The plunge-style really made me worried about falling out towards the middle when active, but with some bending and fake swimming and generally bending and bouncing around, things seemed to mostly stay in place. At most there'd be a subtle readjustment, but nothing seems likely to pop out. I dont have as much of a projected shape as I do in the Elomi bra's like Cate or Amelia, but I'm not squished flat either like I would be in a shallow fitting bra, so this is probably an average-to-projected shape.
I only have tried this on with the straps in an X so far, the strap hooks dont really want to let the straps go, which is great for swimming but not great for trying all the ways of wearing it. As an X, I have to max out the strap length for them to not dig in to me.
Overall I am extremely pleased with the suit. I wish there was a little more height in the torso so the bra band and cups would sit a touch higher, but it's a tolerable issue for me in a swimsuit and loads better than general-sizing suits for my body/shape. I have not felt like I looked this good or felt as confident in a swimsuit since puberty- not to brag, just to emphasize how shitty everything else fitted, looked, and felt.
After swimming:
while it's a little annoying to have to adjust/pull up the band to wear it should go since the suit wants it half an inch low, it seems to stay adjusted while Im wearing it. I wore it i think 4 times for about a half day each and it was very comfortable. It was comfortable to walk around in when I was doing things before swimming, and it was also comfortable when I was on a FlowRider machine learning how to boogieboard (I had a rashgaurd on in case of slipping out but I never did). My boobs didnt float out the top like I was worried about when lounging in the pool/hot tubs.
My biggest complaint is that the strap where it was sewed to the outer cup started splitting. I think the thread must've broke or something, because it seems like the stitching is just coming undone more than any tear. I only noticed when I was going to put it on the late time. I was fairly active with boogieboarding, but I had a rashgaurd covering the suit, so Im a little surprised that the construction didn't hold up better.
I still feel amazing wearing the suit. This is one of the first garments of any kind I've owned in a long time that made me feel curvy and pretty instead of fat and frumpy. Usually what fits over my boobs is either over-sexy or frumpy and I absolutely love that this made me feel fashionable but modest. I'm definitely sewing up the strap and continuing to use this as my go-to suit.
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Updated on May 26, 2019 Flag this