Finished Project: Wonder Woman Swimsuit!

I would tell you how to make this Wonder Woman swimsuit I created for my six-year-old, but it's probably copyright infringement. Also, I'm feeling a little protective of this project; a lot of work went into drafting and sewing a wearable Wonder Woman swimsuit — and if the whole world had one....well, it just wouldn't seem as special:

Feeling pretty special

I may be living out my own childhood fantasies a little with this make (I watched a lot of re-runs of the TV show in the '80s), but my kid actually did request it. We watch Youtube clips of Linda Carter as Wonder Woman. My daughter is particularly into the "Bullets and Bracelets" sequence in the origin story. 

I started with a basic swimsuit pattern and then redrafted to create three pieces: the bottom, the belt and the top:

The fabrics are all from Spandex House in NYC's Garment District. Their minimum purchase is a yard, so I ended up with a lot of each fabric. Thus, I decided to make a matching circle skirt, which my daughter can pull on for apres-beach (or apres-pool) wear:

I machine-appliqued the golden eagle design onto the front before sewing together the suit. It's no easy feat to applique one stretch fabric onto another, so I used several layers of wash-away stabilizer to reduce waviness along the stitch line:

 I have yet to make a matching swimcap, so for swimming lessons this week she wore a blue and white polka dot one. I think it's close enough:

It's the suit I would have wanted as a kid. (And yes, admittedly, I do still kind of covet — though, no I am not going to go there...and if I did, it would be, like, a secret thing just between me and Batman).

Do you have any dream projects inspired by a childhood obsession? What would your six-year-old self ask you to make?