The Best Yarn To Crochet Swimwear With – 15 Recommendations

Unless you make your own. Which is genius really when you think about it because:

• It’s cheaper than buying in a store.
• It’s a pretty fast project – by definition, you’re not making a big item here!
• You get total control over color and design details.
• No more buying a bikini set and discovering that only one half fits you properly.
• The result will be completely unique and bespoke to you.

What to look for in yarn to crochet swimwear with

Before you pick up your hook, it’s important to make sure you’re working with suitable materials. Unfortunately making swimwear won’t work as a stash-busting project if your stash consists entirely of squashy merino wools or hard wearing linens. Some fiber properties to think about when you get started are:

• Softness
• Absorbency
• Sagging
• Drying time
• Color bleeding
• Chemical tolerance

Softness

First and foremost, swimwear sits right next to your skin, and in contact with some pretty intimate areas at that! So, you’ll want a yarn gentle enough to not cause chafing or irritation. Yarns advertised specifically for making swimwear are obviously a solid bet, as are yarns designed for baby garments.

Absorbency

How much water your finished project holds onto is the next big consideration. Regular swimsuits are made with textiles like polyester, polyamide, nylon, or a blend of these. They are all synthetic fibers, and the material is constructed in such a way that it doesn’t soak up lots of water relative to its own weight. Lots of yarns traditionally used for crochet, on the other hand, will hold several times their own weight in water, thus making them heavy and bulky to wear in the pool.

Sagging

When fabrics get heavy with water, they also sag. Which can mean embarrassing gaps at the sides of your swimwear, or gaping holes between your stitches. To get around this, look for yarns with added elastane or spandex to help your garments hold their shape, or use a slightly smaller needle size than the yarn usually calls for, to create extra tension.

Drying time

Wearing a wet swimsuit for hours is cold and uncomfortable. If your creation is actually going to get wet, make it out of yarn that will dry fast, like microfiber or polyamide. Of course, if you’re just going to use your crochet swimwear for sun bathing, tanning, partying or posing, then this isn’t such a concern!

Color bleeding

When you choose a yarn to crochet swimwear from, you also need to consider whether prolonged contact with water (especially chlorinated water) could cause dye from the fibers to bleed across the garment, or rub off on your skin. This is less likely in synthetic materials, and more likely if you choose natural materials made with natural dyes. And of course, it is more likely to be obvious if the colors are dark or bright! if in doubt, make a swatch first and give it a good soaking to test the colorfastness.

Chemical tolerance

The final thing to consider is how well your chosen yarn is going to withstand things like

• Contact with chlorine
• The salt in seawater
• Getting sunscreen rubbed on it
• And being washed in detergent

So yarns aren’t up to being worn as swimwear at all, because they are too delicate. Some are fine, provided you’re prepared to hand wash them. And others can be machine washed over and over again.

The best yarn to crochet swimwear

The best yarns to crochet functional swimwear from are light weight, fast drying synthetics, with a small proportion of spandex or elastane to make sure they hold their shape. However for non-functional swimwear – for example a decorative bikini top that’s just for looking great in summer – you can worry less about these properties. What you might want to consider instead is a smooth, strong natural material like cotton or bamboo, which really shows off the detail lace or picot stitches.

Best yarns for swimwear to sunbathe in

Despite the name, plenty of us make swimwear without any intention of ever actually swimming in it! Crochet swimwear is perfect for sunbathing in, or making a statement at a party or festival. And if getting wet isn’t a concern, it has to be said that your yarn choices are far greater! So this is the category of recommendations we’re going to start with. Here are some tried and tested favorites, and what makes them such suitable choices:

Lily Sugar’N’Cream

• 100% cotton
• Widely available and easy to get your hands on
• Affordable – great for making a trial version of a new pattern
• Wide range of solid, ombre and self striping colors
• But, it’s not the softest to wear against your skin, and it’s so thick that gaps between your stitches are going to be hard to avoid
• Hook size: H (5mm)
• Buy it here

Omega Sinfonia

• 100% mercerized cotton – mercerizing is a chemical treatment that makes fibers smoother and stronger
• 6 ply cabled yarn – more durable and less prone to fraying than twisted yarns
• Soft and tactile
• Comes in a wide range of colors
• But, despite having a cult following it’s not widely available in stores, so you might need to buy online
• Hook size: E (3.5mm)
• Buy it here

Yonkey Monkey Bamboo Cotton

• 70% bamboo, 30% cotton
• Lightweight and soft – ultra comfortable to wear
• Bamboo is a sustainable alternative to cotton, with lots of the same properties
• But, it does split easily and some of the colors are slippery to work with
• Hook size: D (3mm)
• Buy it here

Bernat Softee Baby Cotton

• 60% cotton, 40& acrylic
• Acrylic makes the fiber more durable, and machine washable
• It also helps garments hold their shape better
• Widely available in stores, and often available with seasonal discounts
• But, the color palette is limited to soft pastels
• Hook size: G (4mm)
• Buy it here

Gazzal Baby Cotton

• 60% cotton, 40% acrylic
• Very durable and resilient to washing
• One of the finest yarns in this list – this can be a good thing or a bad thing!
• On the one hand you use it to show off some beautiful and highly decorative stitching
• But on the other, it’s fiddly and takes much longer to make progress with
• Hook size: B (2mm)
• Buy it here

Lion Truboo

• 100% rayon from bamboo
• Bamboo is an ultra sustainable and renewable source of fiber
• Extra smooth and gentle on your skin
• But, you might find it’s a bit too soft and supple, if you need your bikini top to give a bit of support
• Hook size: G (4mm)
• Buy it here

Drops Muscat

• 100% mercerized Egyptian cotton
• Slightly smaller balls than usual – great if you want to incorporate a few colors into your swimwear, but you don’t want to spend extra or end up with lots of leftover yarn
• Machine washable
• Holds the structure of lace work well
• Hook size: G (4mm)
• Buy it here

Best yarns for swimwear to swim in

Next let’s turn to the functional swimwear yarns – the ones you can actually dive into the pool wearing. These all have properties which mean they’re still wearable when they’re wet. They also all tend towards being narrower. This means they’re going to take longer to work up, but the results will be tighter, and the gaps between the stitches will be smaller. This is going to protect you from showing a little too much in your swimsuit, and you’re less likely to need a lining.

Cascade Cotton Fixation

• 98.3% cotton, 1.7% spandex
• Machine washable
• This yarn has the hippy, boho look of cotton, but with a bit of stretch to help it fit better and stay up when wet.
• But, there are some notable gaps in the colors available
• Hook size: F (3.75mm)
• Buy it here

Ice Yarns Swim

• 100% polyamide
• A yarn specifically made for swimwear!
• Doesn’t absorb and hold onto water like natural fibers will
• Fast drying
• But, the color palette is very limited
• Hook size: D (3mm)
• Buy it here

Alize Diva Stretch Bikini

• 92% microfiber, 2% elastane
• Possibly the holy grail of functional yarn to crochet swimwear from
• Holds its shape in water
• Dries fast
• But, it is very fine to work with
• Hook size: B (2mm)
• Buy it here

Alize Diva Plus

• 100% microfiber
• Similar properties to the Dive Stretch Bikini, but thicker and therefore faster to work up
• Huge range of colors
• But, it’s not widely available outside of Europe
• Hook size: G (4mm)
• Buy it here

Himalaya Bikini

• 100% polyamide
• Lightweight and fast drying
• Easier to get hold of internationally than Alize brand yarns
• But, it’s another narrow one!
• Hook size: B (2mm)
• Buy it here

Himalaya Celinda Stretch

• 93% Acrylic, 7% elastane
• Added elastane means the garment stretches with your body and holds its shape when wet.
• The fiber has less of a sheen than the Diva Stretch, if that’s something you want to avoid.
• And it’s slightly thicker, making it a bit easier to work with.
• But, it’s not widely stocked, and some colors can be tricky to get hold of.
• Hook size: D (3mm)
• Buy it here

Best yarn to crochet swimwear with – summary

To crochet swimwear, it’s best to leave the fuzzy wools and linens in your stash, and reach for cottons, bamboos, and functional yarn made from materials like polyamide instead. If you want to swim in your crochet swimsuit, choose a specialist functional yarn with added spandex or elastane, so that it doesn’t lose its shape and fall off in the water!

If you’ve crocheted your own swimwear, let us know what yarn you used and whether you’re happy with the results using the comments section down below!