Bathing Belles

pencil and watercolour illustration on cold-pressed cotton paper

Lately, I've seen a number of these riotous floral swimming caps, both vintage and new.  I'm not sure if I'd have the derring-do to wear one in public, but they delight me.  They'd fit in nicely with this old bathing pavilion, and I seem to recall Katie making that very same observation at the time. 

I briefly considered offering a handmade upcycling tutorial to Etsy, using fishing line, a crochet hook, old hot water bottles and a couple of shower curtains ~ but I had problems with my flour-and-water glue mix not holding up under water so it was back to the drawing board, where I sensibly made this instead.  If you'd like a copy of the tutorial, you know where to find me.  Over at Etsy buying one ...

21 comments

  1. This is simply scrumptious summer fun. I SO want that yellow swim cap! If I could I'd spend the rest of the week with these lovelies hanging out on the beach. For your tutorial, instead of a flour & water glue, try duct tape!

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  2. Love this Shell! You've made a splash once again! Sending Smiles. :)

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  3. It's yours, Katie, as soon as I find some yellow hot water bottles. Nice tip on the duct tape ~ made all the difference. :)

    Favourite Vintage Finds ~ hee hee! Thank you, C. I thought you'd like this one.

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  4. Ha ha ha! I had one of these as a young child. And now I want another! When did society turn us all into non-rubber-flower-wearing frumps?

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  5. Shell -- I love your "beauties" and I do remember these as a child. It seems that I have seen some of the caps in store windows though I have not actually spied any in use at the beach - hah!

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  6. You give these waterbottle scraps a panache they'd never have in real life.

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  7. I will be at the beach next week. I will see if they've caught on in California. I will keep you posted.

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  8. They look simply mah-velous! Makes me want to head straight for the water. When I was in my teens I swam sometimes at a public pool where all women had to wear bathing caps but men did not. I argued that half the men swimming there had hair twice as long as my very short pixie cut, but logic and reason were wasted on the dolts who ran the place—so I got one of these over-the-top flowered caps (it was pink) and felt marginally better about the whole thing.
    Katie's right about duct tape—with that and vinegar you can fix or clean anything!

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  9. Mise ~ I'd like to see these worn by the swimmers in the Olympic Games. Things have become all too aerodynamically-comfortable lately.

    Genie ~ wouldn't the Paris Plage be a fun place for them ~ or perhaps just the black and white versions.

    Thanks, Hiker! Though drawing them felt like the easy way out.

    Margaret ~ yes, please!

    Alexa ~ I'll bet you looked most fetching in that pink cap. Bah to the silly dolts.

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  10. How very Esther Williams and stylish to boot!

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  11. Fun pic of two fun chicks. I remember seeing some similar swim caps when I was a kid. I especially like the yellow one :)

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  12. love this!
    & I always envied the girls who had these types of caps too.

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  13. Cali ~ my dad had a crush on Esther Williams in his younger days!

    Ms M ~ you and Katie can take turns with the yellow one. :)

    Thanks, Lily ~ they might fit in nicely at Montauk...

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  14. How cute they are. I wore swim caps as a girl but none this adorable. As I recall, we wore them to keep our hair dry but they didn't work that well.
    V

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  15. I was going to ask for a reminder: what are swim caps for, again? Keeping hair dry, and keeping hair out of the filter system. Thanks for the reminders, Alexa and Virginia. Guess I haven't been to a public pool in a while!

    The caps are, shall we say, "not me." But I like the etsy purses. Shell, you can make cute out of anything.

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  16. how glamerous!! I had a pretty pink one with roses all over it and thought I looked a million dollars !!
    Dianne xx

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  17. Virginia ~ and with the plain caps, if one had abundant locks, one looked like an alien was about to bust out of it!!

    Thanks, Petrea! I won't expect to see a photo of you or Boz wearing one any time soon. ;)

    Hi, Dianne ~ and I'll bet you did look a million dollars! Thank you for dropping in. Heading over to puddinglane now...ooh, French things!

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  18. Those hats are so pretty, I wouldn't waste them on swimming. I'd wear them with a fancy dress out on the town!

    I love that lemon-lime crochet sun hat over at Etsy.

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  19. PCN ~ so sweet, and it's on sale! I dare you to wear it to Robert Crais's next reading...

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  20. Shell, that's not even a hard dare. He probably expects me to wear something like that to his signing.

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