Abstract: A buoyant swim garment has inner and outer layers of fabric and, intermediate the inner and outer layers a buoyant flexible sheet material. The sheet material has spaced V-shaped grooves with sides meeting in a line at an apex, the grooves extending in a height-wise dimension of the garment to define panels. The periphery of the material has a bevel with a thin, pliant outer edge. Stitching extends through the apex of the V-shaped grooves and the inner and outer layers of fabric. In manufacturing the garment, the V-shaped grooves are skived, and the periphery of the sheet material is also skived to form the bevel. In one embodiment, the grooves face the inner layer of fabric, and the beveled periphery faces the outer layer.

Abstract: A floatation garment adapted to aid in keeping the user afloat in the water. The garment has at least one floatation pad of suitable flexible floatation material of a predetermined thickness, the pad having one or more lines of reduced thickness extending across the pad. A fabric cover or shell having an outer and inner panel is provided with the floatation pad being disposed within a pocket between the outer and inner panels. The outer and inner panels are sewn to the pad and to one another along the lines of reduced thickness thereby to hold the pad in place with respect to the shell and to permit the garment to readily be flexed along the lines of reduced thickness.