Now for the crotch - wish there was a more pleasant word for it! :) There are several ways to go about doing this. Here is one. Take the crotch piece and the lining and sew them together along the side edges with a zig zag stitch. Then, pin it to the front and back of the other main pieces. After pinning, sew the pieces together so the crotch is attached. You can use a straight stitch and zig zag for extra stability. Trim any excess material. Now take your swimsuit bottom - and sew a zig zag stitch around the leg holes so everything has that stitch.



Now you'll need to sew in more elastic. This is optional but recommended for the first suit anyway. I made one without any elastic down there and it turned out great - and felt more comfortable to me than with the elastic. But, if you plan to swim a lot - or want things more secure and fitted - then elastic is important. You'll need to sew the elastic onto the zig zag stitches you just made. After sewing it on, you'll then flip the material inward to hide the elastic within and sew another zig zag stitch. This part may be complicated.



I've tried so many methods to this - and found one which works the best! This was a tip from BrianSews here - thank you Brian! I've messed up a lot of suits by using the other methods - all of which are very popular but don't work well in my opinion. In fact, I'll make an instructable on this in the near future for more clarity.



So, take out your elastic - stretch it out several times first. Prepare to sew it on the wrong side of your fabric edge along the leg hole openings and crotch. For the elastic, you don't even need to cut a piece off the bunch - just hold onto one end. Make two marks on your suit about 2 inches from the crotch seam in both directions. Start sewing your elastic outside this area stretching it just slightly as you sew. When you approach your mark, give it a good stretch and resume light tension when the other mark is reached. When I meet up with the other end of elastic I cut off so that the raw ends match up with NO overlap. I then zigzag the ends together which creates a flat transition and no lump on the outside. Then, fold that elastic in and go over it on the right side of the fabric with a topstitch. if you have a sewing machine that can use a twin needle - you should definitely do a coverstitch. I made an Instructable on doing a coverstitch with your sewing machine here.



If you practice you'll notice that even though you don't measure the same length of elastic for each leg both legs will match. Turn your elastic under and top stitch while stretching as necessary. I like to stitch from the back so I can sew exactly on the edge of the elastic.



