Picture 1) I added an extra piece to the crotch of the bikini bottoms and sandwiched it between the outer fabric and the inner mesh.Picture 2) I pinned the mesh to the wrong side of the outer fabric and scatter-pinned them together so I could flat line them (sew them together flatly) without the layers shifting and twisting.Picture 3) I machine-basted the pieces together with right-sides togetherPicture 4) I used a baby-lock machine to serge the seams together. Using a serger or overlock machine allows the seams to stretch without breaking the threads. If you don't have access to this, you can use a zigzag stitch on a standard sewing machine.Picture 5) I basted swimsuit elastic to the outer edge of the finished seam lines of the suit along the legs and waist.

TIP: Stretch the elastic along the back of the leg opening, but lay flat along the front.

Stretch the elastic along the waist evenly.

Picture 6) I serged the edge of the elastic to the fabric, being sure to cut off the excess fabric, but not cutting into the elastic



Picture 7) Elastic is serged to the suit



Picture 8) I turned the elastic to the inside of the suit so the folded edge is now the outer edge of the suit. I used a zigzag stitch from the front side of the fabric to sew down the edge, stretching as necessary.



Picture 9) I pinned and hand-basted the bottle opener into the suit opening. I later serged the raw edges to the inner layer of mesh, but this was pretty tricky, and you can get away with hand-sewing the whole thing, or taking it to a sewing machine and using a zig sag stitch through all layers.