How excited are you that we have made it to the final step of creating your very own, bespoke bodysuit? After this, you will be able to walk all around town sporting your one-of-a-kind make!
I am so excited about the prospect of finishing that I even made myself some cookies for this occasion! Let's get started!
29) With RST, attach your front and back crotch openings.
30) Trim your seam and press it towards the back.
31) Fold your bodysuit crotch facing in by 1/2” (1.3 cm) along the top & bottom edges and press.
32) With wrong sides together, place your crotch facing onto your bodysuit, matching the notches to the crotch seam.
Baste in place.
If you haven't already, trim any extra tabs that maybe peeking out from the sides.
33) Now it’s time to insert your elastic onto your leg hole openings!
Grab your elastic piece and cut it in half.
Then, mark the halfway point on each elastic piece.
34) Line up the ends of your elastic with the crotch seam and pin your elastic to the wrong side of the leg openings right along the raw edge. Make sure your elastic is overlapping a slight bit.
Then take your halfway point and pin it to the side seam of your bodysuit.
35) This is always a bit of a tricky step for me because you have to stretch your elastic while sewing along a curve and also keeping your elastic near the raw edge of your fabric- eep! So, go slow and don't worry if your seam is a little wobbly- no one should be looking at it down there anyway!
Sew along the center of the elastic with a 4.0 wide zig-zag stitch, stretching your elastic as you sew.
As you come to the where your stitches started, I want to give you a tip that I learned in a lingerie class to help increase the life of your elastic.
Once you have reached your beginning stitches, lower your needle all the way through your elastic and fabric.
Pick your foot up and pivot your project so that your elastic is now perpendicular to the needle.
Drop your foot back down and adjust your machine settings to a really small zig zag stitch.
And sew back a forth a few times. This helps to lock in the raw edge of your elastic and keep it from falling apart quickly after each wash.
36) We are now going to clean up the leg openings and hide that elastic.
Turn your leg opening along the inside of the elastic making sure that the raw edge of the fabric is hiding the elastic from view.
You will again have to stretch as you sew to ensure that the elastic is lying flat.
Continue all the way around each leg hole until you wind up back to your first set of stitches.
*Helpful Tip* If you find that you aren't super loving the inside of your garment, you can always go around the edge of your leg openings and trim up any jagged looking pieces for a cleaner finish!
Also, in case you are wondering why we didn't finish off the crotch edge for this view- I found that it was unnecessary considering most knits won't unravel. Plus, once you have sewn in the elastic fully, the crotch liner is pretty much in place! I didn't want to add extra bulk in such a delicate area unless absolutely necessary.
YAY!! You are officially done with your Nathalie! I think it is time to show the world how awesome your new creation is!
