Men's Swimsuit Thong

Ordinarily I wouldn’t have thought the male thong popular enough to justify doing a pattern for one but you wouldn’t believe me if I told you I get at least one email every week without fail, asking, begging or demanding that I do one! So here it is … nothing else to say really!

Before you start each step, look carefully at the  illustration for that step as it will help guide you through the instructions. At the end of each step your draft should match the illustration. If it doesn’t go back to the start of that step and work your way through again.

Step One

Complete steps 1 through 3 of the men’s brief pattern but instead of using 10 degrees to open up each slash in the front panel, use 30 degrees.

Step Two

Create a rectangle 25cm long and 3cm wide. The 3cm will be the width of the side strap so if you want it narrower then do so. The 25cm is an arbitrary amount that is longer than it needs to be but if you’re making for a much larger size then make it longer now, say 30cm, because we’ll shorten it to the correct length later.

Draw a dot at the center front of the lower 25% line as shown. This is the rotation point. Place the rectangle so the center of the 3cm side is on the rotation point and then rotate it until one edge lines up with the leg hole.

Step Three

Draw in the new side seam square to where the bottom of the rectangle intersects the original side seam. Yes this is slightly shorter, but the strap is narrow so the reduction is needed. Curve in the leg hole and waist band (although that doesn’t seem the right word for it any more!).

Step Four

Draw in another rectangle on the back panel to match exactly the same angle and height of that on the front panel. Draw in the back waistband curve as shown.

Step Five

Draw a line 1cm long, square out from the center back line, and halfway between then hip line and the crotch seam. This is the new back crotch seam. It is also shorter because of the narrowing of the pattern and because the thong falls lower between the cheeks.

Here’s where things get a little difficult to explain. Draw a second line 2cm long, square down from the intersection of the front leg hole (not the center front) with the crotch seam. Now shorten it from the top down until it’s only 1cm long … see illustration. This will be the new front crotch seam. You may need to move this line slightly up or down after the next step to make things line up better, but it needs to remain only 1cm no matter what size you’re working on.

Step Six

Draw in the back leg curve such that it forms a right angle with the center back. Draw in the front leg curve and pouch curve. This might take a little fiddling to get right, but the pouch should touch the lower center front line and still make a right angle with the crotch seam. Some people will angle the crotch seam even more, but I find that creates too large a pouch for most … only do this for custom patterns if needed, but not for ready-to-wear.

Step Seven

Remove unnecessary guidelines. If necessary retrace the front and back Panels. Be sure to clearly label your pattern pieces with a title, panel name, size, cutting instructions, author’s name, date and revision number. Finaly, add seam allowance to the pattern … I’ve shown this one with 10mm allowance for overlocked seams (8mm to blade, 2mm off cut) and 10mm allowance for folding over 9mm elastic.