hhmmmm...elastic. I usually use a drawstring, just so I can make sure it fits right all the time. Maybe I'll try the elastic though. Thanks. :)

I closed both of mine... I didn't have the cojones to wear them open... (no joke intended)... I was a newer dancer and I like doing stuff on the floor and since I haven't been into ATS much wearing both skirt and monsterloons hasen't really happend for me giving me that confidence of 'both' skirt and pants sooooo I never was concerned about it. I think the next set I might leave open.... but that has some stretch/give to it so it might be a littl easier to manipulate when it comes time to tap a kidney.

If you have a yoke on your pantaloons, generally you just don't sew the crotch at all. So it is split from the bottom of the yoke at the front to the bottom of the yoke in the back. If you don't have a yoke, sure your best judgement.

The way I was taught is that when you do the crotch with your two rectangles of fabric you put your hand on the side where the crotch would go. draw an L around it and a reverse L for the other side. then they match up and you have an L shape that fits your body... ( the top longer part of the L is the rise from your naval area down to hair line the horizontal part is the part that runs under your bits to the back. the reverse would be the crack line and connect underneath. If that makes ANY sense at all.

now that's the no brainer way to do it... there are other ways measureing the rise with a piece of string and a pencil also the way of using jeans and measuring that rise....

if I was going to leave the crotch open I'd probably wack out the two L shapes but round it out more and tack down the edges to prevent excessive chafage with threads coming off and what not... but that is half a personal problem with body shape and how pants generally fit my particular personage.

=)

There are two ways to make pantaloons: 1. curved crotch seam (like regular pants/trousers); 2. rectangular construction with or without crotch gusset.

I've seen the open crotch variety only with the rectangular construction method. Each leg is a simple rectangle. Lower on the leg, the edges join together to form the inseam, while near the top they join with the other leg to form the centre front and centre back seams. In order to get the flat fabric around a 3D body, there needs to be some shape to the crotch. This is where you either leave it open or put in a crotch gusset.

I did a pair with a crotch gusset and you don't notice the gusset when they're on (people.tribe.net/zena/phot...d24c28f5).