I added 4 stitches to each side below the waist and narrowed them out before the ribbing begins. I knit fourteen repeats of the pattern before starting the waist ribbing since I have a fairly long rise. After having the back of the waist ribbed section sag on my last bathing suit, I knit a dozen short rows to raise the center back of the waist so that the waistband would be fairly level.

Instead of sewing in the gusset and knitting the leg edgings with the side seams open, I sewed the side seams and knit the leg edgings with the gusset seams open. That way the seams of the edging were on the inseam instead of the outseam.

The pattern makes no comment on how thick to make the braids for neck and waist. I did three-strand braids with each strand made up of two pieces of yarn. Based on the pattern images, I three or even four pieces of yarn in each strand of the braid might have been better.