Crochet Sleeveless Shirt

Because I’ve mainly made sweater style things thus far, I wanted to try something a bit different, so I decided to make a shirt. And it is summer now (despite the rain). Crochet shirts are a style of top I’d definitely wear, as well as being a whole new challenge in terms of my crochet ability. I watched a fair amount of tutorials on YouTube, so kind of had an idea of how I wanted to go about about this project (special shoutout to FTK crochet, who have some sick designs/ tutorials on their channel), but there was no pattern I was following directly in terms of colour scheme or otherwise. I actually took the measurements from a shirt I already own, as it’s one I really like the fit of.

A month later and I was the lucky owner of this! I think it’s my favourite crochet item I’ve made to date:

I must say I absolutely love the fit/ shape, as well as the colour scheme and everything else! I seriously CAN NOT wait to start wearing this out to places. I am seriously proud of it, and it excites me where next to go with my crochet.

I’ll do a bit of a pattern/ making of etc here, so I can easily call on this should I want to make something similar in the future… Before I forget, this was all crocheted using a 3mm hook and 100% cotton WI Hobbycraft ‘that’s so cotton’ yarn, in colours ‘ecru’ and ‘navy’. As these things often do, it all started with a quick sketch of my idea:

Though this looks a bit like one of those horse racing kits I remember seeing as a kid in the newspaper whenever there was a major race on!

And in true Flora Martyr fashion, there was a couple of obligatory restarts (though nothing too major this time round thankfully). I don’t actually remember exactly why I restarted- I think it was because to do with the length of the starting chain and it growing/ shrinking etc once I added a few rows of stitches and the fact that I didn’t like the edges. Which lead me to learning how to do standing stitches at the start of each new row, instead of chaining 2 or 3, which leaves those big gaps and doesn’t make the piece look quite as nice. These standing chains make the edges look super flush and I’ll 100% be using them going forwards. Here was my test piece for learning that:

I created the back panel first, the final measurements being 19.2x21.5 inches, and I was working side to side, rather than bottom up, allowing me to get the vertical stripe effect. There were 62 (double crochet) rows across the back (31 stripes), weighing 218g. And each row took approximately 12 minutes each.

For the two front panels, they were essentially the same process and size as the back, but half size vertically (30 rows/ 15 stripes), going from blue to blue (allowing me to pattern match with the back panel), plus leaving a space in the middle for the white button band later on. Each of these weighed 104g each. My tension was clearly on point!

After I was done with each panel (back, front 1, front 2), I weaved the ends in, because there were soooo many and didn’t want to save it for the end. That would be extremely masochistic, even by my standards!

After all the three main panels were done, I pinned it together using stitch markers for a test fitting, to check if I had gone wildly off course with my measurements or anything. Luckily I had not, so to crack on with the sleeves was next.

I had no idea how long etc I wanted the sleeves to be, so to help me decide, I fixed a bit of fabric using masking tape to test out the length/ size I wanted. Very technical, I know…

The sleeves took around 5 hours each and measured 6.2x16 inches approx, each weighing 54g (before adding the ribbing). I thought adding a small bit of trim to the edges would add a bit of extra ‘something’ to the design, so I used 3 rows of single crochet. This gave just the right amount I think. Note to future self: started with the ‘right’ side facing towards me for the ribbing.

Originally, I hadn’t intended for the ribbing to cinch the sleeves in like on the above image, but it was one of those happy accidents I was pleased with. Without it, I feel the sleeves would have come across too baggy and shapeless. With this in mind, I did the same to the bottom of the garment at the end of the construction, which really helped bring shape to the whole thing.

Then, it was time to crochet it all together. I attached the shoulders together first, leaving a 7.5ish inch hole for the neck- this definitely gave me the most anxiety, because I was really nervous whether it would be too big/ small, but it actually turned out just right. I then attached the sleeves and stitched up the sides. Next, was to add the aforementioned hem/ ribbing all the way around the bottom, followed by the button panels. Lastly, was the collar. Though in future, I would swap the latter two stages around, because the collar changed how it hung a little, so I actually ended up needing to redo the button hole placement. Which didn’t take that long, but it was a step I could have done without.

The collar, I started with the right side facing towards me (like with all the ribbing) and single crocheted 13 rows round the neck, increasing by two on the 5th, 7th, 10th and 13th rows. No exact science, just guesswork!

I’ll stick a few more pics down below of the finished item, so you can see it in more detail. Right, that’s me off to go do something else for a little while… xo