My own birthday is just around the corner so that I decided to make something for myself. What a novel idea!
Doesn’t that happen to you too, that you always make something for others and totally forget yourself?
Well, since summer temperatures have finally, finally arrived after a wet and cool Spring, I decided to give a bikini top a shot. Not the kind you go into the water with, but for some sun bathing sessions.
sun bathing bikini top
I had 3 skeins of Sugar’n Cream “Summer Splash” cotton yarn in my stash, found a bikini pattern on Ravelry (DROPS Crochet Bikini Top With Tassels) with an agreeable shape as a starting point and jumped in.
As I worked my way through the pattern, I started to change things to my taste:
Mod 1: Since I used a different yarn than in my guideline pattern, I had to adjust the stitch count a bit.
Mod 2: I also decided to only pick-up the back loop of the stitch to make a decorative edge and add more interested to the piece.
Mod 3: I split the top ties into two strings (chains and then a row of slip stitches) each to make it more playful.
Mod 4: To give the cups a nice firm finish (without it they are wavy and rather revealing) and make it less revealing, I changed the edging around the triangles. Beginning at the top, it starts out with slip sts, moves on to single sts, half dcs, dcs, and trebles.
Mod 5: I didn’t want to cover up my mid section since this was a bikini top explicitly for sun bathing. So instead of working the netting I decided to go for a 4 row single sts bust band.
Mod 6: Instead of tie-strings for the back, I decided to go for a flat closure; sew-on snaps, hooks or Velcro. This would make it nice and flat so that when I sun bathe on my back I won’t have a big knot pressing into my back.
Hmm, those were quite a few changes… pretty much it turned into a new pattern… as so often when I try to make something… 
Need to weave in all the ends and decide on my back closure and hopefully there will still be some summer time left for sun bathing!
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