Kira Nerys is one of my favourite characters in Star Trek Deep Space 9. She is courageous, skilled, resourceful, loyal, open-minded and fun. In some scenes she wears a white camisole with a striking cut-out pattern which was the original inspiration for this design.
Eventually my version turned out quite different, with a more complex lace insert in the upper front and back.

ITO Kinu is the perfect yarn for this: held double for the main fabric it is quick and easy to knit. In the lace insert it is used single-stranded for a delicate look.

This design comes in a range of freely combinable shoulder and body styles: tank top, cap sleeves or t-shirt sleeves, with either a fitted, straight, or A-line body. Amazingly flexible just like its namesake character.

Sizing / yarn requirements: See bottom pictures for detailed sizing and yardage table.

The top is meant to be worn with a bit of negative ease in the bust area, that means you should choose a size in which the bust is a few cm / 1-2 inches smaller than on your body. The pattern contains detailed advice for adjustments, including a step-by-step tutorial for horizontal bust darts.

The top is shown in size S3 on a person with a 84 cm / 33’’ bust and a 90 cm / 35’’ hip.

Yarn advice:
The original top was knit with “Kinu” by ITO Yarns (425 m / 465 yards per 50g) in colour “Light Blue” (377), a silk noil yarn with a tweedy texture. The yarn is held double for the main fabric and single for the lace insert.
Alternatively the top can be worked in a fingering or sport weight yarn, but the lace insert will not look as delicate then.
The pattern is suitable for a wide variety of summer yarns. With heavier fibres like cotton or bamboo, keep in mind that the fabric may stretch a lot.

Needle advice:
Use the needle size that gives you the required gauge, most likely 3 – 3.5 mm / US 2 ½ – 4.
A smaller needle is used for the armhole and neckline edges, most likely 2.5 mm / US size 1½.
The garment is partly worked flat and partly in the round. If you want to use the same needle for everything, it is best to use a medium long circular needle (80 - 100 cm / 32 – 40’’).

Construction:
The garment is worked top down. Upper front and back are worked flat, then joined at the underarm. The rest of the body is worked in the round towards the bottom. This means you do not have to decide which lower body version to knit until you get there. When you have joined the upper front and back you can easily try the garment on.