Still working on using up this stash of Aunt Lydia’s thread. Why did I purchase so much? lol

This is a pattern that I found on Pinterest. It has a picture of the finished tank top on a model, a few English instructions, and a filet chart for the tank top. The front and back are worked identically. It is worked in the round.

I am not excited about trying to join a 390 ch stitch chain into a circle. The alternative that I have come up with is:

Chain 387 for 129 blocks. (instead of 390 for 130 blocks)

Work a row of open blocks, ch 2 and join as a circle. Work up the chart from there.

When finished, turn the body over. Attach the thread on one end of the “gap”, ch 2, join to the other end of the “gap”, then ch 3 for the first dc. Work a round of solid blocks from there to finish the bottom of the tank top.

I would work the solid blocks at the end anyway, so this works out a lot easier than trying to join such a long chain into a perfect circle.

That’s the plan anyway!

I want the tank top to be longer than waist length, so adding a few rounds of open blocks when I start. This tank is worked from the bottom up. Technically, it doesn’t have to be worked like that.

It would be easy to make it a larger size by adding more open blocks on each side. Or just using a larger hook.

Diameter at bottom
Initial diameter of my top at 2 open block rows is 19 inches (38 in circumference). This would make the top just a bit loose on my daughter, if it doesn’t stretch. Since this is a soft thread, I am hoping it will not need to be blocked.

As I make all of these rounds of open blocks to lengthen the top, I think about whether or not I should put some sort of pattern here. I have decided against it, mostly because I want the butterfly to really pop.

Body
Pattern has 4 open block rounds before the butterfly starts. I have done 20 rounds of open blocks.

20 rounds of open blocks = 6 inches.

I used the 1.4 mm hook for the foundation chain. The 1.5 mm hook for the rest of the work.

I am using tr stitches for the open blocks.

Now that I am working on the butterfly, it is evident that the wings are not mirror images. They are similar but not identical.

July 1, 2024 NOTE - I had to stop working on this because I am moving this summer.

I started working on this again at the end of August. I only had to finish the top and bottom border, and the straps. I shortened the straps to 39 rows.

I am not sure if I like how this has turned out. I lengthened it to make it more of a tunic length but it has no shape. It’s straight up and down. I will have to see how it looks on my mannequin once I get all of the finishing done. Maybe I will like it better then.

Dimensions

pre-block
diameter - 19.5 in
length - 21.5 in (not counting straps)
strap length - 11 in (39 rows)

post block
diameter -
length -
strap length -