I made this crochet top while camping at faster horses country music festival this past weekend. It worked up pretty quickly and turned out even better than I had hoped. This pattern is PERFECT for beginners or intermediate crocheters. It is made with basic stitches and can be worked up easily while watching a few of your favorite shows on Netflix. I think I may seriously make this top in every color yarn I have because I love it so much and it was so easy.
The best part is that this top only cost me $1.90 to make. So for less than $2.00 and some time, you could make this super cute crochet top to wear to your next festival too! It also means that you could easily make and sell these items at fairs, festivals, or online and make a fairly good profit off them. Any crochet items that are easy and affordable to make can make you some major bucks if you put your mind to it!
Sales Tip: I wore a few tops I made myself to the festival and passed out cards with my business email on it to people when they asked about them. Never miss an opportunity to market your crochet items ladies! I used Canva.com to make up a quick business card and got business card cardstock offline. Super easy, cute, and affordable… just like this top I made 😉 Whenever you wear one of your items to the beach, a party, anywhere really, just throw a few cards in your back pocket and hand them out when people ask about your top! You’ll be surprised by how many cards you hand out that can lead to potential sales!
*This post contains affiliate links meaning I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, when you purchase items through these links to help fund my costly yarn habits that allow me to keep posting patterns for you all. See my disclosure page for more information.*
Materials You Will Need
Buying Crochet Supplies Pro Tip: If you purchase any of your craft supplies at Joann Fabrics like I do sometimes, then you should really consider getting the Ibotta App on your phone. They have 10% cashback coupons for Joann’s as well as other cashback opportunities on certain yarn brands like Big Twist. They also have lots of other retailers on there but I pretty much only use the Joann rebates. I have gotten almost $85 back from just buying things I would have bought anyways by scanning my receipt in the Ibotta App. You can have the money sent to your paypal or use it to get gift cards (Joanns, Applebees, etc).
Yarn: I used Sugar and Cream 100% cotton yarn for this project (In the color Wine). The peaches and cream cotton yarn is almost identical and could be used interchangeably (Almost any weight 4 yarn could work for this project if you don’t want to use cotton). This yarn comes in small skeins/ball, or in larger cones. One skein should be enough to make this top in most sizes. If you plan on wearing this top in the water you will want to use a cotton based yarn. Acrylic yarn does not dry as nicely or as easily as the cotton yarn would.
Crochet Hook: I used a 4.5mm Clover Brand Hook. If you use a lighter weighted yarn you’ll want to use the hook size suggested for that yarn.
Tapestry Needle: This is a yarn needle to weave in your ends.
Scissors: to cut your yarn. The scissors below are the ones I use and keep in my crafting bag. They are super sharp and compact enough to carry with me and my projects!
Stitches Used in This Pattern
I will be using abbreviations (beginners check out my printable abbreviation cheat sheet) in this written pattern so here is a list of the names/abbreviations and brief directions for each:
Stitch (ST) – Next chain or stitch you are going to work into
Yarn Over (YO) – wrapping yarn around hook
Chain (CH) – After having an slip knot on your hook, YO and pull through your slip knot. That is a chain 1. YO again and pull through loop on hook. That is your chain 2, and so forth.
Slip Stitch (SS) – Insert hook into next chain/stitch and yarn over. Pull through chain/stitch and continue to pull through the loop on your hook.
Single Crochet (SC) – Insert hook into next chain/stitch and YO then pull through the chain/stitch. YO and pull through both loops on hook.
Picot (p) – Perform a single crochet, chain 2, and then slip stitch back into the front of the first single crochet.
If you love this top you also may be interested in checking out my Peek-a-boo halter Top Pattern pictured below.
Perfect Beginner Bando Crochet Top Pattern
Here is the video tutorial for you guys! The written pattern is just below this video. Feel free to use one or both of them! I always liked to try the written pattern first and then hop to the video if something didn’t make sense. If you still have any questions about how to construct this top don’t hesitate to contact me! Instagram comments tend to get the quickest response just because I get those notifications on my phone and I can respond while not at my computer!
This top is made in a size medium. the other sizes will be written as follow M (S,L) for example Ch 4 (2,6). For a medium it would be ch4, ch2 for a small, and ch6 for a large.
CH 16 (16,18)
Round 1: SC in the second CH from hook. SC 1 in each Ch. In the last chain you will want to do another SC in the same stitch. Ch1 and again do 2 more SC’s in the same ST. Now on the back side of the CH you will do 1 SC in each ST down the row. Refer to chart below for further clarity.
Start at black dot. Chain 16 and turn. SC in second CH from hook. SC in every CH and SC 2 in the 16th CH. CH 1, SC 2 more in that same CH. Continue to SC down the back side of the CH.
Round 2: CH 1 and turn. SC in each SC from the previous round until you get to the CH1 space in previous round. In that CH1 space, SC, CH1, SC and then do 1 SC in each of the next SC from previous row.
Round 3-11 (10,12): Continue round 2 until you reach your desired width and height for your cup keeping in mind that for the border you will be adding one more additional row of SC’s around the entire cup. For this step just hold the cup against yourself and stop adding rows when you feel there is sufficient coverage. The number of rounds listed are just a rough suggestion for sizing.
Bottom of cup: CH1 at the end of your last round and turn so you are working across the bottom of the cup. SC as evenly as possible along the bottom of the cup. *HINT: SC one for each row of SC’s*
Repeat: Tie off and repeat exactly for the second cup!
Connecting the Cups
Now lay the cups directly on top of each other right sides together. Count three stitches from the top CH1Space from the top of the cup. Tie onto the third stitch out and begin to single crochet both cups together by inserting your hook through the third stitch on both cups, drawing up a loop, YO and pull through. SC back towards the CH1space and keep going until you get to the third stitch on the other side.
*hint: in total you should have 3 SC on one side, 1 in the CH 1 Space, and 3 more SC on the other side*
Border and Straps
Do NOT tie off. Now you will single crochet along the edge of the left cup. SC in the next two ST and then Picot in the third. You will * SC in the next 2 stitches, p in the third* along the edge until you reach the top corner of your crochet top.
Neck Strap: Once at the corner you will CH 100. Then you will SS back down the chain in each stitch until you reach the corner of your crochet top again.
Now SC in each ST along the outer edge of the crochet top until you reach the bottom corner.
Back Strap: Now CH 80. Then again SS back down the chain in each stitch until you reach the corner of your crochet top.
Again you will repeat the * SC in the next 2 stitches, p in the third* along the cup. When you get to the middle you will want the picot to land in the middle of the cups where they join together. You may have to add or remove a SC in between to get the picot to land in the correct spot. If you have to add or remove one, just make sure you do the same amount of SC on the other side before the next picot to keep it even. Continue this border until you reach the corner or the crochet top.
Now you will make another back strap. CH 80 and SS back down.
SC along the side of the cup and make anther neck strap. CH 100 and SS back down.
Again you will repeat the * SC in the next 2 stitches, p in the third* along the cup. When you get to the middle you will want the picot to land in the middle of the cups where they join together.
Tie off and weave in ends.
That was Fast….
That quickly you are all done! Top completed! That easy. Now you’ve got yourself a killer crochet top to wear all summer long. You could use it as a swim top, pair it with some high waisted shorts, or even a cute skirt like I did above. If you have ANY QUESTIONS about this crochet top pattern, or about anything at all honestly, please please leave me a comment below and I will get back to you ASAP!
Also, if you would be willing, I would love for you to share your finished projects (and you wearing them out doing fun summer things!) on my blog’s Facebook Page! Or if you post on instagram tag me (TaylorLynnCrochet) so I can see how awesome they turned out! Thank you so much! If you have any suggestions for future projects or tutorials please comment below!
Hi there! So I just made the two cups and I’m a little confused about how to attach them. I was wondering if you had any pictures as an example, or could maybe elaborate a little more. It’s probably just me reading it wrong, but I couldn’t figure out that part. Thanks!
Hey Abby!
Just realized I gave you directions for a different pattern (insert face palm here) Lay the two cups right on top of each other right sides together. basically you will use 6 SC stitches to seam them together on the points of the cups. I am currently editing the youtube tutorial and will hopefully have that up tonight (if it loads for me!).
WHAT ARE YOUR PRICES THAT YOU RECOMMEND SELLING FOR. I DONT WANT TO OVER CHARGE NOR SHORT MYSELF FOR MY WORK.
I have not sold this particular top so I don’t know what would be a good price for it. I suggest browsing Etsy and find similar crochet tops and seeing what they tend to go for. You can also check pinterest for pins about how to price hand made items and some people offer formulas on how to price something based on material costs and labor into it, but really market price (ie other etsy sellers prices) would take priority over that, in my opinion. I hope that helps!
I’m in the process of making the cups for this, and they seem to be pointed, not as flat as yours are……Any suggestions?
Hey Linz, mine were a little pointed but when I attached the cups together that dulled the point out a lot. If you want to email me a picture of it I can look at it and advise your further from that point! My email is TaylorLynnCrafts@gmail.com
When you say this is a size medium, what bra size would it be?
I am a size 36B-34C and it fits me perfectly. I have made one in the same size for a friend who wears a 32A and it fit her as well. If you want to make it larger I suggest adding 2 more CH’s and increasing the number of rounds. I hope that helps!
Can you take a picture of the back so I know if it is a tie off like a bikini because I tend to not like anything that puts pressure on the neck (like bikinis or halter tops)… I just want to know before I start to crochet this or if there is another pattern that is more bra-like.
It is a tie off like a halter bikini. One strap around the neck and the other around the back.
I saw in one of your pictures that your border was a different color, and it looked really good! In the pattern instructions for the border, it says do not tie off prior to that. At that point, did you just change colors? Thanks!
Yes, that is where I changed colors!
I wanted to let you know though this post is old I just made this too for myself and I LOVE it!!!! Thank you for sharing this cute free pattern. I am so happy with the outcome.