Abby’s American Dream 4th of July bikini ~ FREE crochet pattern with full photo tutorial

It’s almost the 4th of July and you want a great bikini top to show your pride. :).  4th of July Bikini Crochet Tutorial.

Abby – I got you girl!  Tasha to the rescue!  p.s. – this is Abby and she’s pretty great.

I’ve created a few bikini patterns in the past and even had some inspiration photos laying around, so I set out to create a design for Abby that is:

1.  Supportive.  2.  Sturdy and durable   3. Colorful!

I hope you enjoy this pattern, it is definitely a beginner friendly pattern and easily adjustable.  I’ve written the pattern for a size DD top and size L bottom.  However, you can easily adjust the starting chain to modify to fit your body and I will walk you though how to do that.

Want a PDF ad-free version?  You can find that HERE. and on Etsy HERE

I’ve included stitch counts for medium and small in the pattern, for all but the border portion.  If you want to customize it further – follow these guidelines –  mind you – this is a general guide – and if you are like me and have a giant rear-end – well, I’d say increase the foundation row a bit to fit your coverage needs :).  For this pattern I used basically two triangles and a straight row in the center, which they don’t have pictured below, but it looks like this and these are the measurements for the Large/XL pattern.

Materials:

Suggested Yarn:

Lily Sugar n’ Cream 100% Cotton (white, blue, red)

Here is a link to some good deals on Amazon for this yarn, or you can find them at your local Michael’s and Hobby Lobby too.

(click photo for link)

Details:

100% Cotton (2.5oz/70.9 g, 120yds/109m).

Care: Wash cold to maintain color.
Yardage Needed: 1 skein of Red & White 2 skeins of Blue. 200-300 yards total.
Hook Size: 5 mm (H)
Scissors
Darning Needle

size(s):  32A – 36DD, 38DD, 40DD, 42DD, 44DD

We focus on the cup size, the drawstring around the base of the breasts is flexible. Smaller cup sizes are within the pattern below, simply stop working the rows at a point you feel you want to stop to fit your size.

Abbreviations:

beg – beginning / fdc – foundation double crochet / hdc – foundation half double crochet hdc – half double crochet / st(s) – stitches(s) / ch(s) – chain / inc – increase / dec – decrease yo – yarn over / lp(s) – loop / R(s) – row(s) / sk st – skip stitch / sl st – slip stitch / *…*      *repeat* instructions between *…*

Stitch guide:

fdc – foundation double crochet

create a slip knot, ch 3, yo insert hook in first ch, *yo, pull up a loop, ch 1, yo, pull through 2 loops until one loop is left on hook* – repeat between*, except insert hook around both lps of ch 1.

hdc – half double crochet

yo, insert hook in indicated st, yo, draw through all three loops on hook.

dc dec – double crochet decrease

yo, insert hook in indicated st. yo, draw up a lp, yo, draw through 2 lps.  yo, insert hook in next st, yo, draw up a lp. yo draw through 2 lps, yo, draw through 3 lps on hook.

hdc dec – half double decrease

yo, insert hook in indicated st, yo, draw up a lp.  yo, insert hook in next st, draw up a lp.  yo, draw through 5 lps on hook.

fhdc – foundation half double crochet

create a slip knot, ch 3, *yo, insert hook in first ch and draw up a loop. ch 1, yo, draw through all loops on hook.  repeat from * by inserting hook in two loops of the ch1 you made.

Pattern

Instructions:

To start…

We will create a foundation row using the foundation double crochet (fdc).  Tutorial, click here.  It is considered the first row because you are creating the chain and dc stitches at the same time.   The stitch guide has detailed instructions on how to work the fdc.

note:  carry tails for white and red rows, no need to cut the yarn – you will work a hdc border and hide them.

 

Bikini Cups (make 2)

Row 1:  White – fdc26 (24, 22) (chain doesn’t count as a stitch)

Row 2:  White – ch 1, turn. hdc26 (24, 22).

Row 3:  Red – ch 2, dc (blo) entire row make 1dec at beg and 1 dec at end. (24) (22, 20)

Row 4:  Red – ch 1, turn. hdc entire row, make 1dec at beg and 1 dec at end. (22) (20, 18).

Row 5:  White – ch 2, turn.  dc (blo) entire row. (22) (18, 16)

Row 6:  White – ch 1, turn, hdc entire row make 1dec at beg and 1 dec at end. (20) (16, 14)

Row 7:  Red – ch 2, turn.  dc (blo) entire row.  make 1dec at beg and 1 dec at end. (18) (14, 12)

Row 8:  Red, ch 1, turn.  hdc entire row, make 1dec at beg and 1 dec at end. (16) (12, 10)

Row 9:  White – Repeat7. (14) (10, 8)

Row 10:  White- Repeat 8. (12) (8, 6)

Row 11:  Red- Repeat 7. (10) (6, 4)

Row 12:  Red – Repeat 8. (8) (4) small: for small, don’t repeat 8, just skip to Row 15. (2).

Row 13:  White – Repeat 7. (6) medium:  for medium, don’t repeat 7, skip to Row 15, but complete it in white. (2).

Row 14:  White – Repeat8. (4)

Row 15:  Red – make 2 decreases (2).  leave long tails for weaving in and cut.

Blue Border:

note:  Stitch counts listed are for DD – if you are making the medium or small they will be different, but still follow the pattern as best you can.

for Row 1 of border, you’ll be making 4 hdc into edge each color, when you reach the 4^th hdc of the series of 4, work into the carried yarn and not the actual hdc st, it creates less of a gap that way.  Stitch counts are in parentheses throughout R1 to keep you on track.

With RS facing you (RS has the ridges and the starting tail is on your bottom right-hand side)  Attach blue yarn in hole where beg tail is.

photo shows “Right Side”  – RS

Border Row 1:  ch 2, hdc1 in bottom of ch.  make 4 hdc spaced evenly across the end of each color row (28). see photo below

hdc 2 in side of last Red row. (30) dc2 in next st, dc2 dc in next st, (34) now working down the other side – hdc2 in side of red row (36) and 4hdc in each side of each color like before. (64). hdc3 in corner (as seen below) (57). Continue working round along bottom side along R1 of Cup – hdc2 in each st across until you reach corner. (50) hdc3 in corner, join (3). Border Row 2:  ch 1, hdc31, hdc3 in ch space between two top dc, hdc 32.  slst in 1^st  & 2^nd hdc’s from the hdc 3 cluster in the corner. Border Row 3:  ch 1, hdc in next st, *sk 3, hdc in 4^th st* – *repeat* 13 times (for medium and small – repeat to end as best you can).   slst in next st, and 1slst in ch 1 from beg.  join in top loops of 1^st stitch of R2. cut, tie off, and weave in all tails.

Bikini Bottom

Row 1:  fhdc34 (32, 30).  fhdc tutorial, click here. Row 2:  ch 1, turn, hdc entire row dec by 1 at beg and dec by 1 at end of row. (32) (30, 28). Rows 3 – 14:  repeatRow2 (12 more times for a total of 14 rows, st count will decrease by 2 each row).  Stitch count at the end of row 14 should be (8) for all sizes – so for medium and small – stop working the decreases when you reach 8 sts.  You can make this wider too if you’d like to 10 sts, just stop decreasing when you reach 10 sts. Rows 15 – 20:  ch 1, turn,  hdc entire row. (8) (8, 8) Row 21:  ch 1, turn,  incby1 at beg of row, hdc in each stitch and inc by 1 at end of row (10) (10, 10). Rows 22 – 42:  repeatRow21, ending row stitch count should be (52) (50, 48).  

Finishing it off

For the bottoms – I created two very long braids of the three colors and thread them through.

Thread them like this for security:

For the bottom of the top drawstring – I chained using white, a chain long enough to go around your rib-cage, plus more for tying and weaved it through.

For the top of the triangles – I chained about 200 chains, then thread them through the top, I made it so there is one solid string, and then the tie, because it’s meant for a big chest 😉.  Heavy weights.

There you go!  It’s complete.  I was thinking of adding a star on the back side and front side too 😉. 

Congratulations!  You’re finished!

Happy Crocheting 😊