Granny Square Summer Top

I’ve been seeing a lot of granny square summer tops pop up on my pinterest feed so join me in making a strappy summer top.

Inspiration & Design

I know, making garments with granny squares isn’t a novel concept, especially in the crochetcakes blog. We have the Galentines Vest, the pumpkin vest, Christmas stocking and the newest addition to our granny square projects, the granny no 5 top. But up until now, we didn’t have a granny square summer top.

As I hope the name suggests, I was looking for a light weight minimal fuss top that could be worn on its own during extra hot days or would pair well with a Cardigan on cooler nights.

The Yarn

Subconsciously, the idea for this project was born way back during the Orange County Yarn Crawl. I purchased two completely perfect green skeins from Parcel Fiber. A moody grey undertone with green specks named Spanish Moss and a livelier green, Bad Romance. I thought these two color ways would create a gorgeous garment. I wanted a piece with simple stitches that would really help the yarn pop, so when I saw all these gorgeous strappy tops on Pinterest, it was 100% a match. 

This Stillness Fingering base from Parcel fibers has a gorgeous twist that really shows off the crochet stitches. The blend is 80/20 Superwash Merino/Nylon, a bit plumper than the standard 75/25. While I did want to combine colorways for the summer top, you can of course only use 1 skein or multiple scraps. With this construction combining colors is ½ the fun.

Can I make this?

As you can tell from the inspiration images, the granny suqare summer top features square motifs that have been turned 45 degrees to resemble a diamond shape. We join 5 squares to form our front, one at the back. While you can choose to continue adding motifs to make a longer top, I wanted a cropped length to go with my growing collection of high waisted skirts.  

While I opted to crochet each square and triangle separately and then mattress stitch them together, you could, of course, choose the join as you go technique to avoid seaming. Honestly joining squares leaves us with endless construction possibilities.

Full Description of Pattern

The strappy summer top is an easy make with a fun construction. Not only will it help use up lonely skeins of yarn, but it will also help you feel a lil glamorous this Dracula Summer

Looking for summer tops? Check out these other patterns

Granny Square Summer Top

Skill Level – easy

Materials

• 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn 400 yds in 100g
  • 61.5 g of Spanish Moss Color leftover
  • 51g of bad Romance leftover 

• Hooks – I used 3 different sizes
  • 4mm crochet hook – I used two different ones (yes hook brand can affect gauge)
    • Dot Hook from crochet for the 2 chest squares
    • Furls Odyssey for the 3 bottom squares and bottom triangles
  • 3.75 mm crochet hook for back square, top triangles, and the top border /straps
  • 4.5mm crochet hook ( Furls)  for bottom border
• Yarn needle – favorite one
• Scissors

Gauge

16 rnds of a linen st square with a 4mm we crochet dot hook and fingering weight yarn = 5.5″

Finished Size

My Measurements:

• Bust 33”
• Torso – (from the bony bump at the base of my neck to the top of my hipbone) 18.25”
• Waist – 28”

Abbreviations

Sts used

• Linen stitch – also known as moss stitch for the squares
• Granny st for the triangles
• Sc – single crochet for the borders
• Foundation single crochet for the straps
• Sc V – single crochet V stitch for the bottom border

Notes

Used a Mattress Stitch join to seam the pieces together.

Let’s start our granny square summer top

To crochet my top, I opted to combine a square motif with granny triangles to ‘square’ everything together. 

For the upper body motifs I used a linen stitch square, I know there are many tutorials you can look up, but I will be sharing how I crocheted mine very soon.

Square break down 

• 6 squares total (5 for the front and 1 for the back)
  • 2 chest squares in the Bad romance colorway crocheted with the 4mm Dot hook
  • 3 front squares in the Spanish Moss Color crocheted with the 4mm furls Odyssey crochet hook
  • 1 back square in Spanish moss color crocheted with a 3.75mm Furls Odyssey hook
• 16 rounds of linen stitch = 5.5 x 5.5” square with the crochet dot hooks. 7.5” when measured diagonally. These measurements are after wet blocking the squares.

To add a little whimsy to the top, I opted to make traditional granny triangles to fill in the spaces. To me the addition of this lacey detail really lets the top breathe. When crocheting the triangles, I tried to get as close as I could to the linen stitch square count (31). By having a similar stitch count we can avoid ruffling our fabric. 

Triangle break down

• 6 rows of granny stitch, 1 row of single crochet to close.
• 4 triangles for the bottom of the top crocheted with the 4mm Furls Odyssey hook
• 2 triangles for the top back crocheted with the 3.75mm Furls Odyssey hook

Finishing Touches for the strappy summer top

Mattress stitch join to seam our squares and triangles together.

Top Border and Straps

Attached yarn to the top left and worked 2 sc around each dc, 1 sc in each st or space, until I reached the center of the first square (left side when worn) [ 46 foundation sc, sl st to the back of the top, turn, sc in each foundation stitch ] and sc until you reach the the center of the second square (right side when worn) repeat [ ] and sc until you reach the beg st, sl st to close, cut yarn.

Bottom Border

Switch to a 4.5mm crochet hook, attach yarn to the bottom right side.

Rnd1: 2 sc around each dc stitch. Note: when working at the center of either the granny triangle of the square make a hdc in that space to keep all the sts of the round at the same height. Sl st to the first st to join, ch1

Rnd 2: *ScV, sk 1; rep from * around, sl st to the first sc to join the round, cut yarn.

Soak, drain excess water, gently stretch the triangles to open up the granny squares and lay flat to dry.

I’m so so so happy with how this top turned out. It’s great for using up those single skeins of indie dyed yarn that we buy because they are oh so pretty.

Modifications:

• Longer top – add another row of squares at the bottom of the top
• V neck not to your liking? – Add a triangle to fill in the space
• Want a taller back? – at the top back, place a square on either side of the back square and then add a triangle in the middle to square it off.

• Wider waist – add an extra square at the back. If you are making the squares the same sizes that I am, each square will add an extra 7.5” of width to the top. 
• General sizing up
  • Add more rounds to the squares and triangles.
  • Use a sport weight yarn with a 4.5mm crochet hook to achieve the desired width.