The Guinevere Bralette Crochet Pattern

After years of not liking the color pink because “It’s too girly”, I have finally warmed up to it, if not become slightly obsessed with the color. Therefore it has been a real struggle coming up with the will power to not create all my designs in some shade of pink. However, I figured if there was any piece where I could let it slide it would be this Valentine’s Day inspired design!

As winter feels like it is coming to an end in Southern California (although for most people it never began, but for someone like me who is perpetually cold at any temperature below 75 degrees, the situation is slightly different) I have been trying to work with some cotton yarns. Most of my local craft/yarn stores don’t carry any cotton yarn other than Lily’s Sugar and Cream and, while it is great for a lot of things, I have found that it is a little bit too thick for a lot of my designs. So on my quest for a thinner cotton yarn, I happened upon the Gazzal brand on Amazon! I learned the hard way that ordering yarn online is some serious risky business, but I decided to try my luck this time and, to be honest, I was not disappointed!

Gazzal has a couple different varieties of yarn for sale on Amazon, for this design I chose to use The XL Baby Cotton because it is a weight 3 yarn which is exactly what I was looking for. They have a fairly wide selection of great colors and as you already know I chose the “Pinkish Orange” color. I find it’s pretty similar to We Are Knitters “The Cotton”, I will admit it isn’t quite as soft, but it’s close! So if you are in the market to experiment with some different cotton yarns I highly recommend it. So why don’t we get into the pattern!

Now before I get into the details of the needed materials, I want to note that I don’t typically create my patterns on a standard size basis (XS – XL). I don’t do this because no two bodies are the same and I think that if you really want to make a piece specific to your body, that can be achieved much more accurately through taking personal measurements rather than following a pattern that will generally follow certain size guidelines.

Materials:

• 2-3 Balls of Gazzal XL Baby Cotton in Pinkish Orange
• G-6/4.00 Crochet Hook
• 2-4 Buttons (Based on band length and preference)

Measurements:

• Around Under The Bust (minus 1″ for the extension for buttons)
  

We are going to begin the pattern by working on the “Cups” of the bralette. The cups as well as other parts of the bralette are going to partially be worked in the “Suzette Stitch” which I am completely addicted to.

Bralette Cups

Foundation:
Begin the cup by Chaining 10

Row 1:

1. Work 1 SC into the first stitch
2. Work 1 DC into the same stitch
3. Skip 1 stitch
4. Work 1 SC into the next stitch
5. Work 1 DC into the same stitch
6. Repeat steps 3-5 two more times until you reach the end of the row
7. Work 2 SC into the last stitch
8. Chain 2
9. Work 2 SC into the same stitch
10. Work 1 SC into the space below the “Suzette Stitch” on the other side.
11. Work 1 DC into the same stitch
12. Repeat 10-11 until the end of the row
13. Work 1 SC into the last stitch
14. Chain 1 and turn your work

*Working steps 1-3 is considered a “Suzette Stitch” and will be referred to that way for the rest of the pattern. Just remember that at the beginning of the row, the first “Suzette Stitch” must be worked into the first stitch*

Row 2:

1. Work 4 Suzette Stitches (pretty much until you reach the first SC in the previous row)
2. Work 1 SC into the next 2 stitches
3. Work 3 SC into the chain 2 space
4. Work 1 SC into the next 2 stitches
5. Work 3 Suzette stitches until the end of the row
6. Work 1 SC into the last stitch
7. Chain 1 and turn your work

Row 3:

1. Work 4 Suzette Stitches (pretty much until you reach the first SC in the previous row)
2. Work 1 SC into the next 3 stitches
3. Work 3 SC into the next stitch
4. Work 1 SC into the next 3 stitches
5. Work 3 Suzette stitches until the end of the row
6. Work 1 SC into the last stitch
7. Chain 1 and turn your work

Row 4:

1. Work 4 Suzette Stitches (pretty much until you reach the first SC in the previous row)
2. Work 1 SC into the next 4 stitches
3. Work 3 SC into the next stitch
4. Work 1 SC into the next 4 stitches
5. Work 3 Suzette stitches until the end of the row
6. Work 1 SC into the last stitch
7. Chain 1 and turn your work

Row 5…
You may have noticed that each row is very similar except for the amount of SC stitches that are worked on either side of the 3 SC at the tip of the row, which increases by 1 each row.

Therefore, continue working rows in that pattern of adding those SC stitches until you feel that the cup size is appropriate for your bust. For reference I am generally a 32A bra size and had to work 9 rows total for the cup to fit comfortably.

Cup Border

Once you have gotten your cup to a comfortable size, you will work a simple border around the edge of the cup.

Row 1-2: 

1. Work 1 SC into each stitch in the row.

Row 3: 

1. Work 1 SC into each stitch at the “bottom” of the cup

The “corner” of the cup that is composed of SC’s is going to be the “inner” part of the cup, where the tie in the middle of the bralette is attached.

*Repeat all the steps of the Cups and the Border to create the second cup*

Band

Foundation:
Using the “Under The Bust Measurement” (minus 1″), make a foundation chain in multiples of 2 that is equal to that measurement. *Take note of how many chains your band is because you will need that information later when you attach the cups.*

Row 1:

1. Work “Suzette Stitches” until the end of the row
2. Work 1 SC into the last stitch
3. Chain 1 and turn your work

Row 2…
Repeat Row 1 until your band is a length that you like.

Polish and Button Extension

1. In order to polish off the band, when you finish off on a Chain 1 and turn, work one row of SC’s along of top edge of band. Chain 1 and begin working on the side edge
2. Now that you are working on the side edge, complete a row of SC’s along this edge. Chain 1 and turn
3. Work 4 more rows of SC onto the extension.
4. Tie off
5. Flip your work so you are now working on the opposite side edge. Work 2 rows of SC along this edge.
6. In your 3rd row (because everyone’s band will likely be a different length), evenly work button holes for the amount of buttons you wish the have on the band. You achieve working the button-hole by skipping one stitch.
7. Work 2 more rows of SC into the extension.
8. Tie off
   
   

Sewing the Cups onto the Band

In order to sew the cups onto the band, you are going to have to identify the middle stitch of the band. Earlier you will have recorded how many chains/stitches wide your piece band is (before adding the extension section). Only focusing on the portion of the band before the extensions were added on, divide your recorded number of stitches by 2, so if your band was 80 stitches, the 40th stitch would technically be your middle stitch. Mark this middle stitch with a Stitch Marker.

Skip one stitches in both directions and put two stitch markers in the second stitch away from the middle stitch on both sides (at this point you can remove the middle stitch marker). These two points will be the starting points for where you will sew in the cups.

Although the single crochet section on the cups is “technically” the top of the cup, I flipped it so that the single crochet section of the cup was facing inward on the band. Once I had it facing inward I clipped that corner stitch closest to the band into the stitch marker so that the cup wouldn’t move around. Do this for both cups.

Sew the cups onto the band and weave in ends.

Creating the Middle Tie

1. From that corner stitch of the cup where the stitch marker is connected, count up 5 stitches and place another stitch marker
2. In that marked stitch work 1 SC
3. Work 1 SC into the next two stitches
4. Chain 1 and turn your work.
5. Work 1 SC into the three stitches
6. Chain 1 and turn your work
7. Repeat steps 5-6 for 14 more rows and tie off

*Repeat on the other cup as well*

These two strips are what you will tie together in order to create that middle tie. I tied mine together twice and had to fiddle with it a little bit to get it to lay the way I wanted in the front.

Adding the Straps

When I added the straps I folded the top peak of the cup to create a kind of Pin Up Sailor look.

1. 1. If you look closely the Suzette Stitch creates little gaps by the edge of the cup, fold the top of the cup so that the 2nd  gap is at the top of the cup. this 2nd gap is what you are going to be working into the begin working the strap.
   2. Work 1 SC into the 2nd gap
   3. Work 1 SC into the next three stitches
      

1. Chain 1 and turn your work
2. Work 1 SC into each of the 4 stitches
3. Chain 1 and turn your work
4. Repeat steps 5-6 until your strap fits snuggly over your shoulder and onto the top of the band in the back. (I also suggest taking the measurement of a strap from a bra that you own to try to gauge how long the strap should be)
5. Sew the strap to the top of the band in the back.

Sewing on the Buttons

On the extension section where you will sew on the buttons, locate the third row and sew the buttons into the stitches that correspond to the button-hole on the opposite extension.

All that is left to do is to weave in any ends and you have yourself The Guinevere Bralette!!

I am a little new to writing patterns so please let me know if you noticed any errors or have any clarifying questions! I am also planning on trying to improve the production and consistency of my In-Progress photos, so that is something to look forward to haha!

The buttons that I chose for this pattern came in a set of three so I had an extra one and just sewed it onto the front in between the ties, but that step isn’t necessary. Also as you can see I made a little matching bow for my hair cause I thought it was a cute touch and I had some extra yarn!