Bright & Light Crochet Tank Top

        I found a pretty crochet and mesh top in a charity shop many moons ago and it's still one of my favourites, bobbles and all.  For this project I decided to try to recreate the top, with a few exceptions: Bright colours and no sleeves.  I decided to try my hand at an Irish Lace style motif for the back piece.  Having no pattern, I bought the finest crochet thread i could find and dived in.

Purple flower motif, orange mesh & chiffon.

     Shopping for crochet thread locally left little choice of colour beyond pastels, so I took the only bight colours available.  Luckily I realised I had an old blouse in similar material to what my original top was made of.  Even better it matched my crochet thread!  In the photo you can see the flower motif I made; a basic leaf motif with free-form stem.  Once finished I wet it under a tap, pinned it to a board and ironed it flat (with a towel on top of the motif to protect it from the heat).

Using the original top as a guide.

     I also made a few small flower motifs to include in the crochet insert in the front of the top.  I worked the mesh background around the motifs, in the style of traditional Irish lace. I wasn't masochistic enough to work the back piece like this.  Instead i crocheted the mesh and later sewed on the flower motif.  If I was going to use motifs in over 50% of the back piece it would make more sense to work the mesh around them.

Flower motif back piece.

     Below is the finished project.  I had expected chiffon to be difficult to work with: Slippery, fraying and stretchy., but I couldn't resist using it because the colours matched my thread so well.  If I was to do this again I'm sure I could resist!  Due to the chiffon's stretchy nature I accidentally cut the upper bodice piece too small.

     A little tip for working with fine crochet thread: When working long rows I find my left hand (feeding the thread) can cramp very easily due to the lack of bulk to grip.  In order to reduce the risk of the dreaded RSS, and take the pain out of delicate work, I whipped up one of these things...

     Don't ask me what I call it.. but it's great!  The bulk of the wool makes it easier to comfortably grasp the fine thread.  You could use a glove, but if you're like me you would prefer to cut some of the fingers off, leaving only the fingers you use to keep tension.