my shirt! - with a sad attempt at a tutorial now

[colorlessblue]

humor me, and pretend this is a completed project, please...
i saw a shirt using this motif, but it had long sleeves, it was partly knit, and the pattern was very confusing. it was in portuguese, which i can understand, but it was badly written and didn't explain things at all. so i decided to use the motif and make up my own pattern. this is what i came up with:

which is exactly what i wanted!!! except that just now i noticed a huge mistake on the back, so i'm going to unravel everything until the straps and re-do it tomorrow, because i'm sick of this and i just can't look at it anymore tonight 
anyway, here's the detail of the strap:

and here's the waistband:


i got pics of the progress, the tricky steps, like making the straps, and i can try to write a tutorial explaining what i did if anyone is interested, with the chart for the repeated motif too.

[goofipinay]

well from what I see, it looks good to me =]

what's wrong on the back??

[vanillaxlight]

that is wonderful! Would you be willing to write down the directions of the motif? Id love to make this!

[colorlessblue]

i promise, tomorrow i'll put the directions here, when i get over the anger i'm feeling at myself for messing up with the back - 2 motifs are all wrong, i forgot some of the loops and they're all twisted.

[gnathalie2]

FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!
Nathalie

[h_pets360]

good job!
i've been crocheting forever and still haven't tried making any clothes for adults, let alone make one without a pattern.  except for hats.
i'm impressed, even if there is a probobly not noticable mistake on the back.

[Rachelofthree]

That's gorgeous!

[colorlessblue]

ok... lets try this tutorial thing. i don't know how to write it, so i'll describe what i did. i'll divide it in steps to make it easier. there were some moments there when i didn't know what to do, so i improvised. i don't know how people go about following instructions, but i tend to start doing things while i read, so i recomend to anyone trying to follow this that they read at least to the end of each step before starting, because they might be able to find a better or easier way to do something than what i did, specially when it gets to the point when i started with the shoulder straps. i'll include pics of the progress too, to try and make it easier to understand.

Tutorial (hey, i can hope  )

I made this shirt with trying and re-doing when i found mistakes, so it's all adjusted to my body. i'll explain what i did, and explain how to make it so that it fits anyone, if you try it while you go.

1) the materials
i made this shirt using thread, 2 strands together, one in turquoise and the other in silver (the silver is shiny but that's so not important, i just happen to like shiny).

i used 3 hooks, but i'm not sure about the size of one of them, so i'll put a pic for scale:

the yellow hook is a 3mm. the orange one is the one i didn't know the size, but it's the bigger i used on the shirt. the third hook, not on the pic, is a 2.2mm, a B hook according to this: http://www.purplekittyyarns.com/info/crochet-hook-conversion.html
i think gauge, hooks and yarn doesn't matter much, as long as you try the shirt on your body while you make it. you can calculate the number of motifs to fit your body well and all will be fine, but i thought i should explain what i used anyway.

2) the motif
this is the original pattern i wanted to follow: http://pingouin.com.br/receitas/receitas3.php?gRecOutrasIdInt=115&gReceitaIdInt=20
it's in portuguese, and it's confusing even though i can read it. it doesn't say how to decrease, how to make the sleeves, or how to assemble everything together, it just assumes you know how. it doesn't say how to adapt for different sizes either, and it was too small for me. here it's the chart with the motif, and the chart for the shirt, with numbers in centimeters, if anyone wants to try to make it like that:
http://pingouin.com.br/receitas/receitas3.php?Pagina=2&gRecOutrasIdInt=115&gReceitaIdInt=20
the chart with the motif doesn't have the starting chain, and i had to figure out how it started, so i'll write down what i did:
Starting chain: multiples of 14 plus 3 ch to turn (count as first dc from next row)
1st row: dc on next chain, ch 3, skip next 4 chains, 3dc on next ch, 3 dc on next ch, ch 3, skip next 4 chains, dc on next ch, dc on next ch, ch 3 to turn (count as first dc from next row)
2nc row: dc on next stitch, ch 3, sc on first dc of the "shell", ch 5, sc on the space between the 2nc and 3rd dc of the shell, ch 5, sc on next space, ch 5, sc on next space, ch 5, sc on last dc of the shell, ch 3, dc on each of next 2 dc
3rd row: ch 3, dc on next stitch, ch 3, sc on the middle of the first loop (the first 5 chains in the previous row), ch 5, sc in the middle of next loop, ch 5 , sc on next loop, ch 5, sc on last loop, ch 3, dc on each of next 2 dc
4th row: ch 3, dc on next stitch, ch 4, sc on 1st loop, ch 5, sc on 2nc loop, ch 5, sc on 3rd loop, ch 4, dc on each of next 2 dc
5th row: ch 3, dc on next stich, ch 5, sc on 1st loop, ch 5, sc on 2nc loop, ch 5, dc on each of next 2 dc

to repeat the motif side by side, the first and the last dc of each motif will be shared with the motifs on the side, so between each "leaf", there are 3 dc.
to repeat the motif over the previous one, the 1st row will have the shell of 6dc done inside the middle loop on the 5th row of the previous motif.

3) the waistband
the original pattern had a knit waistband, and i can't knit, so i went with a ribbed one. i worked with the bigger hook here, mostly because i wanted to use it for everything, and only decided to use the other ones later.
Starting chain: chain 7
1st row: sc on 2nc ch from hook, sc across, turn (6 sc)
2nc row: ch 1, sc across in back loops only
repeat it until you have a band long enough to close around your hips (or waist, depends on how long you want the shirt to be). join the ends. I joined with sl st, but it can be done with sc, or you can seam.
after joining, chain 1 and sc across the edge of the waistband (1 sc for each row).
IMPORTANT: you'll work over the waistband from now on, considering each row as one ch from the starting chain, so, to make the motif work, you'll need a number of rows that's multiple of 14. if you want the back and the front to be equal, make it so there's an even number of repetitions of the motif. I calculated mine to have 14 motifs, so the front and the back would have 6 and there would be one motif along each of the sides. THEN, when i reached the ams level and had to make the straps i noticed i miscalculated hugely and had only 13. i don't know how, it worked very well. i suppose the front needed to be bigger anyway because of the boobies obvious reasons. ahem. count how many sc on you along the edge of the waistband before you start the motifs, you really have to make sure it's a multiple of 14.

4)the body of the shirt
i started it using the same hook, but as it reached my waist, i decided it was too loose and frogged it till the waistband, and started again using the 3mm hook.
start working the motifs over the scs, in rounds. the first 3 chains count as the first dc of the round.
here's the first set of motifs:

i tried it on each time i finished a set, to see when it would reach waist, arms, etc. depending on what hook you are using, it can be looser or tighter around the waist. at this point you can just go on, or change to a slightly smaller hook, for waist shaping
(info about that here: http://crochetme.com/Feb_Mar_2005/reads_waist_shaping.html and http://crochetme.com/Apr_May_2005/reads_waist2.html)
i didn't do that because i noticed my hooks change size too much, and not gradually. so i made the whole shirt tight and trusted the stretch of the fabric to mark my waist.
if you change hooks here, remember to change back after the waist. if not, just go on until you reach arms level.


i don't know if there's a size limit for posts, so i'll stop here and go on in another post.

[olive415]

I love it!

[colorlessblue]

5) the shoulder straps
now things get complicated... you finish the last set of motifs with a complete motif, with that row that has only one loop between the groups of 3dc. because of how you're doing it, you finish the round joining it at the middle dc of a group of 3. so, to make the first strap, you measure how long the strap has to be, in number of motifs. for my arms, that number was 3. (please read the set 6 before starting the straps, it's about the hooks) then you make a chain long enough for that, starting from the middle dc of a group of 3, and join in the middle dc of the next group of 3. then, make 1 sc on each ch, till you're back to the start of the strap. it will look like this:

from this point, go on with the first row of a set of motifs, over the strap, and over the main body of the shirt on the other side.

make sure you try it on again now, to mark the right point on the other side of the shirt where you'll make the other strap. when you reach that point, don't (ch 3, dc on the first dc of previous round). instead you ch 6, sl st on first dc, sl st on next dc, and start the chain for the strap. make the same number of chains, join on the middle dc of next group, sc on each chain till you're back to the start of the strap, and follow the motifs from now on.
it will look like this:

when you do the next round, that will be fixed.
here is the point where i had to improvise the most. if anyone knows how to make this in a better way, i'd like to hear suggestions.
anyway, from there you go on to the start of the round, that now is also the start of the first strap. then you join the same way you did on all other rounds:

now, start the next round, and just follow the motifs till you reach the start of the next strap. the dc was replaced by chains, so here's what i came up with to fix that:

again, if anyone knows of a better way, do tell.
from this point on, i just followed the motifs till i completed one set, and considered the shirt done.

6) the BUT's
when i started the sleeves, i just made the chain with the same 3mm hook i've been using. i got a chain too tight for my arm. so i changed again to the big orange hook and used it for the chains and the sc over the chain, but changed again to the 3mm hook to make the motifs over the sc. this was the result:

see? too loose. to make things hold on place, then, i changed to the smaller hook, the 2.2mm one, and made the last set of motifs, over the sc on the straps, and over the main body of the shirt, with this one.
so i guess this part is where you have to try and see what will work for you...
i'm sorry i can't give a pretty and easy pattern with all instructions and number of stitches clear, but i'm just a beginner, and this is the first time i made something wearable (if you don't count a bikini top), so the only way i could make it was with trying and seeing what would work or not. i hope it helps people make their own shirts, if they feel like it. i think the way i did it would work with other motifs too, if you do the maths right.