 Hi everyone, Tasha from Start Us Gold Crochet. Welcome to the tutorial on how to create this awesome rainbow festival bikini top. And this is a reboot from one of my very first patterns and I went back through it and I thought it's Pride Month and I love rainbows anyway. I just am a rainbow lover but I thought this would be great to redo especially for summertime. And bonus, my writing. Kind of noticed a few mistakes because that was before I even had pattern testers. So I'm so sorry for anybody who who has that pattern and I messed up. But hopefully you were able to fix it. If you did, if you weren't, you probably would have messaged me. So a few tips on increasing the size. For this pattern I used a 3.75 millimeter hook and this is an extremely little tiny hook. You can see that or not. 3.75. I used a 3-weight yarn shape base and also because I ran out of some of the other color I actually replaced the orange and this teal is a 4-weight yarn. I know that's kind of a no-no but I did what I wanted to do and it turned out fine. It just depends on tension. Speaking of tension, you want to make sure that your tension is even for both because you can see this one is just slightly bigger than this one which you can work out when you wet block. But I haven't wet blocked this yet. I wanted to wait so I could do my video and show you what tension makes a difference. So you can see it's not that much bigger but it's just slightly bigger. The one on the bottom is slightly bigger than this one. But that's okay because nobody's perfect and crochet is an art form. Alright so I hope you enjoy this tutorial. Please like, subscribe and if you haven't already signed up for my newsletter go ahead and do that on my blog at StardustGoldCrochet.com. Also I have a lifetime membership so you get free patterns, well free PDFs I should say, and I'm working on some other perks. But when you purchase the lifetime membership you get my entire crochet pattern library all in one fill swoop and that's about 60 patterns so far. And every new pattern that gets released you get the PDF for free and that's for your lifetime membership. And I'll always be around so well hopefully. A little bit about sizing. I am an well I was in Excel when I first started this pattern. Now I'm a size medium. Yay for me I'll explain that all in my podcast if I can ever get around to doing it again. But the medium size, if this cup size is just a tad small there's a few things you can do to increase the size. But as written it's around six inches wide and about six inches tall. Okay so to increase the cup size you need to increase your hook. This is a 3.75 so you might want to use a 4, a 5 or a 5.5 millimeter hook. You can also increase the yarn to a four weight yarn which will make the cup larger. This is a medium size so if you do both of those things you'll turn it into at least a large and perhaps even an XL if you go up to a six. Alright guys are you ready? Let's start crocheting. So grab your hook and your yarn and to start you want to make a slip knot and then chain 11 and add two at the end. I'm gonna speed up the video throughout the tutorial so that you can it goes by a little bit faster. Also you can pause anytime you want. So for row one you're gonna have to crochet in the third chain from the hook and then in each chain across and you'll have 10 half double crochet when you get to the end. This is what we have so far in the same space you're going to half double crochet one, chain one and then half double crochet two all in that last chain. Pull it tight and then we're gonna work along the backside of the chain and you're gonna work one half double crochet in each of the next ten chains. You should have 24 half double crochet total plus one chain one. So for row two we're gonna chain two turn it half double crochet in the next 12 stitches. When you get to the chain one you're gonna work two half double crochet a chain one and then two half double crochet in the same chain space. That's gonna create the corner for the top of the bikini and you're gonna do that on each row and then we're gonna half double crochet into the next 12 stitches. Don't complete the last stitch. You're gonna grab your new color and you're gonna finish your stitch with your new color. Make sure you cut the old color too. Then we're gonna work in the tails as we do this row. Row three you chain two, turn it, grab those tails, kind of lay them along the backside. Then when you insert your hook you're gonna have those two tails laying over your hook and complete your half double crochet stitch. Do that along the entire length of the row. It really helps in the end so you don't have to weave in tails. Trust me on this one you guys. And it looks pretty good. And then count your stitches to make sure you're on the right track. I usually count my stitches each row. For our corner the top part of the bikini we're gonna do half double crochet two into the chain one space and then chain one and then half double crochet two into the same chain one space and then half double crochet 14 across one in each stitch. Cut your second color and then add your third color in. Work this two chains, turn it, grab those tails and then also work the tails in as you go. You want to remember to work the tails in because it just makes it so much easier at the end. We're going to do half double crochets across until you reach your chain one space. It's really simple basic bikini pattern. You can play around with it. You can use three half double crochets in that space with a chain one in between or you can do two half double crochets with a chain two in between. It changes it up just a little bit but it won't change the pattern at the bottom when we work the border if you want to do it like that. So for row five you're going to add your new color. Make sure you cut your old color and then also remember to work in the tails. These rows repeat the same pattern throughout until you get to the border but you're basically going to be increasing each row by two. Actually I meant to say by four. I'm going to work half double crochet, chain one and two half double crochets in the corner. Complete your stitches down the line until you add your new color again. Here we're going to work 20 half double crochets with four in the corner plus the chain one in between. If it gets a little bunched up just pull it tight the tails and I'm speeding up a little bit here. Feel free to pause the videos. You can catch up. This bikini works up really fast. It actually worked up in about an hour and a half maybe if that. On this one we're going to work 24 half double crochets and remember to keep those tails in. This is the last color and it's row nine and the written pattern for this one is on the blog. There's going to actually be two written patterns. This one plus the XL with the purple border which was my original pattern. This one will be available also. So here at the last row you want to make sure you pull all your tails tight. Cut them really close to the edge. You can also use a yarn glue of some kind if you'd like. My kitty cat came up and visited me. She's so cute. Her name is Yuki. So the left side shows where I didn't weave the tails in as I go. The right side shows that I did and it's a lot easier to do it as you go. But it also shows the tension. So one is a little bit bigger than the other. You can fix that in the end just by blocking it. But you want to try to keep even tension for both cups. And if you're not familiar with weaving in tails you can weave in your tail through the same color in and out and back and forth up and down. Whatever makes you feel most so that you can secure it the most. If you're going to use the same color you can just continue on with the purple. But I decided to use teal because I didn't have enough purple. So I'm going to grab my teal yarn and close out my last stitch with my new color. Then you chain one. We're going to work two extended single crochets in each color. An extended single crochet is you insert your hook, pull through one, then pull through two. So you insert your hook into the stitch, yarn over and pull up one, yarn over pull through one, and then yarn over and pull through two. That's an extended single crochet. So work two in the top of each of those colored rows across. And you can work into the same stitch or you can work into two different ones. And I find it looks prettier when you work the two extended single crochets into the same stitch. And there you go. You should have about 36 extended single crochet across. Count your stitches just to make sure so that the rest of the pattern works out right. So I have 36. For the second row we're going to chain one, turn it, and then do a single crochet decrease across the entire row. So to do that you're going to insert your hook into the very first single crochet or extended single crochet, pull up, then insert your hook into the next one, yarn over and pull up. You'll have three loops and then you're going to yarn over and close it out. And that decreases your stitches from two to one stitch. That'll decrease us from 36 stitches to 18. So there have about 18 stitches going across. You can see it kind of draws the cup in a little bit on the bottom. And you should count 18 single crochet. And if not just rip it back, fill it in. You should be good. No worries. The next one we're going to chain three. We're going to skip two single crochet and single crochet in the next. And then we're going to chain three and repeat that across. So chain three, skip two and single crochet in the next. And that's going to create some little holes for us. And you should end up with a single crochet in the very last stitch. For the next one you chain five and turn and then single crochet in the second chain of the chain three. And then we're going to, here you go into the second one. And you want to crochet into the chain, not around it. Then chain one, two, three. And then we're working five double crochet into the same single crochet stitch. We're not doing it together, we're just doing five separate double crochets. It's going to create a little fan. That's usually what happens when you do a bunch of stitches in one stitch. Then you're going to chain three and work another fan into the next single crochet and do that all the way across. And by the end you'll have five clusters of five double crochet. And to finish out the row we're going to do three chains and then single crochet into the chain which is like basically the side chain. It's not into a stitch. And that's what you should have so far. The next row we're going to chain three and turn it. We're going to single crochet in the second chain of the chain three. And then we're going to chain three and do a single crochet into the third double crochet which is the center of that double crochet five fan. Then chain three and single crochet again in the second chain of the chain three. You're going to repeat that across by chaining three and then doing a single in the third double crochet and a single in the second chain of the chain three. Then go ahead and do a single crochet in the very last chain space. And you can work around that one. And there's what we have so far. The next one we're going to chain five and turn it. This one has a little more complicated. We're going to skip two chain spaces and do a double crochet three together in the next single crochet. If you're not familiar with that I'll put a link down below for my tutorial on how to do that stitch. But you can see here or slow it down on your computer. Then chain five. We're going to single crochet into the next chain space after skipping one. Chain space. Then double crochet, I'm sorry, chain five. Skip two chain spaces and then do a treble one and a chain one five times into the same stitch. So a treble is yarning over twice. Inserting your hook, yarn over, pull through two, pull through two and pull through two. Then chain one. You're going to pull through two loops at a time until you get one loop left on your hook. And that's a treble crochet. It's the best way to describe how to create any stitch for crochet in my opinion. You just yarn over and pull through two loops until you only have one on your hook for your basic stitches. So there we have five trebles. So we're going to chain five. Skip two chain spaces and then single crochet into the next chain space. Then we're going to chain five again. Skip one chain space and do a double crochet three together. Then chain three and single crochet in the next single crochet. We're almost there but this is what it should look like so far. So you're going to chain three more and then single crochet into the last stitch of the row from before. Chain three and turn and we'll work on our next row. You're going to single crochet into the next single crochet. Chain five and then we're going to do two double crochets into the top of that double crochet three together. Two separate double crochets. Chain five and then we're going to treble three together in the next single crochet. And that treble three is yarning over twice, inserting your hook, yarning over pulling through two, pulling through two and then stopping. Then yarn over again twice and to repeat the same thing until you have four on your hook and then you're going to pull through all three or all four, sorry. Then we're going to chain five, single crochet in the third treble of the five treble cluster from the previous row. Chain five again and then we're going to treble three together again in the next single crochet. So you're pulling through two, then you're pulling through two and stopping, then yarning over twice and repeating that. Pull through two and two, but don't complete the stitch and you're going to do that three times until you have four on your hook and then you're going to pull through all. So chain five, double crochet two into the next DC three together cluster from the previous row. Chain five and then single crochet into the next single crochet and that's it. So we're going to work on the side mesh by chaining five, then you're going to double crochet into the side space. You chain two, double crochet into the next side space. The placement is in the in the blog post. Chain two, double crochet into the next side space and then chain two and double crochet into the area that's closest to the actual bikini cup right there. So that's creating a mesh hole and it's going to work along the side. You can space them however you'd like to. It's flexible. So the next row we're going to chain five, turn it. The chain five counts as a double crochet and a chain two. Then you're going to double crochet into the top of the next double crochet. Chain two, double crochet into the top of the next double crochet and then that repeats to the end. Chain two, double crochet in the next double crochet and then you're going to skip two chains and double crochet in the third chain from the bottom or the third chain from the side. Just make sure you skip two in the center so it keeps the spacing. Then you're going to continue this pattern for the rest of the rows until you reach your desired length. So to start off the other row you're going to chain five. It counts as a double crochet and a chain two and then you work a double crochet in each double crochet with a chain two in between and you repeat that until the very end. And this is where it's flexible where you can decide how long you want it to be. Then you can pull out the bottom part and of course the spacing will get better when you block it yourself. So that's what we have so far and so you can pause the video and catch up. Then when you get to where you're wanting to finish it off you're going to chain one, turn and then single crochet in each stitch and chain across. When you get to the end you single crochet in the last three chains. You should have 13. Chain one, turn and then we're going to extend it single crochet in the first one, first stitch. We're going to chain one and we're going to skip one stitch, skip one and then extended single crochet in the next. And you do that across and that's going to create a little hole, little holes so that we can put our cord through it. And when you get to the end you need to put one last extended single crochet. So there you have it. That's the finished edge. Make sure you kind of pull that out. If it doesn't look very even you can always stretch it out and with water it will stretch it out too. So we have our two pieces, our mesh and I'm going to show you how to create this cord which is not an i-cord but it looks a lot like an i-cord. So first you're going to need a long piece of yarn that's about three to four times as long as the length you want your cord to be, your finished cord. You're going to double it over. You're going to create a slipknot in the center in the same way I use my magic circle slipknot. Just kind of let it go and then just pull it tight around your hook. But you can do it any way you'd like to create a slipknot. So you're going to wrap the bottom strand around the hook and you're going to chain one with it. It gets a little weird to start off but once you get used to it take the other bottom strand, hold it, then take your first strand, yarn over and pull through both loops and you're going to repeat that. Lifting up one strand, pulling it over, then yarning over and completing almost like a single crochet. And at first it takes a little getting used to, I must admit, but once you get used to it it goes really fast. You just remember to pull that, wrap that first one around, pull up that the one in behind and then just yarn over and pull it through. And it took me a minute to get fast at it but then I decided to add a little tension and it all ended up working out just great. Just keep on working it until you reach the desired length you want for your cords. And that's going to be a personal preference for you but you'll get faster and this is how it ends up looking. Yay! It's so cute. I love it. And I'm going a little bit slow here because this is a definite learning curve especially if there's something new. It was very new to me. I don't know if it's new to you but it was new to me. And it takes a little bit of practice to get it good. But once you start getting really good you can start doing a few different techniques which I actually ended up doing something which was a little bit different. Putting tension around my pinky and then doing this technique where I was holding it and just kind of scooping the yarn up instead of actually wrapping it around which seemed to go a lot faster. Like scooping it up, yarn over, pull through, scoop it up, yarn over, pull through. And that's your finished chain just like an i-cord. It's pretty cool. So the way I attached these was make sure that you have your right side forward whichever side you decided. And I went ahead and took one of the long strands, put it on my needle and then kind of sewn it through the the backside so you can't really see it from the front and tried to hide it so that it would look like it was behind it and a little bit invisible. And then the cord for the centerpiece you can work it from the top down or the bottom up either way. I tried both and I ended up working it, putting it through the bottom first and then like making it sew up, lace it up through the top so that the bow tie was at the top of the bikini. But you can also work it the other way too. And I usually go over so it comes over the top of the bikini and then under. But you can do it the other way too. You can see what the difference is. It's like lacing up a shoe, different ways to lace your shoe. And then as we showed you, as I showed you in the beginning of the video, to lace up the mesh you just put it through the sides. Alright guys, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Thanks for watching. Please subscribe, give a thumbs up and a like. And if you have any questions, please leave a comment below or head over to the blog and leave a comment on my blog. I really appreciate you being here. If you have any questions, let me know. Take care and happy crocheting!