Crochet Shell Stitch Bikini Top Tutorial

I want to present to you to the Crochet Valencia Two Piece Bikini Set which is a crochet shell stitch bikini set. It is a part of my Crochet Valencia Series that includes a one piece bikini with the same stitch pattern. It’s a really quick and fun project to crochet and also a good piece to sell or gift. Right now we are going to be looking at how to make this bikini top. It is a cute triangle bikini top that features the closed shell stitch and this tutorial shows how to crochet cup sizes AA/Micro (A, B, C, D, DD) to cover a variety of sizes. You can find the written pattern for the top here and the written pattern for the set here. You can also find the tutorial for the Valencia bikini bottoms here and the written pattern here.

I designed this bikini set in the early summer of 2021. My goal was to pair a very feminine, delicate stitch with a basic crochet triangle bikini. But I also wanted to make sure that it was a beginner friendly project that looks intricate. The stitches used in this project are slip stitches, chain stitches, single crochets, half shells and shells. The shells are composed of 5 double crochets in the same stitch and the half shells are composed of 3 double crochets in the same stitch. There are also 3 way single crochet decreases to help create our decreasing triangle shape. In this tutorial I used an acrylic yarn because I just love this violet color, but the yarn I used is not the best for crochet swimwear in terms of getting wet. I usually make my crochet swimsuits with cotton because it is a much better fiber than acrylic in water usually. Now, there are other yarns that you can use for crochet swimwear and you can find more information on my opinion on yarns that are good for crochet swimwear here.

The construction is fairly simple and straightforward. We will crochet two flat triangles for the cups according to the desired size as shown. In the end, we will crochet the ties and a quick single crochet border in the same steps. We start off with a row of single crochets and then a row of normal closed shell stitches in row 2 according to your desired size. After a few rows of normal closed shell stitches, we begin a three row repeat that has one row included that will be decreasing the shells almost to the top and we end with a single shell, 5 dc in the same stitch at the top of the cup before we fasten off. It took me a while to figure out how to decrease this shell pattern but I found that this 3 row repeat was the best for this bikini top. It’s always intriguing to try to find out how to increase or decrease a stitch pattern. You can often find how to do a stitch, but you can’t always find how to increase or decrease it for garment shaping. Decreasing this stitch pattern was kind of difficult for me to come up with but I finally did get. it. Increasing was a lot easier which we will learn in the Valencia Bikini Bottom and One Piece tutorials, but I still found that it required a 3 row repeat to achieve these looks.

Once you have your cups finished we will add the straps. The straps are made by chaining out the inner tie according to size and attaching via slip stitch it to one of the bottom corners. Next, we will then single crochet upward along the side of the triangle until reaching the top. Once the top is reached we will chain out the neck tie according to your desired size as shown in the tutorial below and then fasten off. The second strap of the same cup will begin with chaining out the neck tie first and then slip stitching it to the top of the other side of the cup. Then we single crochet along the border of the other side of the cup until we reach the bottom. Finally, we will chain out the back tie according to size and then fasten off. For the second cup, we need to make sure that we reverse these steps so that the bikini cups mirror itself. So we will start by chaining the outer tie on the second cup and slip stitch it to the opposite bottom corner as the outer tie on the first cup and we will start in the reverse for the inner side as well.

I loved this bikini set so much that I wanted to do a photo shoot. It’s always nice to try to get your pieces on a model so that you can display your work in action. It’s really important if you intend on selling a pattern or garment in the future too. If you only have a mannequin, then that’s a good way to display your crocheted clothing as well. But people really like seeing clothing on a person. I do like those photos of pieces laying flat on the floor or table but you would still want show people the fit. So we went out in the deserts and found this lovely location with cool junk cars and such. Here’s some pictures from my photo shoot of this bikini set. We also did shoot the Crochet Valencia One-Piece Swimsuit and Ill add some photos of that as well. In the crochet monokini photos, the model is wearing my first crochet layered choker which also has a tutorial which is also a super fun and easy project.

Materials

For this project you will need…

Approx 100 – 200 yards of medium weight 4 yarn depending on size
F – Hook / 3.75 mm Hook
Scissors
Stitch Markers (optional)
Yarn Needle (optional)