Sleeveless tops can be easy to knit but require a bit more planning in the design process. Let's look at elements involved in designing a sleeveless top that fits well and what knitters should consider when selecting a sleeveless tee pattern.
Fit
Before knitting, designing and grading, think about how the top will be worn. Will it be close-fitting and worn against the skin? Or loose-fitting to be worn over another garment? This determines the armhole and neckline so give this extra thought in the beginning.
Armhole
A close-fitting top worn against the skin should curve around the armhole and use less ease at the armhole length to prevent this area from gaping open. Using only half to one inch of positive ease, creates a top that sits against the skin instead of hanging open. The aim when shaping an armhole with a close-fitting sleeveless top, is to mimic the curve of the underarm.
Thicker fabrics and loose garments require more at ease at the armholes. A loose-fitting top that will be layered over another garment like a tank top for example, can have dramatically deep armholes with four or more inches of ease.
With both fits, you must add extra ease if adding armhole ribbing or edging. If your design involves finishing the armholes by picking up stitches around the armhole and working in ribbing for 1” for example, then you will need to add 1” of ease on top of what you are already planning. If you want your armhole to have 0.5” of ease when it’s worn, and you are adding 1” of ribbing, then the ease allowance at your armhole would be 1.5”.
Shoulder
There are many more options for shoulders in a sleeveless top than in a pullover or cardigan sweater and all give a different look and feel.
Extended shoulder or cap sleeve can be worked straight from the armhole without decreasing to shape the underarm. This extra fabric extends out or flops over the top of the upper arm. When designing the largest sizes, decrease a little to prevent too much fabric at the shoulder. The piece is divided at the armhole and worked flat to the shoulder bind off.
This is what the schematic looks like for the Giverny Top shown above:
Wide tank shoulders are wide shoulder straps that begin at the outer edges of the cross-back measurement. With this shoulder, you do shape the armhole from the full back width to the cross-back width.
Narrow tank shoulders are narrow straps and do not extend to the outer edges of the cross-back measurement. These are shaped to curve in more aggressively and the shoulder becomes a narrower strap that falls somewhere between the shoulder bone and neck edge.
No shoulders are often designed with tanks that use strings or cords to hold the top in place. These can be tied around the back of the neck, crossed on the upper/mid back, or attached straight to the back as in Amandine Tank below.
Raglan shape creates a halter look where each side of the front gradually tapers along a traditional raglan line and comes to a narrow strap close to the neck.
Necklines
There is a close relationship between the neckline and silhouette of the top. Close-fitting garments stay on the body because the garment hugs the body and stays in place without any regard to the neck. With these silhouettes, the neckline can be wider or deeper if you want. On large, loose, flowy tops which will fall off the body if not supported at the neck, the neckline needs to be close and fitted.
There is also a relationship between the depth of the front neck and the width of the back neck. The deeper the front neck drop is, the narrower the back neck width should be. The shallower the front neck drop, the wider the back neck width should be:
Factor in any neckline ribbing or trim when determining your front neck drop. If you wish the top to have 4” front neck drop when worn, and you have a 1” band of eyelet lace around the neckline, you will design the front neck drop at 5” so after the neckband is added, it will sit at 4” when worn. This is only if the neckband stays in place like a ribbed or garter band. If you are designing a wide collar that will flop over at the join where the collar meets the top, then you don't need to allow extra ease at the front neck drop.
Design Elements
Hourglass Shaping Tops that are designed to be close-fitting benefit from waist, bust and hip shaping. With this silhouette, you will have one measurement for the bust, one for the waist, and one for the hips.
A-Line Shaping runs the length of the garment and creates a flattering fit with some extra room at the bottom for longer tops. You can make these as narrow or wide as you’d like and with a drapey fabric and exaggerated width at the bottom, the top will take on a flowy, airy look.
Seamless designs are ideal for tees and tanks that are close-fitting and worn against the skin for comfort. Seamless also works well when you have light weight yarns or delicate garments that do not have a need for the sturdy support that seams provide.
Finishing as you go elements that will save knitters time include creating armhole and neck finishing as you go with stitches that don't curl. This isn’t always possible or desirable, but if you’d like a trim neckline or armhole without an extra band of ribbing, work a non-curling pattern for a few stitches at the armhole edge so the armhole lies flat without any extra finishing.
If you’re knitting a pattern where you are not picking up stitches around the armhole, keep the beginning and end of each row neat and tidy. Watch for distorted or enlarged end stitches. Do not introduce new balls at the beg of rows. Keep yarn changes at least one inch from each end so the armholes stay neat without the risk of trim yarn tails popping out.
A curved neckline can be shaped with short rows which keeps all the stitches on the needles, so the final few rows can be worked in a curl resistant stitch pattern like ribbing, Seed Stitch, Garter Stitch or bound off with I-cord bind off.
A square neckline or V-neck can be worked the same way. In Lafayette Tee, the first and last 3 stitches of each row which form the front neckline are worked in Garter Stitch.
Fabric Qualities
Much of what you can and cannot do in design depends on the fabric and the choice of fiber, stitch pattern, and needle size contribute to the overall behavior of the fabric.
Fiber Choices
Linen armholes worked in Stockinette stitch can be left raw without any finishing. This can’t be done with merino wool since it will curl up quite a bit. Create a swatch with an edging you like and dry it without pinning it in place. If the fabric curls, you’ll need to either pick up stitches and add a non-curling band or change the stitch pattern at the armhole edges.
Go back to the beginning and think about how the top will be worn. Is this a hot weather summer top or a layering piece? Choose the fiber blend and weight of the yarn based on the intended use for the top.
The amount of drape will be determined by the fiber choice and needle size. Bamboo and silk add drape by themselves without any needle adjustments on your part. Linen will continue to grow in length over time, up to about 15% so factor that in when designing the length of a top. The longer the garment, the more the top will stretch, especially with heavier fabrics or very drapey ones. A cropped top will stretch very little, but a sleeveless top knit in silk that falls to the mid-thigh, might stretch down towards the knee once it’s worn. A garment with this much stretch will have different row gauges at the top of the garment than the bottom. The bottom will be more compressed and natural and the top of the garment will have fewer rows per inch as the weight of the garment pulls the fabric down. This top portion row gauge affects the armhole length and neckline so prepare for this before designing.
If you want to knit a sleeveless tank or tee and wish to substitute the fiber, think mostly about drape. Many patterns are written for fingering weight merino because it’s so plentiful, but you may prefer wearing cotton, bamboo, linen or hemp. Before making the yarn substitution, make sure there is not too much stretching of stitches like cables or three stitch decreases like sssk or k3tog. If not, you should be fine to make the substitution to a less elastic yarn.
Stitch Patterns
The stitch patterns affect the thickness of the fabric of the final garment. Lace and stockinette will produce a thinner fabric than slip stitch, cables, or highly textured knits. If you want a loose, flowing top, stay away from stiff stitch patterns like slip stitch which compresses the rows and creates a dense fabric.
If you intend your top to be worn in the summer without anything underneath, and this includes bras, you’ll want a textured pattern that is a little denser or tightly worked. In other words, don’t pick out a mesh pattern. If the top will be worn over a bra, make sure the shoulder straps are wide enough and positioned so they will stay in place over bra straps. Pay attention to the angle of the straps.
Needle Selection
The larger the needles, the drapier the fabric will become, and the smaller the needles, the less so. Sometimes you need to change the needle size quite a bit in order to really change the drape of a fabric. Make sure you’re not losing stitch definition in the process. If a fabric isn’t behaving like you want after going up or down several needle sizes, you may need to change the fiber all together.
With so many factors to consider when designing a tank or sleeveless tee, it’s helpful to run through the mental check list before you get too far along in the design process. Overlooking any of these can lead to a top that doesn’t quite work. For the knitter, the pattern can be simple and easy to follow, but for the designer there are so many pieces that fit together to create the whole design, that it’s important to spend more time in the beginning thinking these through to be your creative best.
Photo credits:
Giverny Top: Photo by Molly Stevenson
References
Hiatt, June Hemmons. The Principles of Knitting. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1988.
Newton, Deborah. Designing Knitwear . Newtown, CT: The Taunton Press, 1992.
Newton, Deborah. Finishing School, Master Class for Knitters. New York, NY: Sixth & Spring Books, 2011.
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