his pattern is to serve as a guide to create a unique granny square shirt, tunic or dress. The real “meat” of this pattern is how to sew your squares and triangles together to create your granny plate! You can use any granny square (or combination of squares) to make this shirt. I encourage you to be creative with this pattern, which is why I’m making it as more of a guide than an actual set pattern. I will provide a pattern for the triangles though.
Please be aware that the SQUARE WILL BE SIDEWAYS. For example, using a skull granny square may not produce the result you are looking for unless you work the skull as a diamond shape instead of a square shape. Here are some unique granny square pdfs that I think will give a nice roll playing aspect to this shirt:
- Mini Moon square: www.ravelry.com/dls/43946/280945
- Sun Granny Square (I used a 4.5mm hook instead of 5.0mm and on the 5th row of the square I stitched the sun rays into the square because they were curling inwards with cotton yarn): www.ravelry.com/dls/17182/236577
Use any yarn and any type of granny square to complete this pattern. You are going to need to make 9 granny squares for a v-neck shirt (13 for a tunic that would hit around the hip region, 17 for a mid thigh length, 21 for a knee length, 25 for a mid-calf length, and about 29 for a full length dress depending on your height!). Add one granny square or a unique motif/pattern to the chest like I did with the sun! Then you will have to make 10 or more granny triangles, I used 1 granny squares to make the sun granny plate that is pictured. 4 for the armholes/shoulder straps, 4 for the “plate-like” sleeves and 4 to go around the bottom of the garment.
You can be creative with the armholes and sleeves. Make it a long sleeve! Make a lacy pattern, maybe take the 2 triangles i did and add picot stitches or another lace pattern! Give it some crocodile stitches for a scale-like look! I am excited to see all that can be created with this pattern!
I used approximately 1400 yards of yarn to make a unisex size medium shirt. I used Worsted weight (category 4) yarn and a 4.0-5.5mm hook will work well with this yarn, I used a 4.5mm hook. You can use any size yarn and any size hook as long as you make the square the dimensions of the size you are making (See dimension recommendations below). If you don’t know how to change the gauge, just follow the recommended hook for your yarn and work until you get the size you need. Alternatively, you can make a custom size by measuring halfway under your armpit to the middle of your chest, and that will be the length of one side you need to make. The triangles will need to have the same side lengths as your square, with a little extra as not a bad thing to have (adding ~½” should be fine). Here are the sizes of the squares you need to make 9 of for a v-neck shirt, 10 for a crew cut shirt, and 17-18 (depending on neckline) of for a tunic: (All sizes are unisex sizes):
- XS: ~ 5 inches/side
- Small: ~ 6 inches/side
- Medium: ~ 7 inches/side
- Large: ~ 8 inches/side
- XL: ~ 9 inches/side
- 2XL: ~ 10 inches/side
- 3XL: ~ 11 inches/side
- 4XL: ~ 12 inches/side
- 5XL: ~ 13 inches/side
Triangle Pattern is worked in the round (make 4 for filling in gaps for the body. An additional 2 can be made for the shoulder straps, and an optional 4 more can be made to create a plate-like t-shirt sleeve as described in the “sewing pieces together” section)
Ch-2 OR make a magic ring
Step 1: Ch-3 (counts as 1 dc), 5 more dc in ring. Slip st in 3rd ch from start(6st)
Step 2: Ch-3 (counts as 1 dc). Make a corner of (2dc, ch-1, 2 dc) in next st. *1 dc in next st, make corner* twice. Slip st to 3rd ch of beg ch-3.
Step 3: Ch-3 (counts as 1 dc). *1 dc in next sts until you reach the ch-1 space of the corner. Make a corner in the ch-1 space of the previous corner.* 3 times. 1dc in sts until beg ch-3. BE CAREFUL TO AVOID MAKING A STITCH IN THE SLIP ST OF THE PREVIOUS ROUND. Slip st in 3rd ch of beg ch-3. (# of sts increase by 12 per round).
Repeat step 3 until you have the necessary side length.
Sewing the squares together
So this is the general layout of how to sew the squares and triangles together:
There are 4 squares that make a row around the chest belly (and other areas if you are making a longer garment). *this saved me from improperly sewing some squares*
There is one square on top in the back and an optional square/mltif in the middle on the front. Here is what the front and back look like with just the squares and no triangles:
I found it best to sew the squares together first.
Sewing the body triangles second.
Then sewing the garment together on the sides so it makes a shirt.
Then make the armholes/shoulder straps. There are some options for making these
- You can make a band of as many rows as you need to reach the proper length depending on the appropriate size dimensions (5in-13in as stated in granny square side length above), in various thicknesses then sewing it onto the back for both sides. Can make it easier to create other sleeve types that have less of an armored look to them.
- You could also chain as many stitches as you need to reach the appropriate dimensions (5in-13in as stated in granny square side length above), attach to the back where the top square and the middle square meet then sc or dc all the way back to the front and finish off on both sides. Can make it easier to create other sleeve types that have less of an armored look to them as well.
- Alternatively you can make a more dynamic sleeve by using 2 granny triangles by sewing them on the tip of the front and the tip of the back and on the sides of the top granny square (as shown in red): Then sew the back and front triangles together. This as a more defined, armored look.
You can choose to leave it sleeveless, or you can add sleeves.
- If you used the band or chain method described in the previous bullet points (option 1 or 2), you can work in the round to create sleeves of any length.
- Alternatively you can make a sleeve that just sits on the shoulder by turning your work, or by sewing on two granny triangles by sewing the sides on the bands and sewing them together and repeating on the other side (4 granny triangles in total).
- If you used option 3, and want to add sleeves, then follow these directions
- Sew one triangle to each of the front shoulder straps
- Sew one triangle to each the sides exposed of the top of the back of the shirt
- Sew them together for a more armored look
Now you have some granny plate!
Add some details to your Granny Plate:
- Make it padded by cutting foam and sewing it in between an additional granny square/triangle (multiply all granny square and triangle totals by 2)
- Add a lace or picot border to the bottom, sleeves or other trim
- Determine the neckline
- Leave it blank for a v-neck
- Add a granny square for a high neckline
- Will have to chain across from shoulder to shoulder so that the corner stays up
- Add a motif
- Spiderweb
- Freeform
- Mandala
- Sun
- Add other unique things to the neckline
- Freeform crochet
- Chains/chainmaille
- Beads
- Anything you can imagine
I hope you have fun making this project!
Fractaltz: Creative, Holistic Wellness 