Fintry Sleeveless Top With Gathered Ties in SweetGeorgia Merino Silk Lace - Downloadable PDF

Fintry Sleeveless Top With Gathered Ties — Pattern Summary

The Fintry Sleeveless Top With Gathered Ties is an elegant, lightweight knitted top designed by Ann-Marie Jackson and published by SweetGeorgia Yarns. Available as a downloadable PDF, this pattern produces a sleeveless garment with exceptional drape, achieved through a distinctive drawstring gathering system across both the front and back panels. The result is a fluid, seasonally versatile top that sits beautifully between casual and refined dressing.

What Is Being Made

The finished garment is a sleeveless top featuring gathered ties — narrow I-cord drawstrings threaded through knitted welt channels — that cinch the fabric horizontally across the front and back, creating soft, flattering gathers. The top is designed to be worn with approximately 2 inches / 5 cm of positive ease at the bust after gathering, giving it a relaxed yet shaped silhouette. It is available in six sizes with finished bust measurements of 32, 36, 40, 44, 48, and 52 inches (81.5–132 cm), and finished lengths ranging from 20½ to 24 inches (52–61 cm) depending on size. The sample shown in the pattern photography is knitted in size 36 inches / 91.5 cm.

Construction and Techniques

This pattern is rated Easy in skill level, making it accessible to knitters who have moved beyond the absolute beginner stage and are comfortable with a small set of intermediate techniques. The garment is constructed bottom-up in one piece, then divided to work the front and back sections separately. Key construction details include:

• Provisional cast-on: A crochet provisional cast-on is specifically recommended to begin the garment, allowing live stitches to be picked up later for a neat turned hem.
• Turned hem: A spare circular needle is used to work the turned hem at the lower edge, creating a clean, professional finish.
• Welts for drawstring channels: Horizontal welts are knitted into the fabric to form the channels through which the I-cord drawstrings are later threaded. These welts are worked using waste yarn during construction.
• I-cord drawstrings: Separate I-cords are worked on double pointed needles and serve as the gathered ties. They are threaded into the welt channels when the buttonbands are added, creating the signature gathered effect.
• Button bands: The pattern includes button bands finished with small buttons, adding a delicate detail to the garment's edges.

Stitches Used

The primary stitch used throughout the body of the Fintry Sleeveless Top is Stockinette stitch (St st), which contributes to the smooth, drapey fabric that makes this top so wearable. Additional techniques include:

• I-cord — worked on double pointed needles to create the narrow, rounded drawstring ties
• Provisional cast-on using a crochet hook
• Standard bind-off (cast-off)
• Basic decreases for shaping

Gauge

Achieving the correct gauge is essential for proper fit. The pattern specifies 26 stitches and 32 rows to 4 inches / 10 cm in Stockinette stitch on US size 7 / 4.5 mm needles. Knitters are advised to adjust needle size as needed to match this gauge.

Materials — Yarn

The Fintry Sleeveless Top is knitted in SweetGeorgia Yarns Merino Silk Lace, a luxurious lace weight yarn composed of 50% merino wool and 50% silk. Each skein contains 765 yards / 700 meters and weighs 3.5 oz / 100 g. The pattern requires 2 skeins across all sizes. The sample garment is shown in the colorway Nightshade. The merino-silk blend is particularly well suited to this design: merino