Vittoria Tank Top in Adriafil Tender - Downloadable PDF

Vittoria Tank Top in Adriafil Tender – Free Knitting Pattern Summary

The Vittoria Tank Top is a stylish, figure-flattering knitted tank top designed using Adriafil Tender yarn, an aran-weight yarn. This free downloadable PDF pattern produces a feminine silhouette with shaped sides, decorative textured bands, and distinctive braided shoulder straps rather than traditional knitted straps — giving the finished garment a unique, handcrafted character. The pattern is sized for a 42 (44–46) bust measurement, making it suitable for a range of adult figures.

What Is Being Made

The Vittoria Tank Top is a sleeveless, fitted top worked in two main pieces — a back and a front. The front is shaped into two separate cup-like sections through armhole and neckline decreases, giving it a structured, supportive appearance. The shoulder straps are not knitted in the conventional sense but are instead crafted from hand-plaited strands of yarn, adding a tactile, artisanal finishing detail. The overall design blends smooth knit fabric with subtle textured rows for visual interest.

Materials Required

• Yarn: Adriafil Tender, colour no. 52 — approximately 250 g required
• Knitting needles: 4.5 mm (no. 4½) straight needles
• Tapestry needle for seaming and finishing

Adriafil Tender is an aran-weight yarn, and its weight and drape are well suited to the open, relaxed texture created by the long knitted stitch used in this pattern. The aran weight also means the fabric works up relatively quickly while still capturing fine stitch definition.

Tension / Gauge

The stated gauge is 18 stitches and 27 rows over 10 × 10 cm, worked in knit stitch on 4.5 mm needles. Achieving the correct gauge is important for this pattern, as the side shaping and armhole decreases are calculated based on specific stitch and row counts. It is always recommended to knit a gauge swatch before beginning.

Stitches and Techniques Used

• Knit stitch (stocking stitch / plain knit fabric): The primary stitch used throughout both the back and front panels. This creates a smooth, classic knitted surface that forms the majority of the garment.
• K1/P1 Rib Stitch: Used along the armhole and neckline edges of the front panels. Ribbing in this context serves as a neat, slightly elastic border that frames the shaped edges of the cups and armholes, keeping them tidy and preventing curling.
• Long Knitted Stitch: A decorative textured stitch worked in bands across both the back and front. It is worked over three rows: Row 1 — each stitch is worked by winding the yarn twice around the right needle; Row 2 — stitches are purled while dropping the extra wrap, creating elongated, open loops; Row 3 — repeat from Row 1. This technique produces an airy, lace-like horizontal band that adds visual contrast to the otherwise smooth knit fabric.
• Side shaping (decreases and increases): The back and front are both shaped at the sides — decreasing 1 stitch at each end every 8 rows, 5 times, to draw in the waist, then increasing 1 stitch at each end every 6 rows, 4 times, to flare back out over the hips. This creates a gently fitted, hourglass silhouette.
• Armhole shaping: On the front, stitches are cast off at each end, followed by internal decreases worked alongside a rib border, shaping the armhole edges cleanly.
• Neckline shaping: The front is divided at the centre simultaneously with the armhole shaping, and each half is worked separately. Decreases are worked at the centre edges, again with a rib border, to shape the two cup sections of the neckline.
• Three-needle decrease finish: The remaining stitches at the top of each cup are finished using a slip 1, knit 2 together, pass slipped st