Summer Feeling: Your Complete Guide to DROPS 160-1 Free Knitting Patterns
There is something deeply satisfying about picking up a pair of needles as the days grow longer and the light turns golden. Summer knitting has a character all its own — lighter yarns, breezy silhouettes, and the kind of slow, meditative rhythm that feels perfectly suited to warm afternoons on a porch or lazy evenings in the garden. If you have been searching for the perfect summer knitting collection, DROPS Design’s Summer Feeling collection, catalogued as DROPS 160, is one of the most beloved free pattern releases the brand has ever produced. Whether you are a seasoned knitter or someone who has just learned to cast on, these patterns offer something genuinely worth making.
This post is a deep dive into the DROPS 160-1 pattern specifically, the wider Summer Feeling collection it belongs to, the yarns recommended by DROPS Design, and everything else you need to know to feel confident picking up this project.
What Is DROPS Design and Why Does It Matter?
Before we get into the patterns themselves, it helps to understand who DROPS Design is and why their free patterns have become a cornerstone of the global knitting community.
DROPS Design is a Norwegian yarn and pattern company that has been producing knitwear designs since 1982. What makes them genuinely remarkable is their commitment to offering every single one of their thousands of patterns completely free of charge through their website, garnastugan.com. This is not a limited-time offer or a loss leader — it is simply their model, and it has earned them one of the largest communities of loyal knitters in the world.
Their patterns are translated into more than thirty languages and span everything from intricate lace shawls and cabled sweaters to simple beginner-friendly accessories and children’s clothing. The quality of their photography, the clarity of their instructions, and the sheer breadth of styles available make their website an essential bookmark for anyone who knits.
The DROPS 160 collection, titled Summer Feeling, is one of their seasonal lookbooks — a curated group of designs released together with a cohesive aesthetic. As the name suggests, every pattern in this collection is designed with summer in mind: lightweight, wearable, and full of the kind of easy elegance that the season calls for.
An Introduction to DROPS 160-1
DROPS 160-1 is the first pattern in the Summer Feeling collection, and it sets the tone for everything that follows. It is a women’s top worked in a simple, clean style that emphasizes texture and drape over complexity. The design leans into the natural qualities of its recommended yarns, allowing the fabric to speak for itself without the need for complicated stitch patterns or structural gymnastics.
The top is designed with a relaxed fit, making it flattering across a wide range of body types. The neckline is elegant without being fussy, and the overall silhouette has that effortless quality that makes a handknit garment look as though it was simply meant to exist. It is the kind of top you reach for on a warm morning when you want to look put-together without feeling overdressed.
For knitters who have been wanting to move beyond accessories and into garments but have found the prospect intimidating, this pattern is an excellent entry point. The construction is logical and the instructions are thorough, walking you through each section with the kind of clarity that helps you understand not just what to do but why you are doing it.
The Yarns: DROPS Safran and DROPS Bomull-Lin
One of the most enjoyable aspects of working with DROPS patterns is choosing your yarn, and for DROPS 160-1, the recommended options are particularly appealing.
The primary yarn suggested is DROPS Safran, a 100% Egyptian cotton yarn that is spun to a consistent DK weight. Egyptian cotton is prized for its long fibres, which produce a smooth, strong yarn with a subtle sheen. When knitted up, Safran has a satisfying firmness that holds its shape beautifully while still being soft against the skin. It washes easily, keeps its colour wash after wash, and has the kind of clean drape that makes it ideal for garments intended to be worn close to the body on warm days.
DROPS Safran comes in an extraordinary range of colours. At the time of writing, there are over fifty shades available, ranging from crisp whites and natural undyed tones through a full spectrum of brights, pastels, and deep rich jewel tones. For a summer top, you might gravitate toward the kind of colours that evoke warmth and light — a warm coral, a soft sage, a washed denim blue, or a clean ivory. But the palette is genuinely broad enough that you can let your own instincts guide you without feeling limited.
The alternative yarn suggested for this pattern is DROPS Bomull-Lin, a blend of cotton and linen that produces a fabric with a slightly different character. Where Safran is smooth and even, Bomull-Lin has a more relaxed, textural quality. The linen content adds a beautiful rustic quality to the knitted fabric and contributes to excellent breathability, making it an even more compelling choice for very warm summer days. Linen is also known for softening and improving with every wash, so a garment knitted in Bomull-Lin will actually get better over time. The only consideration is that linen-blend yarns can feel slightly stiffer to work with initially, particularly if you are used to wool or pure cotton. This is entirely normal, and the end result is well worth any initial adjustment.
Both yarns are available in a wide range of colours and are priced accessibly, which is consistent with DROPS Design’s broader commitment to making quality knitting materials available without requiring a significant financial outlay.
Understanding the Pattern Construction
DROPS 160-1 is worked from the bottom up, which is a traditional and intuitive approach for tops and sweaters. You begin by casting on for the lower edge of the body, work your way up through the main body section, and then divide for the front and back before shaping the armholes and neckline.
The stitch pattern used in the body of the top is simple enough that you will quickly commit it to memory, making this a pattern you can work on while watching a film or sitting in conversation with friends. There are no complex cable sequences or intricate lace repeats to keep track of, which is partly what gives the finished piece its clean, modern look.
The pattern is sized generously, covering a range from XS through XXL, and the instructions provide separate guidance for each size throughout, so there is no mental arithmetic required to figure out which numbers apply to you. DROPS Design patterns traditionally include clear guidance on ease and fit, and it is always worth checking their size charts and the finished measurements listed in the pattern before you cast on. Knitting a gauge swatch is particularly important with cotton and cotton-blend yarns, as these fibres behave differently from wool and do not have the same elasticity. A swatch takes only an hour or so and can save you from the disappointment of a finished garment that does not fit the way you hoped.
The Appeal of Summer Knitting
It is worth pausing for a moment to talk about why summer knitting deserves more enthusiasm than it sometimes receives.
There is a persistent belief in some corners of the knitting community that summer is not a productive season for the craft — that the warmth makes wool unpleasant to handle, that there is too much to do outdoors to find time for sitting and knitting, and that the kinds of projects suitable for warm weather are somehow less interesting or satisfying than the big cozy sweaters of autumn and winter. None of this is quite true.
Summer knitting has its own particular pleasures. The yarns used for warm-weather projects are often lighter and more forgiving to work with, and a project like DROPS 160-1 can be completed in a fraction of the time it takes to knit a heavy aran sweater. Cotton and linen yarns have a tactile quality that is genuinely enjoyable to work with — the slight coolness of cotton against the hands, the satisfying weight of a growing fabric that lies flat and steady rather than drifting around the needles.
There is also the gratification of wearing something you made within the same season you started it. Knitting a summer top in July and being able to wear it by August — or even wearing it to a friend’s barbecue while it is still warm — gives a sense of immediate satisfaction that long winter projects, however beautiful, cannot always match.
And of course, summer offers opportunities for knitting in contexts that are less available in winter: on beaches, in parks, on terraces, during long road trips or train journeys to holiday destinations. A lightweight project in a tote bag is the ideal companion for all of these moments.
Colour Inspiration for Your Summer Feeling Top
Choosing a colour for a handknit garment is one of the most personal and pleasurable parts of the process, and it is worth spending some time thinking about it before you order your yarn.
For DROPS 160-1, the clean lines and simple construction mean that colour does a lot of the work in terms of the finished garment’s personality. A crisp white or natural undyed cotton gives the top a classic, Mediterranean feel — the kind of thing you might imagine wearing over a swimsuit at a café by the sea. Softer blush tones and warm creams have a romantic quality, while brighter saturated colours like terracotta, cobalt, or chartreuse give the design a more contemporary, graphic edge.
If you want the top to feel versatile and wearable across many occasions, neutrals and earthy tones are an excellent choice. Soft sand, warm taupe, or a faded olive will pair effortlessly with almost anything in your wardrobe and will work in a wider range of lighting conditions than a very bright or saturated shade.
If you are feeling adventurous, a two-tone approach — perhaps working the body in one colour and adding a contrast trim or using a self-striping yarn — can give the same simple pattern a completely different character. DROPS Design’s website has a beautiful gallery of finished objects submitted by knitters around the world, and browsing through these can be an excellent source of colour inspiration before you commit.
Tips for Knitting DROPS 160-1 Successfully
A few practical notes can make a real difference when working on this pattern.
Swatching is essential. Cotton and linen yarns have very little stretch, which means that tension and gauge are crucial. Knit your swatch, wash it the same way you plan to wash the finished garment, and measure it after it has dried. Cotton can relax and grow slightly after washing, so this step tells you how the finished fabric will actually behave rather than how it behaves fresh off the needles.
Pay attention to needle material. Many knitters find that smooth metal or nickel-plated needles work best with cotton and linen yarns because they allow the stitches to slide easily. Wooden or bamboo needles, which many people prefer for their warmth and grip with wool, can feel sticky with smooth cotton and slow down your knitting considerably.
Block your finished pieces before seaming. Blocking a cotton garment — which typically means simply soaking it in cool water, gently pressing out the excess moisture in a towel, and then laying it flat to dry in the correct shape — will transform the appearance of the knitted fabric. Stitches become more even, the fabric relaxes and opens up, and the finished garment will drape far more beautifully than it would straight off the needles.
Take your time with the finishing. DROPS 160-1 is a garment that benefits from careful seaming and weaving in of ends. The clean, simple design means that any sloppiness in the finishing is more visible than it might be in a heavily textured pattern, so invest in a good blunt tapestry needle, use a mattress stitch for your seams, and take care with your neckline edging.
Exploring the Rest of the Summer Feeling Collection
While DROPS 160-1 is the focus of this post, it is worth knowing that the full DROPS 160 Summer Feeling collection contains many other patterns, all available for free on the DROPS Design website.
The collection includes additional tops and blouses in a range of styles, skirts, dresses, lightweight cardigans and cover-ups, and accessories including bags and hats. There are designs suitable for beginners and more challenging pieces for experienced knitters looking to develop their skills. Most of the patterns in the collection use the same core yarns — primarily DROPS Safran and DROPS Bomull-Lin — which means that if you fall in love with a yarn while working on one project, you already know how it will behave when you move on to the next.
The collection is also a wonderful way to build a coordinated summer wardrobe. Knitting a top, a matching bag, and a lightweight cardigan all from the same collection creates a cohesive look with relatively little planning.
Why Free Patterns Matter
It would feel incomplete to write this much about DROPS Design’s patterns without acknowledging what a genuinely significant thing it is to offer this quality of design work entirely free of charge.
Knitting has always been a craft with a strong tradition of sharing, generosity, and community, and DROPS Design’s model honours that tradition at scale. It means that someone who is new to the craft and not yet sure how much they want to invest can access professionally designed, beautifully photographed, well-written patterns without any barrier. It means that a knitter on a tight budget can still produce beautiful, high-quality garments for themselves and their families. And it means that the global knitting community has access to a shared library of designs that cuts across economic and geographic differences in a meaningful way.
Getting Started
If you are ready to cast on, here is what you need: head to garnastugan.com, search for DROPS 160-1, and download or open the free pattern. Order your yarn — DROPS Safran or DROPS Bomull-Lin, in whichever colour speaks to you — along with the needle size specified in the pattern. Set aside an hour for swatching, and then settle in.
Summer is the perfect season to make something beautiful for yourself. DROPS 160-1 is a pattern that rewards the time you put into it with a garment you will reach for again and again. And when someone asks where you got that top, you will get to say that you made it yourself.
