Sometimes I wish I had more time to show you all of the concepts and variations a pattern goes through before it's finally released. Originally I thought the Isla pattern would have sleeves, and even went so far as to make this mint striped version with sleeves (I later removed them).

As the pattern developed, I decided that Isla needed to be a Presto pattern (basic design, streamlined instructions), and so I tossed the sleeves, which were going to require a fair amount of tweaking and developing on their own yet before I could sign off on them. But in the back of my head I thought, my next knit pattern will have sleeves, and if it does, I want them to work with Isla, too.

So after Isla launched, I started playing around with the sleeve pattern pieces again. By last November, we had it graded and in multiple lengths, and I made this version of Isla with sleeves and a woven skirt.

(UPDATE: Jade is now available in my shop, and the sleeves are fully interchangeable with Isla!)

The woven skirt itself deserves a little explanation. The Isla pattern is intended to be made entirely out of knit fabric, but since there's plenty of ease in the skirt, you can really substitute a woven fabric for the skirt if you want. I even increased the width (this skirt was made with a 1 yard piece of 54" cotton-linen blend, which I cut down the middle and turned sideways, so the skirt pieces ended up roughly 10" wider than the pattern piece, each) and it still worked.

This fabric is a print designed by Melody Miller from Ruby Star Sparkle, a now out-of-print collection from her years as a Kokka designer. Some of you might remember that this is not the first time I have cut a Melody Miller panel on the cross-grain so I could use the raw selvages for the hem of a skirt -- the first time was when I made this pre-pattern Ruby prototype out of the arrow print.

You might wonder how and when someone might wear such an interesting dress. Here's one way I like to style it in a kind of fun bohemian way:

Hopefully you can see that using a woven fabric instead of knit for the Isla skirt can open a whole new world for this pattern, so if you're thinking of trying this, do it!! It's fun! And if you're wondering where you can get the sleeves, stay tuned!

Jade, my next pattern, will have sleeves that you'll be able to add to Isla for some awesome mix and match possibilities.

UPDATE: Jade is now available in my shop, and the sleeves are fully interchangeable with Isla!

Isla with sleeves + woven skirt

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