Pink and white striped Isla
Made By Rae Isla Dress / PDF pattern
I’m a mother of three and reliable coffee spiller, so I’m not sure why my recent knit sewing streak has included three dresses (see also: Exhibit A / Exhibit B) that are basically white? I guess I just love wearing white, even if it’s hard to keep clean. We use lots of Oxy and stain stick over here.
This striped Isla dress is a spin-off of the other one (shown below) that I made as a sample for my Creativebug Isla class, which is white with navy stripes — fabric from LaMercerie — and which I very nearly absconded with after trying it on when we were finished shooting. Still kicking myself for not buying enough of that fabric to make a second one, really. I love a wider stripe — there’s so many striped knits, but there’s something pretty lovely about putting some space between those stripes, don’t you think?
Isla Dress Class / Creativebug
The sample looks super cute on Ayrika though, no? SO CUTE!!!
As mentioned in my last post, with striped fabric you do have to modify the way you cut out the bodice, slightly; the bodice is usually curved at the bottom to allow for the bust, but it’s pretty easy to modify the bottom edge for stripes, as I demonstrate in the video. And for the skirt on this dress, I cut the fabric on the cross-grain so that the stripes would be vertical (again, something I demonstrate in the class, just in case you need a bit of hand-holding!)
Adjusting Isla for stripes
One of the great things about a basic knit dress is that it goes with freaking everything, from jean jackets to cardigans. Here are my favorite ways to wear it:
Made By Rae Isla Dress / PDF pattern
Made By Rae Isla Dress / PDF pattern
Made By Rae Isla Dress / PDF pattern
Finally, a note about the fabric: I found this in the sale section at Stone Mountain and Daughter, so I don’t exactly know what this is but I suspect that it is a rayon or bamboo jersey. Rayon knits are usually pretty thin, super stretchy, and have a certain weight to them. I normally cut the Isla bodice a little longer for my height (I’m a couple inches taller than what I drafted the pattern for, 5’6”), but not when I use rayon jersey, since the weight of the skirt usually pulls the bodice down, making it longer, on its own.
My Isla class is now available on Creativebug, or you can find the PDF pattern in my shop!!