DIY Jade + Isla maxi dress / made by rae

It’s difficult for me to resist immediately creating spin-offs and mods for a new pattern even while I’m still working on it, and I totally did that with Jade; if you follow me on Instagram you might have noticed that I’ve been posting two Jade+Isla dresses for quite some time already (the Rose one here and the Grid Dress I posted earlier this week). I just can’t help myself. It’s tough, because even before I’ve launched a pattern I want to start posting all my mods, but then it starts to feel like I’m getting ahead of myself. Anyway, I posted the (incredibly easy) tutorial for combining the two patterns this week, including some details on how to make this maxi version, so now I feel like I can finally unleash this dress on you.

I designed the pattern with the intent that it would combine easily with Isla, and all along I had this idea that maybe it would be easy to make a maxi dress version as well (Isla comes with a knee-length skirt as well as a peplum skirt, but not a maxi skirt). I’d been pinning floor-length floral knit dresses for the past year (like this one), so when I saw this fabric I knew it was destined to become a Jade+Isla maxi dress. OH! also this striped maxi dress…so dreamy. Tell me if you ever stumble across a super-wide width stripe knit, please.

The fabric is brushed poly jersey purchased from Raspberry Creek; I don’t see it there anymore but they have a few other fabulous florals that are very similar. One thing about it of note is that it has a ton of vertical stretch, so I ended up having to shorten both the bodice (by 1″) and the skirt (by 2″). I think in a normal cotton lycra jersey I wouldn’t have needed to shorten it at all, but because the fabric is so stretchy and a bit heavy, it was too long and was catching under my feet when I first tried it on. Just another friendly reminder that all knits behave differently, and trying it on while you sew is always the way to go!

I decided to leave the neckline facing visible (in the ballet view, the instructions have you flip it to the inside and stitch it down, but there’s a note that you can do it this way if you prefer), mostly because the fabric was so stretchy that the neckline was quite big and I didn’t mind a little extra fabric there. I topstitched around the neckline using a double needle, and it looks really nice.

I’ve been wearing this dress all over the place and I get tons of compliments on it, even though I would say it’s not my usual style (it feels a little more country boho chic to me, maybe? I do love florals though). The maxi length skirt is really fun, and to top it off it’s super comfortable. Definitely a new favorite!

Want to make one of your own? Find the tutorial for Jade + Isla on my blog, and the patterns are both available now in my shop!

Rose Jade + Isla Maxi Dress

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