Isabelle Top Pattern Review

Isabelle Top by The Knit Purl Girl

I was debating whether I wanted to knit another summer tank (after the incredible difficulty of knitting Camisole No 9) when I saw the Isabelle top.

It was a new release by the Knit Purl Girl and I gasped when I saw it.

It’s beautiful – all over lacework, delicate pearl beads down the front, and I loved how she showed the pattern in 4 different styles (closed, open, beaded, tie straps, etc).

I immediately bought it.

Here’s my experience knitting it and a quick review of the pattern!

The Isabelle Top

Yarn Used

The pattern sample was knit with Knitting for Olive Pure Silk and every iteration I saw was also knit with the same yarn.

KFO Pure Silk is incredibly popular and I want to try it some day!

But it’s a little hard for me to get ahold of, and I wanted to try a non-bourette silk yarn.

I thought the lacework of the pattern would work well with silk, so I picked up Knit Picks Samia.

It’s been on my list to try for a while, and I really love their colors – very silver-y (but not shimmery) in some unique colorways.

knitting a couple gauge swatches with Samia – even hurdle stitch took me a while to get because I found it hard to read the stitches on silk yarn

Samia is a blend of 80% cupro and 20% mulberry silk.

When it arrived, I immediately loved the color. It’s the perfect silver-y seafoam green that catches the light beautifully.

And it’s incredibly silky and soft to the touch.

Cupro is a recycled plant fiber made from recycled cotton. It’s often called vegan silk and has a smooth feel and lots of lightweight drape, plus it’s very cooling.

Mulberry silk is ultra smooth, super durable and very breathable.

You can actually wear silk in both hot and cold weather, because it helps regulate your body temperature.

Overall, I think Knit Picks Samia is the perfect fiber for silky, smooth breathable tops.

Needles

At first, I used the needles I already have, my stainless steel Chiaogoo interchangeables.

It was really difficult knitting slippery smooth yarn on stainless steel. Still, I managed to knit half the Isabelle top on these.

But then I was in Seoul at one of my favorite knitting stores and I saw they had a huge wall of Chiaogoos in every size, shape and style.

And at really good prices compared to Amazon (I rarely see Chiaogoos at my local NYC yarn shops).

So I picked up a couple of the Chiaogoo bamboo needles for the project.

Chiaogoos were actually created by a family that originally produced bamboo products, so I figured their bamboo needles would be good.

And they’re fantastic!

SO much easier knitting summer yarns on bamboo needles.

It gives a lot more stability and grip so I highly recommend, especially for slightly more complicated lacework projects.

Read more: How to Save Money on Chiaogoo Needles

chit chatted about the Isabelle Top in this WIP wednesday video

Pattern Difficulty

The designer mentions upfront that the Isabelle Top is not a beginner friendly pattern and I’d have to agree.

I don’t want to put anyone off from trying this (it’s totally doable!)

But, this has definitely been the hardest knitting pattern I’ve attempted.

I think it’s the combination of trying lacework for the first time, knitting with slippery yarn and using multiple charts.

The designer also writes a lot of text.

Like, paragraphs and paragraphs. It’s a simple tank top but somehow the pattern is 30 pages long.

The pattern is also charted.

But the tank charts are broken down into left side, right side and main front so I had to keep flipping between 3 charts (it took me a long time to memorize ha).

That was a little tedious.

lacework really needs a good block top show the pattern’s lacey details! this is the top pre-block and all scrunched up

Tip: I was using the printed pattern at first, because I wasn’t familiar with Stitch Fiddle.

Turns out Stitch Fiddle is much easier to use!

It’s an online website where you can click the Progress Tracker tool, and then it will highlight the row you’re working on.

Knitting the Isabel Top

Two Versions

The designer includes two versions of the Isabelle Top:

• fastened
• plain

The “fastened” version is worked flat through the yoke and the length of the body, like a cardigan.

The “plain” version is worked flat through the yoke and then in the round through the length of the body, like a sweater.

The plain version would definitely be a little easier, in hindsight, but I loved the pearl sample and so I knit the fastened version of the Isabelle Top.

I picked up potato seed pearl beads at another craft store in Seoul.

For anyone traveling to Korea, I have a list of my favorite yarn shops in this post and lots of Seoul travel guides here.

Modifications

Samia is a slightly finer yarn compared to the pattern yarn of Knitting for Olive Pure Silk.

I used larger needles, US 4 / 3.5mm needles and still my gauge ended up being a little smaller:

• pattern gauge: 26 sts x 36 rows
• my gauge: 28 sts x 52 rows

So I sized up one size to knit size C in the pattern for ~1.4 inches of ease.

Tips for Knitting the Isabelle Top

1. I highly recommend bamboo needles

It makes the knitting process so much easier!

2. Use Stitch Fiddle for the Charts

and take advantage of the ‘progress tracker’ feature which highlights the row for you so you don’t get distracted by the rows above or below.

Read more of my yarn reviews here.

Blocking

Since it’s lacework, the Isabelle tank looks really scrappy while you’re knitting it.

It really needs a good block to open up the lace, and ideally a wet block on blocking mats with pins to perfect the shape.

Knit Picks notes that Samia should only be wet blocked, not steamed, so that’s what I did.

I think my lace yarn overs could be a little cleaner, but overall not too bad for a first lacework project.

I should have picked a simpler pattern ha!

Pattern Review & Final Thoughts

Overall, I really loved knitting this!

The pattern is a little wordy (which has the counter effect of making my eyes glaze over and miss things).

But I think for a difficult pattern it’s helpful to be abundantly clear rather than skimpy on the instructions.

And I appreciate that it was fully charted, with the charts available on Stitch Fiddle!

I really love the yarn and the design is beautiful.

It’s also really nice that there are 2 variations to choose from.

Definitely think I’d knit this again, and probably would try the plain version next time!

Read all my knitting pattern reviews here.

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