An Ode to Rayon
Oh, Rayon! How I love thee!
I had always wanted to try rayon as soon as I started vintage sewing.
But alas!
It has recently become extremely hard to find! Due to the rise in quilting and crafting, fabric stores don't seem to be carrying anything other than Polyester (yuck!) and quilting cotton (which is ok sometimes but a girl needs options)!
Until I was recently browsing Joann's silky fabric selection to find the softest, drapiest, beautiful fabric I have ever laid hands on!
RAYON!
And while the selection wasn't vast (or even grouped together) they still had some nice ones.
So after a long and arduous decision, I settled on two lovely prints!
At home, I had the perfect pattern to use, Simplicity 8166!
I love this style of blouses! A happy medium between dressy/casual and vintage/modern! I found this blouse I a few months back and absolutely fell in love!
I instantly needed it in every possible color!!!
After seeing how expensive it was, I opted to make my own.
Which is were Simplicity 8166 came into play!
All I can really say is eh.
While the pattern cover looks great, I had to make a few alterations to keep it from looking cheap and poorly made up close.
Other than what's noted I basically kept it the same as the pattern instructions.
The pattern has a guide for the elastic length but it was considerably larger than my wrist size.
To fix this, I merely measured my wrist loosely and used that instead.
This was my biggest issue. The front.
Now in the pattern, you are supposed to make the edges of the placket meet in the middle and secure with loops of elastic and buttons.
The outcome is so tacky.
But not unfixable!
So I cut another piece of fabric using the placket pattern and doubled it so the top would extend to the other side.
Then, I slip stitched the bottom half closed and added snaps to the top.
Victory! No more tackiness! Pure class over here folks!
I liked the first one so much I made a second!
This fabric is softer than the polka dots but they are both great!
And since I finished writing this I have started a THIRD rayon shirt from the same pattern!
It's definitely my TNT pattern!
Since writing this post I have completed 3 of these shirts and they are lovely to wear! Hopefully, this means in the next month or so I will do a wardrobe purge.
The Purpose: I love bow shirts and buying one is too expensive
Fabric: rayon from Joanns
Pattern: Simplicity 8166
Year/Era: 1960s/70s not really era specific though
Notions: Thread, snaps
Hours to complete: a few hours each
Total cost: eh $15 ish (a lot of ish)
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