For the next ten days a great group of sewing folk will showcase the new rayon fabric line that Maaike is stocking at MaaiDesign. The blogtour disclaimer, of course, is that the fabric was sold to me at a discounted price. But you can try it at a discounted price too, and be just as objective, or not (*cough* Australian political reference) by using a discount code at the end of my post.
I suspect everyone for the next ten days is going to say this one same thing: The hardest part of all was choosing which fabric to have.
But it's true. Well, that and having to be photographed at the end, but the sewing? Well the sewing with rayon is nice. Seriously nice.
I could say I chose this fabric: Lines in Black & White, but actually I gave Maaike a list of three different fabrics as I simply couldn't decide and let her choose for me. I think it was my first choice. At least I hope it was, as I love it.
A soft, drapey fabric like rayon is begging to be sewn into a spring dress and I had an image in mind. A lengthened version of Lisette for Butterick B6168 with altered sleeves. I'll talk more about the pattern and the changes I made (and see if I dare show you my trial run!) in another post.
Once my fabric arrived, it occurred to me I had already sewn with what would appear to be a similar fabric, in that it's a black and white rayon (blog post here). I had a little comparative feel, then closed my eyes, moved the fabrics around and felt again... The See You At Six rayon has a much flatter, tighter weave feeling than the Spotlight rayon I'd used previously. It's like the Liberty lawn of rayons!
When sewing, the rayon holds an ironed crease beautifully. So much so that it wasn't necessary to use pins at all for hemming the skirt. Evidence that it holds a crease well is in the photos: I'd driven all over the place looking for a photo location that wasn't my neighbour's shed, but sorry, you're getting the neighbour's shed anyway and car seat skirt creases for good measure.
Given that it's light, non see through, drapey, swishy and easy to work with, it could very easily become a favourite summer dress fabric. For those reasons, and of course because there's those other couple of prints that I didn't end up getting this time around...
From today until the 30th of September you can use the discount code: seeyouatsix to get 10% off all fabrics in the See You At Six collection from Maaidesign
Stay tuned to the blog tour via the links below, or by following Maaidesign on social media.
12th of September: Shelley from Bartacks and Singletrack
13th of September: Kate from Sewing With Kate
14th of September: Nicola from Create.nic
15th of September: Anna from Blogless Anna
16th of September: Caroline from Usefulbox
17th of September: Suz from Sewpony
18th of September: Allison from The Tall Mama
19th of September: Toni from Make It Perfect
20th of September: Suzanne from Dressed in Pretty Little Things
21st of September: Natalie from Sew Outnumbered
22nd of September: Jenya from While She Was Sleeping
23rd of September: Maaike from MaaiDesign
I love dress!! It's perfect for the fabric & looks gorgeous on you. I loved sewing with this fabric too. X Allison www.thetallmamastyle.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteThanks Allison, I'm looking forward to sitting back and seeing what everyone else made now!
DeleteGorgeous dress and the fabric sounds divine.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sharon. I find the fabric really is lovely. It has all the drape and fine-ness of something that should be much more evil to work with.
DeleteI love this style on you! I just worked with rayon for the first time, for a skirt for Ind. it was a little harder to work with than I expected, but I love the results. I was also surprised by how heavy and thick it felt when it was wet! But I love it overall! I don't think this rayon is available in the US, is it?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that it is available in the US. It's from Belgium. I know Janice of www.urban-sew.com was looking at getting their other line: Soft cactus. Maybe you should convince her to stock both!
DeleteThe dress is actually better than i made it look - def not in the photo mood on that day and my dear husband is not one for spotting a crease or errant bra strap so the whole process is quite painful some days.
Wet rayon is weirdly surprising isn't it.
Thank you for taking part again Shelley! Always fun to read your detailed posts. You made a beautiful dress!
ReplyDeleteThanks for having me Maaike. I've already thought up more summer dresses for those "other" fabrics... :)
DeleteOooooh, such a pretty, swishy dress! (Do you have your swish swish on?) I love this style on you, and the fit is excellent. You look great, Shelley!
ReplyDeleteOh thanks Inder. I really did not have my "swish swish" on I'm afraid. We had gorgeous weather mid week and I had no-one free to photograph me. I'd spotted a lovely field of yellow flowers (weeds, sure) from a train window mid week. We all cycled up the river to that spot on the grey, grey Saturday. The flowers were closed, the field just looked like the swamp it was and the power lines were all criss crossing everywhere. It was a nice family bike ride but a dud photo shoot.
DeleteThe good thing is this dress will gets lots of wear during warmer months and I'm sure there will come a time, one day, when I'm standing up straight, have my eyes open and someone happens to take a picture. :)
Shelley, the dress looks wonderful! The fabric is like a dream to touch :) I too had difficulty narrowing down my choices!
ReplyDelete