Pattern/Technique: Elodie Wrap Dress by Closet Core Patterns, size 18 (from 14-30 size range)
Modifications: No pattern mods
Materials: Rayon Cotton Sateen Chambray (100% cotton): 3.75 yards (60” wide). Originally was going to make a Huon with this fabric but was concerned it would pill/snag if I wore it as a staple piece, so I decided the drape and luster would suit the Elodie beautifully.
New skills: Ladder stitch (used to hand sew the waistband facing on the interior of the dress)
Lessons: Cut rayon blends out on a flat surface with a rotary cutter (not scissors) and take care to make sure the grain line is straight. Fabric hanging over the edge of a cutting table will pull the grain line off straight.
I read a lot of resources on sewing with rayon. The actual process I used was a straight stitch plate with a straight stitch presser foot, 2.0mm stitch length, 80/12 microtex needle, and taking lots of care to not pull the fabric/ensuring gravity wasn't pulling the fabric off the edge of my sewing machine. While serging I set the differential feed to ~0.8-0.9 because I noticed the serged edge of my yardage puckered after hand washing. I used a silk organza press cloth to prevent shiny spots while ironing, and used my extra fine Little House pins to prevent holes/snags when pinning seams.
When rethreading a serger, make sure the thread is fully clasped in the tension disks before trying to fix tension issues (and getting frustrated because the tension isn't changing when you adjust the dial).
When sewing release pleats I inserted pins through the drawn pleat line, making sure the pin intersected the line on both sides of the fold. I found it easiest to put in the pin at the top of the release pleat line to get the fabric aligned, then inserted a second pin halfway between the top of the release pleat and the notch.
To reduce rippling on the sleeve hems, I followed CCP’s advice and stitched along the hem fold line before folding and ironing. There’s definitely still some rippling but I think the technique helped overall.
I attempted to avoid making the same mistake on the center front hems by using my rolled hem foot to sew a rolled hem instead of a standard folded hem. It’s definitely worth taking a few practice runs, but overall this worked really well. I thought I would need to take in some fabric at the back seam to compensate for this and get the front bodice & skirt to align, but I think the fabric is so slinky / prone to stretch out on bias cut pieces that the alignment didn’t end up being an issue.
What I'd do differently: While I think I executed a pretty decent finished product, I just don’t feel like this dress fits in with my personal style in its current incarnation. I think my next step will be trying to dye some swatches of my fabric (and if successful, overdye the entire garment). Because this is made from rayon, I want to use cool water dyes and according to this article fiber reactive dye is the thing to try.
Care: Hand wash, dry flat