Monday, April 23, 2012

I Set Fire... To the Rayon


 Hey guys. you know what my fabric crush is right now? Rayon.
Say it with me now: Rrrrraaaayyyooonnn. 
Mmm, makes you think of luscious drapey soft lightweight amazing stuff, huh? 

I feel like it's been getting more popular lately as I've seen it pop up more in stores. 
Usually all I find are tiny floral prints that break my heart because I want so badly to love them for their drape, but I can't bear to look at them. They're like a girl with a great bod and 
horrible, oompa-loompa orange skin.
 It breaks the deal.

When I do find a print I like at bargain prices, I have to snatch it up. There's almost none in my stash since it's a fairly new discovery for me. I was gushing about it at Hancock's today, and the superchipper salesgirl told me about a horror story washing hers, and how you defs have to handwash it or you wind up with a shrinky, weird mess. 

I was scared, guys. Was my dream fabric more fragile than I could bear? I'm used to cotton. Turn that iron on high and GO BABY.

So, I took my honey home ($2/yd is a cheap date) and performed kinky experiments on a swatch.
I washed it in the sink, scrubbed it with regular hand soap, and ran hot tap water over it. I wrang it out, balled it up, and tried to tear it. Then, I ironed it dry like a bad girl. 
(I need to know if my partners are committed, okay?)

Results:


No apparent loss is color. 

The piece doesn't seem to have shrunk substantially or in a weird way, 
but I didn't outline it first to check.

While wet, the piece could be balled up super small, and seemed really fragile. 
It's really not a very substantial fabric.

 It was easy to tear into strips (and even made the cool noise they use in movies when people rip off their clothes). While dry, I couldn't tear it in any direction. Go to your rayon for emergency band-aids, folks.

It ironed well from wet to dry on the synthetic setting with no burning or melting.

The only difference I could tell after washing is a slightly lighter feel and different drape. But that's common after washing a lot of fabrics.

verdict:  
Rayon is the fabric for me!

I love you, baby.



Oh, and the answer to yesterday's mystery!




 This chickadee is wearing my Rorschach fabric, that I got at Hancock's for a steal, and still have three yards of! I technically have enough to rip off this dress, which might feel pretty cool. On the other hand, I don't think it takes full advantage of the drapes on this pattern; it just doesn't have enough body. Plus, it's slinkier than a snake. Just saying.

I feel so cool that some big wig sample seamstress chose my fabric for a pattern cover! It'll live on forever, and maybe my grandbabies will look back at catalogs and say, "Wow, Grandma, this vintage dress such pretty fabric!" And then everyone will know what great taste I have/had. Because I'll definitely be in chunky knit sweaters by then.

Special thanks to Marianna for all her awesome guesses!


Peace and Love, Everyone.
-Hannah Jean

3 comments:

  1. Rayon = love :)

    Although I most certainly don't have much experience sewing with it! Looking forward to your updates...

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    1. Thanks! I'm starting on a rayon dress this week so hopefully it's a winner!

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  2. Rayon is not my favorite fabric to sew (it's a bit wiggly but thankfully not as slippery as silk), but it's my all-time FAVORITE fabric to wear. It's definitely worth the trouble. One word of caution: rayon is notorious for progressive shrinking. So if you ever plan to machine wash a finished garment, make sure to prewash 3 or 4 times before cutting out your pattern. I recently made a heavenly summer dress out of rayon challis and the multiple prewashings seem to have done the trick.

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