Rayon Slubs and Stretch Mesh

All my youtubing found me falling in love with a pair of cropped pants made from drapey rayon in a very soft but assertive print. I went on the search. The youtuber, Linda Lee, no longer had it in stock and it was no longer available. Left to my own devices and disappointment, I went on the search and decided it would be ok to just be a soft and assertive light weight rayon to make my vision materialize. It took a while but I eventually found this Telio rayon from Fabric.com, aka, Amazon, and put in my order. 

Above you can see the fabric spread out. At the corner that is cut there are big starbursts. While I think the pants would be just as lovely if this  fabric was not matched at all, I was determined to match it. It was near impossible. I found that I could match the two largest elements, the cutout star and the large green kaleidoscope design you see above, one or the other.All the other  bits and blobs were randomly floating on the fabric and would never match, a really interesting design. Up close it is a lot like a Rorschach test. 

If you click on the photo and look closely you will see why  it is called "slub rayon". I remember this fabric from way, way back in the day, albeit a bit heavier weight. You can see that some of the threads are thicker and give a bit of texture to this already interesting fabric. I liked that. Those are the slubs.  I am in love with this fabric but you have to admit this definitely looks like an hallucinogenic experience. I guess I'm channeling the Sixties......sigh....

This fabric did not give me much grief to sew. Before I started cutting, I pulled threads to get the straight of grain. I then cut along the pull. Once the straight of grain was established I went to the ironing board and sprayed the crossgrain edges I just cut with Niagara spray starch. I sprayed, let it soak in for a few minutes, patted down the bubbles, and then pressed, up and down. Don't iron this back and forth while there is starch on it. It will pull and wrinkle. Just do and up and down motion.  Once my pieces were cut out I went back to the ironing board and did this starch treatment on every edge of the rayon, iron with a dry iron and organza press cloth. Now all my edges were ready to be sewn.  I went to the serger and serged every edge. Seams would simply be pressed open with serged edges. 

Back to Linda Lee, who really knows her sewing, she suggested lining these wispy rayons with stretch mesh. Now she called it "power mesh". She described it and I did some searching  before buying. This is not the mesh one uses for compression in lingerie and swimsuits. That is power mesh according to my research. What you see above is stretch mesh. It is used in bridal gowns, dance and skating costumes, etc, to give the illusion of skin where there really is this fine layer of fabric. It can make a bride or a ballerina look like lace appliques are glued to their perfect bodies. Stretch mesh to use for lining a thin rayon? What the heck - I'll try it. I'm always up for something new in my sewing. I knew I had seen this fabric at the chains  in the bridal department. THIS IS NOT NYLON TULLE. This is made of 100% polyester and stretches every which way possible. It has weight. It is not floaty. It is drapey, just like the rayon and doesn't pouf. It is decently priced for a lining, ending up at 5.99 a yard in the end. 

Got the rayon slub fabric. Got the lining, Good to go. For a pattern I used my Sure Fit sloper once again and did a straight leg pant with it that has a gathered waist and cropped length, easy peasy. Now when Linda suggested her lining she said to just make another pant out of the mesh and drop it in, no other info. Easy enough.............uh....no.

I did some reading on the fabric and went straight to the machine and uses a zigzag. I ended up with very lettuce crotch seams. I pressed out a lot of that but it was not good.I then walked away, came back and tried to maneuver that into a French seam, using paper underneath, This was a bit better and you can see the crotch seam to the left and inseam going horizontal above. It's full of paper.I was scared  to play with it too much. It could do but this just was not nice. 

I walked away again. Upon returning I decided to just takes some long scraps and serge them, no paper.  Above you can see perfection. There was no waviness and the seams were strong and pretty. I went with simply serging the seams. 

They look really nice from the right side, too.  Now I can "just drop in the lining" and attach the pants and the lining and proceed. 

These pants are near done.Once again, I've decided on a coordinated outfit.(Yes, that is paint on my thumb.) This will make three in a row. I am enjoying the concept of having coordinates. I still don't see myself doing a swap, however, and that's another story for another day. I will share both pieces of the ensemble with you when  they are complete.I am using a Mimi G pattern for the top and excited about that. It may be from one of these fabrics. The pants are lookin' good. I would like to add that I LOVE the lining.It feels divine and just floats with the pants so nicely. More to come............Bunny