Roses Rayon Challis

I have had several rayon challis fabrics waiting in my stash for AGES because I was afraid to sew with them, afraid they would be slippery and mean and hard to wrangle into a finished dress. In order to combat this fear, I decided to try making a very simple dress with one of the fabrics that had been kicking around my sewing room the longest. Was the challis fabric a bit slippery and difficult? Yes, but it wasn't as bad as I had been fearing, and the dress came together quite quickly!

So here is a dress I have been meaning to make for years, and I even ended up using a gathered skirt (which I tend to avoid) since I didn't have enough yardage to cut out my more usual A-line shape. I really love the colors of this fabric, and the darker shade of red in the roses meant I could pair it with my new red plasticflex clutch! This clutch was a total spurge, but I can't regret it because I had a red plasticflex at the top of my mental vintage-to-find list. Plus the darker shade of red means this clutch matches my red Royal Vintage Marilyn pumps quite well which is an added bonus. I kept the rest of my accessories navy except for a small pop of the aqua shade from the print in my celluloid earrings. A relatively simple outfit to put together really, and perfect for these early summer days we have been having. The world outside is blinding green again, thank goodness!

So now I will feel better diving into working on more rayon challis projects this summer, which is good because I have several planned. First I have to finish a big white sateen 50's day dress though, who knew I would grow to love white dresses? I certainly would never have guessed it!

Dress: Made by me
Shoes: Royal Vintage Shoes
Clutch, Gloves, Hat, & Earrings: Vintage
Belt & Fishnets: Amazon