I had a fabric in my stash, acquired long ago from...actually, I'm not sure. It's likely it was the Walmart mill ends dollar table, sometime between 1995 and 2005, but it could have been a thrift find. Maybe even the old Joann mill ends assortments--some source where fiber content would have been completely unknown.
I always assumed it was a petrochemical synthetic, or perhaps even acetate. I was doing burn tests recently and decided to go ahead and torch a bit of this fabric to confirm. It did not confirm! The ash was fluffy soft and pale gray--rayon!
It's a relatively lightweight faille, and I think the texture was what was making me think it was...something that would melt when burned, and, therefore, something I did not necessarily want near my underarms. Rayon, though? I can tolerate a dress of that.
The base is once again Fake Burda 6401, with another exposed facing at the neckline. ("Exposed facings" is something added to my sewing repertoire this year that I'll use a lot in the future. Maybe.)
This time, I wanted to try stitching on lace at the outer edge of the exposed facing, to make it easier to fold the raw edges under evenly.
Initially, I was going to go with just the cluny at the edge and no other trim. I obviously changed my mind, adding baby rick rack and some smaller cluny in concentric rows. I put a stack of small magnets on the presser foot to help align the rick rack, which worked fairly well, but there were a few areas where I picked out the stitching and re-stitched in a slightly different alignment.
I sewed on the line of smaller cluny when the facing was not attached to the neckline, sewed the facing to the neckline, to then be appalled by how wavy and irregular the cluny placement was. I picked it off, then actually took the time to draw a guide line on half an inch from the sewn edge. I then sewed the small cluny back on, but still only on the facing, and not through all layers.
Once things were good enough, I then stitched the facing down all around the edge by the large cluny (after pinning everything very thoroughly.)
And, yes, these three trims are markedly different shades of black, which is emphasized in the slightly-overexposed image above. (I'm still using the slow back up camera, it's winter with fleeting sunlight, and this fabric is very very dark.) In real life, the colors of the trim--and the dress fabric--look like they do in the first image up there, of the whole dress.
I probably should have changed the serger thread, because it's visible, even if just barely, where the shoulder seams meet the neckline, thanks to the facings being on the outside. Honestly, it'll probably blend in with my skin when worn, so I'm not worried.
That does mean the interior seams are very well delineated.
(As are the smudges on the camera lens. Gotta dig out the lens cleaners for that.)
It has pockets, of course, here outlined by the serging.
This fabric was absolutely lovely to work with, and probably would have gone through the larger hem roller with no problem. But! I wanted to use up the last of the larger cluny, so I decided to finish the hem with that.
The width of the skirt was determined entirely by how much of the cluny was left after trimming the facing. The fabric was around 60" wide, and I think I took about 12" off the skirt sides to fit the cluny, which I ended up using all but a few inches of (because of course I didn't measure anything.) It's close enough to count as using it up, so that's good.
Since faille is constructed with heavier weft fibers, it didn't want to compress a lot when dealing with the waist gathering (which was initially done with the ruffler foot, which I got adjusted just right on the first try!)
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