Flamingos obsession

I mentioned in the previous post my love for Telio fabrics. Here’s my latest favorite: this wonderful navy rayon voile with flamingo silhouettes in white with coral accents. Deep colors, a soft and drapey hand, and my favorite americana symbol (I think it’s time for a “flamingos” tag on this blog!), what more could I ask for? 🙂

I spent several months early last year ogling at this fabric on the Harts Fabric website, but I stayed strong (I have a lot of fabric in my stash, and I tried to avoid new purchases as much as possible). Then I visited Paris in the spring, and I had plans to meet with a friend to help her buy fabric for a project; I arrived early and I decided to wait inside the Tissus Reine fabric store, just to browse, of course, not buying anything. Classic mistake! That’s always how they get me… As soon as I got in I spotted an entire table of flamingo-printed fabrics, with in the center this rayon voile I was obsessing over. I figured it was fate, and while I was at it I got a flamingo-chambray as well 😀

For the pattern, the Mélilot shirt was the obvious choice, especially since my first version in white rayon is falling apart from having been washed so much. For my first Mélilot shirts, I had tried grading from a 36 1/2 at the waist to a 40 1/2 at the hips, but the hip curve was wrong. It was particularly visible on this chambray version. This time I traced the entire pattern in size 38 and it fits much better. The easier the better!

Rayon is ideal for Mélilot, as the back especially looks much better in a drapey fabric, but sometimes it can be a pain to sew. I had no particular issues with this fabric, I starched it with several layers of starch spray and everything went great. Unlike rayon challis that can have a loose weave, this one is woven pretty tight, so the fabric is not puckering at the seams.

However, it shrinks a lot! I deviated from my routine this time and took pictures of the shirt after having worn it several times. Usually I wait to have proper pictures of a project before I take it out in the real world, in case I damage it somehow. Unfortunately, despite having pre-washed and tumble-dried the fabric before cutting into it, the shirt still shrinked a lot after a few washes. It fitted me perfectly before, but here on the pictures I think it is too short. Width-wise it’s alright: when it comes out of the wash it’s slightly too tight at the bust, but with vigorous ironing it goes back to a decent size.

The mother-of-pearl buttons are from my stash, they’re perfect for the hidden button-band because they’re nice and flat. I hadn’t done the hidden button-band on my previous versions and I’m very happy with it, I find the end result very elegant.

I love this shirt but I have to admit I haven’t worn it as much as I thought I would. The main reason is that I have trouble finding what to wear it with: I only have blue jeans in my closet and I’d like to avoid the head-to-toe navy look. I think it could look good with this skirt when I take it out of storage in the spring, but I’m not used to wearing button-downs with something else than pants. What type of skirts do you wear yours with?

Flamingos Mélilot v1
Mélilot – Deer&Doe
Size 38
Telio rayon voile – Tissus Reine (available here and here)