Closet Core – Kalle Shirt in Crinkle Rayon Crepe

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I am finally getting to the point that I’ve sewn most of the fabrics that I bought 4-5 years ago. This fabric is one that I bought online from Style Maker when we were living is San Francisco… 4 years ago! It feels like multiple lifetimes ago. I bought it when I wasn’t super familiar with different fabrics, and when it arrived, I was immediately intimidated by how slippery and textured it was. So it has sat and sat — usually at the bottom of my stash.

I am still pretty intimated by it, but I decided to give it a shot and not set very high expectations. Haha. This is a crinkle rayon crepe, and it was quite the sewing experience that I don’t plan on doing ever again. The fabric had been sitting pre-washed for years, so it had relaxed quite a bit. I made sure to iron it before cutting all of the pieces, and I block fused the interfacing for the collar pieces (my first time block fusing. felt a little backwards, but it worked well.).

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The fabric was fiddly, and there are puckers in places that I don’t care to fix, but it’s sewn well enough that it’s not going to fall apart anytime soon! I hand sewed the collar stand before topstitching, and had to hand stitch a couple of places that I missed on the sleeve cuffs. The inside is French seamed and looks really nice if you don’t look too closely. 😉

I love the Kalle Shirt pattern by Closet Core, and I’ve made it two other times; one with a linen blend, and another with rayon poplin. For my most recent two, I’ve used the hemline from the Cheyenne Tunic because I like the gentle curve.

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After I finished this shirt, I washed it to get rid of the stay tape. The fabric was extremely crinkly, and relaxed a little bit once it was dry — but you’ll have to take my word for it when I say it looked pretty silly. So I opted to iron it and it went back to looking and fitting like it should.

I do really like it, even though it’ll be a little inconvenient to iron it every time I wash it. If you’re wanting to make a striped shirt like this, I would recommend a nice cotton or linen. Rayon is much easier to work with if it’s a poplin or a linen blend.

I don’t have much more to say about this pattern, except that it’s a good one! Here are the links to my other two Kalle Shirt blog posts if you are interested:
Kalle Shirt in white, linen blend
Kalle Shirt in magic forest print, rayon poplin

Let me know if you have any questions, and happy sewing!

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