Hello sew-friends! Today I have a quick, summer-friendly finished make to share with you. I made this caftan at the end of last September, and now that summer is officially here, I think it's time that I finally shared it! This project was one of those last-minute, before-a-trip projects that so many sewists get stuck in to. My memory is a little hazy but I think I saw the fabric at Joanns and thought it would make a great caftan to match the animal print swimsuit that I made. We can call it a case of unexpected inspiration striking. And honestly, the swimsuit plus this caftan made in black double gauze, is a match made in heaven.
To sew this caftan, I used the Seamwork Micah pattern. This is a classic style that I think would be great for beginners. There's really nothing too fussy to sew, especially if you use a friendly fabric. The design features a deep V-neck, center front and center back seams, grown-on short sleeves, side slits at the hem and facings to finish the neck and the hem. There are not pockets, but you could easily add a side seam pocket like I did (see my tutorial here).
Sewing the caftan was really straightforward and the only change I made was to add in-seam pockets. (See my tutorial here.) It was a great project to make at the last minute because it's just so simple.
I sized up a little bit and made a size 12. I like to have a roomy caftan and the size 12 gives me about 8 inches of ease at the bust. I usually do a square shoulder adjustment with Seamwork patterns. Because this one has grown-on sleeves, I raised the shoulder line 1.5" starting from the end of the sleeve.
One thing I'd consider changing next time is the depth of the neckline to make it higher. I read a number of other reviews that said they thought it was too deep and I would agree. On me, it's deep enough to show my bra. However, when wearing it with a swimsuit, I kind of like that you can see the swimsuit peeking out. But, if I was going to wear it with the bra or for normal everyday activities (i.e. not hanging at the pool), I'd want the neckline to be higher. I'd probably raise it as much as 2".
Even though this caftan is fairly simple to sew and the instructions are really great, I do want to share a few tutorials from my blog that might help you along the way.
SKILLS USED TO MAKE THIS CAFTAN
How to make a shoulder slope adjustment
How to draft a V-neck facing (If you adjust the depth of the neckline, this tutorial might be helpful.)
ABOUT THE FABRIC
The fabric I used is a crinkled double gauze from Joann Fabrics. Last year they had a pretty good selection of solid double gauze fabrics in stock, including in black.
Double gauze is composed of two thin layers of fabric that are tacked together to create one fabric. It's usually made with cotton fiber and can be found in solids or prints. I love the soft feel of the lightweight cotton and the crinkled texture. If you haven't sewn with double gauze, I recommend trying it out. The two layers of fabric is (usually) opaque but it feels breathable and lightweight. (This post from Guthrie & Ghani, has a lot of great info on sewing with double gauze.)
I used a black knit interfacing to match the color of the fabric and the possible stretch from the crinkled texture. For years, I thought that interfacing only came in white and I'm still really excited that I can buy it in black too. I like to keep a little bit on hand, in case I'm sewing something in a darker color. If you are sewing something from a dark fabric that is at all sheer, I highly recommend checking out black interfacing.
All in all, I really like this caftan and it was the perfect quick project to make before a trip. I took this on a trip to Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico that I won (!!!) when I donated money to my local NPR station, LAist/KPCC. It was a really fun trip and so amazing that I WON IT. The prize was a week long visit to the ranch for two people with our own casita and all meals and classes included. We only had to pay extra for spa treatments. (Plus, I had to pay income taxes on the value of the trip. It was worth it though!) The ranch is really beautiful and it was a great opportunity to relax. It might sound silly, but I especially loved the food. They use mostly food that they grow on the ranch, so it's heavily plant based with the occasional fish. Best of all (for me), every meal had gluten-free options and the staff was really helpful making sure that I had a safe meal. Knowing that I'd have healthy, and delicious, food that I could eat at every meal made it so much easier to relax.
Finally, I wanted to share some a inspiration from RTW. The example below is the Kallie Flowy Maxi Dress from Anthropologie. It has more details than our pattern but the overall look is really similar. It’s so fun to see how we can make something ourselves that looks like what you’d find in the shops. You can pin the image below to save this project for later and support the blog. Happy sewing!
