A caftan for all seasons
It’s suddenly the last day of August , scratch that, first day of September and Caftans And Cocktails 2020 has officially come to a close. Certainly, no one’s summer went as planned this year. Our event took on an anti-racism twist in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and we sought help from the sewcial community, requesting contributors.
You can find a round up of the contributors’ posts in this blog post by Meg, The Incredible Cookin and Craftin Queen. All the participant posts are shared on Instagram with the hashtag #CaftansAndCocktails2020.
I had visions of sewing a half dozen new caftans myself. And oh boy, the cocktail pairings, those were going to be on theme and spectacular. AND EVERYTHING WAS GOING TO BE BLOGGED. I probably don’t need to tell you that it’s easier to make sewing plans than to execute them.
At any rate, I wanted to share a bit more about one of the caftans I made. I was inspired by my (internet sewing) friend’s vintage Simplicity caftan pattern.
Take a look at the suggested fabrics!
Wool, flannel, and velveteen, oh my!
I suddenly fell in love with the idea of a corduroy caftan. I had a vision along the lines of that cutie, Hannah Corey, in a short corduroy dress with bright, probably mustard, tights. (Spoiler: I’m not that cool; not a single pair of bright tights here.)
I pulled some pinwale stretch cord from my stash and paired it with view A of the Charlie Caftan pattern (by Closet Core, formerly known as Closet Case).
I had used Charlie to make a “half caf” (size 6, I believe) in Ruby Star Warp and Weft cotton earlier in August.
The inseam pockets on Charlie as designed aren’t my favorite, so I decided to ditch them in favor of my favorite patch pocket, the faced one on the Fiona Sundress, which happens to be another Closet Core pattern.
On Fiona, the top of the pocket is incorporated into the waist seam. Since Charlie doesn’t have a seam at the waist, I widened the center inset, which I top stitched in place for ease of sewing.
in progress
On the inside, I covered the center opening with novelty twill tape (before top stitching the larger panel on the outside).
The only other change I made was to split the side seam a few inches at the hem and finish the front and back hems with simple facings.
Voila!
I recall this particular August weekend was cool and fall-like, quite perfect for a light corduroy caftan.
And as I was pulling the photos for this blog post, I noticed the red geraniums in many of the photos. Seems it was August 20th, mom’s birthday, when I modeled this Charlie. The porch pics weren’t that successful, though, as a little photobomber appeared in the foreground.
LOVE the big Fiona pockets.
And I appreciate that little bit of give of the stretch corduroy when walking or sitting. I probably would have picked size 8 or 10 based on my current measurements (35/36” 29”, 39”), but I used the pattern size that I found already prepped in my pattern library. (I suspect the size 6 was from a commission, because I don’t know that I had made view A of Charlie for myself prior to this summer.)
It appears the cocktail of choice was an Urban Artifact brew.
I wanted to dig a bit deeper here with a discussion on anti-racism. It’s certainly a huge privilege for that to be the sidecar for my post. I don’t really know where I would even start and really nothing I have to say on the topic really matters. I’m going to continue with my monthly donations to the Loveland foundation. I’ll be fervently educating my children. I’ll be voting with empathy and the best interests of marginalized groups in mind. And supporting Black-owned businesses whenever possible.
One last thank you to our Caftans and Cocktails caftan kit giveaway sponsors, LA Finch Fabrics and Seamwork.
And to the muse for our event and my incredible co-host, Meg! Isn’t she fabulous!?
