It's Summertime in Texas with temperatures already in the '90s with the promise of triple digits on the horizon. That definitely means it's time time for cool and comfortable wearing. Enter the caftan! I love them for their easy breezy feel, ease of construction, and their ability to cover a multitude of physical concerns.
My caftan loving journey began subconsciously in the '80s. We enjoyed the sitcom Three's company and the wonderful stylings of Mrs. Roper. My caftan wearing days did not begin until I was an adult and when I was having issues with my knees. The stylish garment allowed me to wear knee supports while maintaining a measure of control over what I could make and wear. My knee issues have persisted and escalated over the years. Being able to retreat to stylish garment-making with my physical health in mind is a bonus.
Simplicity 5315 and reissued as Simplicity 8505 have been my tried and true patterns for this easy style.
I love the bold flower motif in this estate sale find of a vintage polyester knit blend.
A mystery bag from Fabric Mart was the source of another ITY knit version.
This wearable pajama version has been a staple in embrace double gauze.
My new Summer uniform was caftan made using this fabulous cotton lawn from Sally Kelly for Wyndham Fabrics from her Botanica collection. I love all of the bold colors and design elements she puts into her fabric designs. This indigo colorway is so gorgeous It screamed "Wrap yourself in me!"
These dresses are a good project for a beginner garment maker. The sizing is generous and there are minimal pattern pieces to confuse the newbie.
The pattern is designed for 60" width fabric. This cotton lawn is a standard 45" width. This required me to piece the fabric in order to adjust the yardage to suit the pattern. Fortunately, I was working with 6 yards of fabric so I had to get creative. I cut the fabric into two, 2.5 yd. cuts. Because the fabric is directional, if you're playing close attention, I flipped one of the cut sides so that both pieces were going the same direction. I then sewed them together along the selvedge sides. This allowed me to create one long panel of fabric that was wide enough to cut the two main pattern pieces with ease.
I could have used my serger to clean the seam up on the inside. For this caftan however, I really like to keep the selvedge in the garment as a reference point for future me. Once the fabric was pieced, the construction went together as normal on my Baby Lock Altair sewing machine and Accolade serge 
As I mentioned, the fit on caftan patterns is pretty simple. The volume of this dress is tamed by internal ties that are anchored at the midriff band. The ties come from the front and wrap around your body on the inside so they're not seen.
When I halved the fabric and cut my pattern from it, I knew it was going to be a little too short. It wasn't wading through a flood short, but it wasn't wear the high shoes, long. To remedy this, rather than hem the caftan even shorter, I chose to add bias tape for clean finish. I serged the bias tape to the bottom of the dress.
I then pressed it inward and secured it using a blind hem stitch. That way I didn't lose any length and I still have an uninterrupted hemline. 
With the knit caftans I made in the past, I did not need an opening in the back. The fabric had sufficient stretch to go over my head without it. For this one, I followed the pattern and included the back opening.
How cute is the little flamingo button I found.
I absolutely love the feel of this cotton lawn! It is light and airy making it comfortable in the heat. The bold, saturated colors mean you can't see through it which is a wonderful bonus when you feel like you're not wearing anything!
If you wan tot take a foray into caftan making, my fellow Baby Lock Ambassador, Anita By Design can help. She has a sew-along to help sewists make a caftan using the same pattern. Be sure to check it out.
Happy Sewing,
Bianca