Holiday Sewing - Caftan

It has taken me quite a few iterations to get a caftan that I am happy to wear.  First there was the runaway Shepherd's costume from a nativity play.  Next there was a Burda dress with kimono sleeves that never made it to the blog.  More recently, there was the beautifully made linen version, that would have looked perfectly in place on Judi Dench in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel but was not quite right for me.

At the end of last year, I bought a bundle of back issues of Patrones magazines.  I only took a couple of patterns on summer holiday with me, but I included one of these magazines, as it had a large range of styles.  Then I found this fabric reduced at The Fabric Store in Brisbane.  I had admired it on my previous visit to Brisbane, but it was much more attractive at less than half price!

It is basically an oversized shirt.  This pattern has side panels.  I think they are side panels more than princess seams as they run pretty close to the side seams and don't offer much shaping.  Because of the side panels, the splits at the hem are towards the front of the body rather than at the sides. I lengthened the shirt by about 15 cm.  I'm pretty impressed that I worked out how to sew the button placket, as I have not sewn one that stops mid-way down a shirt before and I don't speak spanish, so the magazine instructions are meaningless to me.

It is hard to see, but I put little pockets in the side panels (photo above).  The pockets are further to the side than pockets are typically placed, but I think it is handy to have somewhere to put keys when loading / unloading kids and gear from the car.  The pom-poms were a finishing touch given to me by one of my sisters.

 

I also added tabs to roll up the sleeves.

I ironed this shirt before we went out on the weekend...not to good effect though.  Just before the above photo was taken, I jumped out of the boat to pull it to shore.  I thought I was jumping into knee deep water, but the water was very clear and dropped away quickly, and I actually jumped into water completely over my head.  Not that I minded though.  We are so wary of crocodiles here that we never jump into deep water...so it was a fun mistake to make! 

A fishing shirt

Fishing is almost a compulsory hobby up here.

I wasn't planning on a fishing shirt.  I wanted to make a beach caftan.  This pattern from Burda was the most sensible beach cover-up pattern that I have come across, being that it actually provides protection from the sun.  It required fabric that had 2 "good" sides, as the facings are turned out to the outside.  When I shopped my stash, this was the most suitable fabric I could find.  Now that I've sewn it once, I realise that it would not have been too difficult to modify the pattern and sew the facings on the inside.  This fabric is a gorgeous quality Irish linen that I bought years and years ago from Gardams.  I never bought enough to make wide-legged trousers, which is what it really wanted to be.  Grey is not my best colour, but I forged on ahead regardless, and then was disappointed with the results.  I would have preferred a much prettier colour for a beach caftan.  Never mind, I will have the best fishing shirt going around!

I did not make a muslin and did not make any alterations to the pattern.  I am very impressed with the fit through the shoulders.  No drag lines or pull lines.  Perhaps I need to use Burda patterns more often for my tops.  I used a contrasting scrap of Liberty for the back neck facing, so that I did not have stripes going all different ways.  I used the same fabric to trim the sleeve vents.

I made a little bunting trim for the front.  I saw this on somebody else's blog, but I can't remember which one, so am unable to reference it.  I know it wasn't one of my regular blog reads, but rather one that I linked to from somebody else's blog.  Perhaps somebody could comment and link to the original post?

The pattern is Burda 6/2011 109.  The design of this pattern is a little unusual, in that the sleeves are not set in the same way as most shirts.

The only change I made to the pattern was to add a button and loop to the neck.  The caftan was very comfortable to wear.  I was worried about the front neck slit, but put a smear of suncream underneath.  The slit actually caught the breeze and kept me a little cooler.  The body of the caftan is loose fitting, but the sleeves are not oversized.

And sadly, no fish were caught in the making of this blog post.  So disappointing, as I brought home dinner from my first fishing trip, but came home empty handed from the second.  Now I've got "fishing rod" instead of "more fabric" on my Christmas wish list.  I asked one of the guys I was fishing with what sort of rod I should get., if I only wanted one  He replied that that was like asking a women what dress to buy if she could only buy one.  Well, that's easy.  An LBD is what you get if you can only get one.  They laughed...but I will have to look into this rod business a little bit more.

Colour: the good and the bad

Shall we start with the not-so-good.  This is a copy of a caftan I tried on whilst on holiday.

It is a very simple design.  Just a length of fabric, split into 3 panels, with the middle panel gathered at the waist-line.

Only, instead of looking like I am wandering from pool to bar, I look like I have wandered off the set of a Nativity Play.  I am putting this down to the colour.  I bought the fabric at Kerryn's Fabric World a couple of years ago.  It is shirt-weight cotton.  That was the year that the shops were flooded with brown clothing and I couldn't bear to see another brown blouse, so I stashed the fabric.

I bought the lace trim in France, years ago.

I expect that it will get a bit of wear over the years, as somebody always needs to dress up as a shepherd at Christmas time!

So moving on from the not-so-good to the fabulous.  I bought these shoes last week, 70% off and the last pair left were my size.These shoes are very out of character for me...usually my heels are limited to the diana ferrari super-soft and the equally comfortable Tsonga shoes.  The colour is what I love most about these.

Here is a "what I wore today" shot.

The t-shirt: a no-brand t-shirt that I picked up in Melbourne.  It does have a tag saying "made in China".

The skirt:  my favourite skirt pattern, Vogue 7735, made up in a Japanese cotton from Tessuti.

The shoes: as above

The necklace: from Elk.  My sisters have recently introduced me to this jewellery label and I love every piece in the collection.

I have always loved the green colour in the shoes.  My favourite, favourite piece of furniture is a cabinet that Peter built for me from an old oven that I picked up at the dump shop for $7.  I'm sure these ovens would sell for way more at a 2nd hand shop.  It is the only time I have ever rummaged in the "shop" at the dump.  On the same day, I picked up some scraps of colour-bond that Peter used when he made our wine-rack (too dusty to photograph!).  Must have been my lucky day.