Charlie Caftan Archives

Charlie Caftan hack: A Corduroy Shift Dress

21 November 2018 by Heather Lou Leave a Comment

I was scrolling through Instagram a while back when a Madewell dress popped out at me; it was a simple corduroy shift dress with a V-neckline, patch pockets and a button placket at the side seam that looked a lot like our Charlie Caftan, minus the center panel and gathers. I've been meaning to make a cold-weather version of Charlie for ages, so I quickly started plotting a way to recreate it.

First up was finding the right corduroy. I wanted a beefy wide wale like the Madewell version, and after posting about it on Instagram, it was Club Tissus to the rescue. Club Tissus is a small chain of family-run fabric stores here in Quebec who recently started carrying our patterns. They saw my post and offered to send us a few yards of a lovely caramel cotton corduroy; it was perrrrrfect.

Next up: pattern modifications. To create this clean front, all I had to do was extend the center front line at the V neckline straight down to the hem. To add that cute side seam placket, I also added a 2" wide extension along the front and back side seam, about 9.5" high. Here's what the pattern looked like after modifications:

I also drafted a simple rectangular patch pocket with finished dimensions of 7" x 7.5" Easy peasy.

Looking at these pictures, I wish I had also shaved a bit of width off the shoulder - the fabric is quite stiff so they are sticking out a bit; I would maybe narrow it by 1-2" or so next time. Construction wise, things changed a little. After sewing the center front seam and pressing it open, I attached the facing neckline just like we do in the instructions. However, the placket changed the side seam construction a bit.

Here's what I suggest doing after playing around with this a bit.

On the front piece, interface the placket. Press up the hem. Fold and press placket so it lines up with the side seam. Fold the raw edge under 1/2" and press. Topstitch in place, sewing in one straight line along the length of the placket. Stitch buttonholes at this time.
On the back piece, finish the raw edge, press the edge under 1/2" and stitch in place. Fold hem up and over and press in place. If your fabric is lightweight, you may want to extend the placket seam allowance a bit more so you are not sewing the buttons on just one layer of fabric.
Stitch the side seam, stopping at the placket extension. Finish side seam and top of placket. To do this in one step at the serger, clip down into the seam at the corner of the placket - this will let you open up the right angle seam so it can be serged in one shot.
To secure front and back placket together, stitch horizontally along the top of the placket, catching both plackets in stitching.

Here's what our guts looked like mid-construction; note the top of the placket isn't finished yet. I wish I would have done this all in one shot like I describe above.

Here's the placket when it's done (the buttons were centered when they were sewn but shifted over once it was on).

The final result is quite cute and cozy. Since I will only wear this layered over tops (a black turtleneck would give major 70's women's studies professor vibes, in a good way), I wonder if I should have dropped the V-neckline a little since it feels a bit too high. Styling it this way I felt a bit like an extra from Moonrise Kingdom in my little beret, although I am seriously feeling my patent pointy-toed oxfords from Will's Vegan Shoes (they sent these to me to review when we were writing our ethical shoe post and I love them - so comfy and a little more feminine than the usual chunky brogue, although they seem to be out of stock now).

Overall I'm happy to have found another way to stay warm with this outfit. Winter is here in FULL FORCE in Montreal and the struggle is real (I have taken to putting a hot water bottle in my bed every night!) We were talking about doing a post on how to stay cozy and look stylish this winter, and I think if we get around to it we'll basically just showing you unconventional layering. This is our life now.

So, what do you think of my Madewell hack? And would you rock a corduroy shift dress like this?

Details: Hacked Charlie Caftan in corduroy from Club Tissus, oxfords from Will's Vegan Shoes, Everlane tee, similar necklace here

Summer Pattern Round-Up

20 June 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

The summer is only officially beginning this week here in Montreal but already we have had plenty of hot weather. By the looks of things we are not alone! You amazing sewists have been up to all kinds of inspiring summer sewing and so we thought we would put together a little look book of some of the beautiful and creative makes that have come out of the Closet Core Patterns collection. Hopefully by the end of it, you will be as excited as we are to make some hot weather looks! To begin, what summer wardrobe would be complete without a swimsuit...

SOPHIE SWIMSUIT

BOMBSHELL SWIMSUIT

CROPPED KALLE

Kalle Cropped Shirt // Closet Core Patterns — Nikki //Estelle

KALLE SHIRTDRESS

Charlie Caftan (Mini and Maxi)

Charlie Caftan // Closet Core Patterns — Aimee // Amanda

...and it's only June! Continue to tag your glorious makes with our hashtags, we would love to feature you in an upcoming roundup. If you see a pattern here you would like to try you can find them all in our shop (along with a few more). Happy Summer Sewing!

Tips For Sewing a V Neckline

18 July 2017 by Heather Lou 4 Comments

Today we are wrapping up posts on our Charlie Caftan pattern with this tutorial on sewing a V neckline with woven fabrics. Sometimes this type of neckline can result in some gaping or rippling since the fabric is cut on the bias, and because there are a couple of layers of fabric that can shift around when dealing with the facing. Hopefully this post will help you create a lovely neckline on Charlie, or any other V necked shirts in your future.

Before we begin, your front and back pieces should be sewn together along the shoulder seams at the 5/8" seam allowance. You'll want to finish the raw edges using either a serged or zig-zag stitch, or with a french seam (make sure you pay attention to the slight angle at the hem along the arm opening). Press your seams to the back.

Since V necklines are cut on the bias, it's important to stay-stitch around the perimeter of the neckline so it doesn't stretch out. You'll want to sew this stay-stitch line within your 5/8" seam allowance so you don't see the stitching once the facing is sewn in place.

When you are sewing around the point of the V, it can be tricky sewing at equal distance on both sides, so I like to draw in my stitch lines with either a quilting ruler or this handy seam allowance guide using a disappearing or removable marking tool. By lining up the seam allowance (in this case 1/2" so it's not visible on the finished garment) along the neckline of the garment and then continuing the line down to center front, you can ensure an accurate line of staystitching. I find I often don't sew a deep enough V neckline if I'm just counting on the seam guide of the needle plate.

Instead of sewing one continuous line of stitching all around the neckline in one go, I recommend sewing each side of the neckline separately. Using a shorter stitch length, start about 1" before the V, keeping your needle down to turn the point, and keep sewing until you reach the center back. Then repeat in the opposite direction. You'll find it will help prevent the fabric from rippling or gaping later, since the fabric isn't being pulled in opposite directions as you go around the neckline opening.

If you're really worried about gaping, sewing in some twill tape or using a little iron in stabilizer will definitely help as well.

Now we'll prepare the neckline facing. Your front and back neckline pieces (D & E) should be interfaced. Line these pieces up along the shoulder seam with right sides facing and stitch together with the 5/8" seam allowance, then press your seams open. If any corners of fabric peek out, you can give them a trim.

The outer raw edge of the facing needs a clean finish. You can choose either to serge around this edge, or fold and press it in by 1/4" so that when the facing is installed, the raw edge is tucked inside. If you prefer to fold the raw edge in, you may find it helpful to sew a line of stay-stitching along your fold line so you have something to press against.

Before pinning the neckline facing in place, I also find it helpful to draw in my stitch line, just like I did for the bodice. I also mark my center front, so I can line it up perfectly with the center front of the bodice.

With the right sides of the neckline facing and caftan bodice together, pin the facing in place, matching the shoulder seams and the V point. This is where your drawn guide becomes helpful, since it really shows you where the V point should line up along center front.

Sew around the neckline at 5/8" seam allowance to secure the facing to the dress. Again, I recommend sewing each side of the neckline separately like we did for the stay-stitching earlier. Since this means sewing over the V point twice, it will also reinforce the area we will clip into in the next step.

Here you can see I've sewn one side of the neckline from center front to center back. Repeat for the other side.

It's time to flip the facing to the inside of the garment. Make sure the facing is perfectly centered on the V point. If it's a little off-center, it's easier to fix it now before we clip into the V point. Using a sharp pair of scissors, clip straight down the V point without clipping your stitch line. It's important to clip as close as you can to the stitch line without cutting any stitches. If the tips of your scissors are dull, or if you make the cut off-center, it will be hard to make a close and clean cut.

This is what you should see from the inside. You will have cut through your first line of stay-stitching, but not through the stitching attaching the facing and bodice together.

Fold the facing to the inside of the caftan and give it a really good press. I like using a tailors ham or sausage around the curve of the back neck and shoulders. This is a good time to grade the inner seam allowance to reduce bulk.

If you sewed your V point accurately, and were precise when you clipped into the V, you should have a clean V from the front. When you fold and press the facing to the back, make sure the facing doesn't peek out from the right side. You can understitch the facing to help prevent this.

The last step is to topstitch the facing in place so it doesn't shift or peek out while you are wearing your caftan. You can pin your facing into place, making sure the folded raw edge is properly tucked under. Another option which may help prevent the neckline from rippling or gaping is to use a fabric glue stick along the edge of the facing to tack it in place instead of using pins.

Again, I really like to draw in my stitch line using a removable marking tool. It can be hard to sew evenly along both sides of the V point as well as around the curved back neckline. You want your topstitching to be an even 1" from the finished edge, and drawing this in will help take any guess work out of this step. You can also hand baste if you're nervous about using a marking tool on the right side of your fabric.

When you are topstitching on the right side through the bodice and the facing, sometimes the fabric may shift and cause ripples. Glue-basting and/or switching to a walking foot can help make sure the layers of fabric are fed through the machine evenly as you're sewing.

You can sew in one continuous pass, or if you'd like to be extra careful you're not distorting the neckline, you can sew the two sides of the V neckline separately like before. Use your hand wheel to drop your needle down on the guideline you drew in earlier exactly on center front, and sew along the line until you reach center back. Leave long thread tails when you start and end your sewing, without backstitching. Then when you are ready to sew the opposite side, drop your needle exactly where you began the first line of stitching, and continue to center back to meet up both lines of sewing.

Take a hand sewing needle to pull your thread tails to the inside at both center front and center back and tie them off for a clean finish from the right side of the neckline.

If you're having trouble keeping the topstitching even at 1" all the way around, sticking a stack of post-its at the 1" mark can act as a helpful guide.

When you're finished topstitching, give the neckline a good press. If the neckline is rippling at all at this stage, it can often be corrected by using lots of steam and heat, and a clapper if necessary.

And that's it for our Charlie related posts! If you'd like help sewing the center panel, you can find our post on that here.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer wearing your Charlies!

Pattern Adjustments for the Charlie Caftan

14 July 2017 by Heather Lou 8 Comments

Generally we would have written a post on pattern adjustments a little earlier, but since we bumped up the tutorial for sewing the center panel for our Charlie Caftan, you can now enjoy this post slightly out of sync.

Being a loosely fitting dress, Charlie is pretty easy to fit. The most likely adjustment you'll have to make is a full bust adjustment. If you have a larger bust and don't adjust the pattern, the center panel will sit higher on your chest than intended. You can either make a similar FBA to the one I explained for our Kalle shirtdress (it is exactly the same process), or you can cheat and move the panel down a little. One of my testers did that with good results, but I wouldn't suggest this if you have a very large bust since you might get some gaping along the arm opening.

Since this isn't a pattern that requires too much fitting, I thought it might be fun to talk about adjustments you can make for aesthetic rather than fitting reasons.

MOVING CENTER PANEL UP OR DOWN

If you'd like to tweak the location of the center panel (either for the cheating FBA I mentioned above, or for more of an empire waisted look like this glorious Charlie), all you'll need to do is trace the panel opening and its associated circle markings and then shift up or down as desired (the pink lines show the traced lines, the black lines are the original).

RAISING SLEEVE OPENING

We've provided you with two arm openings on the pattern, but if you'd like to create an even smaller opening, simply trace the curve of the sleeve and shift up to your desired location.

ADD LONGER SLEEVES

In some of the earlier iterations of this pattern, we experimented with adding longer sleeves. In the end we went with the shorter kimono style included in the pattern, but if you'd like to add fabric here for modestly or sun protection, it's fairly simple. Extend the the shoulder seam the desired amount, and draw a parallel line at or just below the existing opening. Join those two lines at ninety degrees at your desired length, and use a gentle curve to connect your newly drafted sleeve to the bodice.

ELIMINATE CENTER PANEL

If you want a super clean and minimal caftan, you might consider eliminating the center panel and gathers entirely. Simply extend the center front line at the bust down to the hem, cutting off the excess. Fill in the center panel with a bit of paper and you're good to go!

RAISE NECKLINE

If you want to raise the V neckline, start by drawing in your seam allowances on the dress front. Draw a straight line up from the original point the desired amount, and connect to shoulder point (see the dotted line on the left side of the above image). Once that's drawn in, draw your new seam allowances. We like to square off the top of the center front seam allowance because it's easier to sew rather than having a super angled seam at the top.

Once you have your new neckline, trace a new facing piece as indicated on the right side of the above image, keeping the same width of the original facing. Just keep in mind that the facing is cut on the fold, so you won't have a seam allowance along center front.

Need help sewing the V neckline? See our tutorial!

Finishing the Center Panel // Charlie Caftan

10 July 2017 by Heather Lou 4 Comments

Last week we walked you through sewing the inset panel of your Charlie Caftan; today we'll focus on beautifully finishing the panel on the inside of the dress.

There are two methods for this step. If you're someone who enjoys hand-sewing, you'll start by pressing the seam allowances around the perimeter of your completed bodice panel inwards. Here, I pressed the small sides in first before folding the long sides inwards. You'll want to grade your seams too to reduce as much bulk as possible.

Now take the other (non-interfaced) bodice panel piece, and fold in the edges along the 5/8" seam allowance. To make pretty mitred corners, press all sides in, then unfold and tuck each corner in before folding the sides back down and pressing once again.

Pin the panel in place, and then relax while you enjoy slip-stitching that panel in place along all four edges with some matching thread.

For those of you who avoid hand sewing at all costs, we have a second method that machine stitches the inner panel to the bodice along three of its sides. There is still bit of hand sewing but you can do this queen.

To start, press the bottom seam allowance of your inserted (interfaced) bodice panel and opening inwards, up towards the V neckline. Take your non-interfaced bodice panel and fold and press one long edge in, wrong sides together along the 5/8" seam allowance. Position your front bodice piece right side down, with the V neckline towards you.

Now hold the top edge of the inserted (interfaced) bodice panel and flip the rest of the front bodice down and away.

Take the non-interfaced panel and lay it on top, sandwiching the bodice between the two panel pieces, and pin along the sides. We're going to sew along the three sides you see here. Make sure the pleated or gathered section of the bodice is tucked away, outside of your stitch line.

This is what you'll see from the other side. It's best to sew the three sides from the side of the interfaced panel, so you can use the existing stitch lines as a guide.

Stitch along all three sides, keeping your needle down so you can turn the corners accurately.

Make sure that none of the bodice fabric has been caught in your stitching. You can flip everything right side out to make sure your perfect 90-degree corners are still intact.

If everything looks ok on the right side, you are ready to trim and grade your seams and flip everything to the right side. Trim the corners at 45 degrees, without cutting into your stitching, to reduce bulk.

Turn the little pocket you created right side out, and poke the corners with a point turner to sharpen your angles. You still have a little bit of hand-stitching to do with this method, but it will be worth it!

The panel seams should be perfectly hidden, from the front and the back!

Now that the center panel is sewn, you can proceed with the rest of the caftan construction. I'll be following up with a post on tips for sewing the V neckline, but don't hesitate to let me know if anything else is confusing!

Sewing the Inset Center Panel // Charlie Caftan

7 July 2017 by Heather Lou 8 Comments

When I started working on our Charlie Caftan, I was conscious of designing something simple and gratifying to sew, with enough design detail to keep things from getting boring. The inset center panel provides a little architectural interest and visually breaks things up. It's probably the most challenging step to sew for this pattern, and we've had a lot of requests from you to break the process down. I'm pushing this tutorial up in our Charlie post queue for those of you who've been waiting for it.

If you've never sewn an inset corner before, the technique can be a little tricky the first time around. I promise it doesn't require any magic or not rocket science, just a lot of precision and pinning! I definitely recommend practicing this technique once or twice before going full steam ahead on your Charlie Caftan. Before sewing up the samples for our photoshoot, Alexis sewed up a couple "half-fronts" to practice. If you're willing to sew up a test center panel, you can cut out the tops of your front pieces from some muslin, trimming at the bottom pocket notch to conserve fabric.

To start, you'll need your front pieces cut out and carefully marked or notched in the indicated places. Carefully transfer the circle marks from your pattern piece to each of the four corners of the front bodice's center panel opening (do this using a washable marking tool, marking the wrong side of the fabric). If you're sewing the pleated View A version, don't forget to notch the match points for your pleats, and mark the circle mark for the apex of each pleat.

If your fabric is loosely woven or very delicate, you may want to add a little patch of interfacing in the area between your circle marks on each side of the panel opening to prevent the corners from fraying. This will help when we snip into the corners at a later step. Cut a little piece of lightweight interfacing about 5/8" wide, and the length between the two points. If your fabric is sheer, it's important the interfacing doesn't extend past this little area, or you might see it through the fabric from the right side when you're done. Alternatively, this Threads video shows a more "couture" method for reinforcing those corners by stitching a piece of organza to each corner first. It takes a lot more time but might be a good option for very loosely woven fabrics.

Whether you interface the area or not, we have to stay-stitch around the corners to help mark and reinforce the area where the panel will be inserted. Shorten your stitch length to about 1.5 mm, and start the stitch line about 5/8" away from the first circle mark, keeping your needle down when turning corners at the circle marks, ending 5/8" after the second circle mark. Repeat for the other side. If you interfaced the area, you can use the patch of interfacing as a guide, or you could draw in the stitch line with a marking tool.

Finish the raw edges of your front bodice pieces, using either a serged or zig-zag stitch. For View A, finish the raw edges above and below the center panel opening. For Views B & C, you'll just need to finish the edges between the V neckline and the center panel opening. If you are serging these seams, make sure not to trim too much if you wish to neaten the edge, or it will affect your seam allowance when everything is sewn together.

If you're sewing View A, pin your two front bodice pieces with right sides together along the center front seam between the center panel opening and the hem.

Sew the seam with your 5/8" allowance, and press open.

Match the notches for the pleats and fold each pleat down towards the center front, on the wrong side of your caftan front. Fold the pleat down towards the apex, making sure the pleats are even on each side. Press and pin. If your fabric is stiff and keeps its shape, be careful not to press too stiff of a fold near the bottom of the pleat. Baste the tops of the pleats into place using a longer stitch length, keeping the stitch line inside your 5/8" seam allowance.

Pin and sew along the center front seam between the V neckline and center panel opening. Press open.

(***If you are working from a printed pattern, or the first edition of our digital pattern, you may have a typo here if you are following your instruction booklet. You should sew this seam with the RIGHT sides together, not with WRONG sides together.***)

Once the top and bottom center front seams are sewn and pressed open, you can see you've created a rectangular center panel opening. To make it easier to sew the panel to the bodice, carefully snip each corner to its circle marking. Be careful not to clip into that stay-stitch line! This is what View A should look like from the wrong side at this point:

If you're sewing View B or C, the steps are essentially the same, with the exception of the front gathering. Stay-stitch around the corners of your center panel opening and clip to each corner as described above. Sew two lines of basting stitches within the 5/8" seam allowance along the bottom of the center panel opening. Sew the center front seam below the V neckline and press open. Then carefully pull on your basting stitches to gather the center front so both long sides of the center panel opening are the same length. You should have something that looks like this:

The prep-work is done, and now we're ready to start sewing the panel to its opening. One of your panels should be interfaced, and the circle marks from the pattern piece should be transferred to the wrong side of your fabric.

If you would like to add the waist ties, baste them to the center panel piece before attaching it to the front bodice. Fold each waist tie together along its long edges, and sew 1/4" from the open edge. Turn the ties right side out using a safety pin and press flat. Then baste the ties to the right side of your interfaced center front panel piece within the 5/8" seam allowance.

Now take the interfaced center panel piece and align it with the bottom edge of the panel opening, right sides togeher. It helps to push a pin through the circle marking of your panel piece and match it to the circle mark on your front bodice piece. You can flip your bodice to the wrong side to make sure the pin is exactly where it should be.

Once you've lined up both sides, use lots of pins to ensure everything lines up perfectly. This is what you'll see from the right side of your caftan:

And here's a shot of the wrong side, for you visual learners!

Sew the center panel to the dress between the two circle marks, starting and stopping as precisely as possible at the circle marks. The more precise and careful you are at this step, the more likely you'll create sharp corners with no puckering. It really helps to go slowly and use a shorter stitch length (approx 2mm) for more control. You can even trace your stitch line in with a removable marking tool to make sure you are stitching at the exact 5/8" seam allowance.

If you are sewing View B or C with the front gathers instead of the pleat, this is what it should look like from the wrong side with the panel pinned to the opening. The interfaced panel is pinned to the caftan front along the panel opening's bottom edge, with right sides facing:

It can be a little tricky to start sewing this stitch line, especially with the gathers. You may find it easier to hand baste this first step before moving on to the machine. I always keep my presser foot up when dropping the needle down to the circle mark to ensure I am starting the stitch line at precisely the right spot. Stitch slowly to make sure you are carefully and evenly sewing over the gathers.

Once you've sewn this seam, this is what you'll see on the right side of the front of your caftan:

Next, flip the interfaced center panel from the right side to the wrong side of the caftan. The interfaced panel should cover the opening.

Now we'll sew one of the shorter sides of our panel to the center panel opening. Take a pin and line up the corner circle marks again.

Pin along the edge. This is why we clipped into the corners earlier; the seam allowances can now lay flat against the panel. Everything should line up along the 5/8" seam allowance.

Sew along this seam, between each of the circle markings. Try to sew at a right angle to the first line of stitching, sewing right at that center point so you get a nice 90 degree corner. It's okay if your stitch line extends past the little "triangle" you created when clipping into the corners, but make sure you aren't catching any extra layers of fabric in your stitching. As I approach the end I use my fingers to make sure the adjoining seam allowance doesn't get under the needle accidentally. Backsitch at each end.

Two sides sewn, two more to go!

It's a good idea to double check that you are getting crisp 90-degree corners from the right side before sewing the next edge. If you have some puckering or if your corner isn't at a perfect angle, it's easy to (gently and carefully!) rip out the stitching now and try again.

Repeat the same steps for the second short side of the rectangular panel opening. Push a pin through the layers of fabric to match the circle markings. Pin seam in place and sew carefully, again being sure to not catch the surrounding seams in your stitch line.

We just have to sew the top edge before the the panel will be fully attached to the bodice.

Pin the fourth and final seam of the panel opening to the last free edge of the panel. Fold the rest of the bodice out of the way to keep it out of your stitch line. Sew between the circle marks as described above. There should be a perfect 5/8" seam allowance along this edge, if everything was lined up properly up until this point. To ensure those nice sharp corners, try to intersect this final line of stitching with the stitch lines along the shorter sides, right at those corner points.

Once you've sewn the fourth and last side of the rectangular opening, this is what you should see from the wrong side.

Turn your work to reveal your sharp corners. (A good pressing with lots of steam will also smooth things out too!)

The next step is to enclose the back side of the bodice panel and conceal the raw seams, which is covered in our next post. Hopefully this helps those of you who were struggling with this step!

Fabric Options for the Charlie Caftan Pattern

4 July 2017 by Heather Lou 9 Comments

Hey there! Today I want to talk fabric for our new Charlie Caftan Pattern. Thankfully you have a lot of options to choose from. The shorter versions (particularly the pleated view) hold up well with fabrics with a little body and substance. I love the mini in medium weight linen, double gauze and cottons like chambray and voile. I think the maxi looks best with a little drape and swish, so I recommend soft, fluid fabrics like silk (chiffon, charmeuse, noil or crepe will work), rayon challis and tencel. Cotton and linen can work as well, but I would try to stick to lighter-weight options so the skirt doesn't feel too stiff.

I had a lot of fun choosing fabrics for our samples. In the end I managed to use our studio stash for almost everything (that almost never happens!) but I did spend a lot of time online looking for viable options. In keeping with with the styling suggestions I made last week, here are some favourites.

MINIMALIST NEUTRALS

one. two. three. four. five. six. seven. eight. nine.

BOLD SOLIDS

DRAMATIC PRINTS

What are you planning to use to make your Charlie?

The Charlie Caftan Pattern: Inspiration & Styling

28 June 2017 by Heather Lou 8 Comments

Hello caftan lovers! I never knew there were so many of you out there, but judging by the smash success of our recent Charlie Caftan pattern, my dream of an international caftan cult is well on its way to reality.

In many ways Charlie is one of our simplest patterns. For that reason, it seemed superfluous to do a sewalong - how many of you really need posts on hemming and sewing straight seams? That said, the center panel can be a bit of a challenge to sew if you've never inset anything with a sharp corner before. In addition to a few posts on styling, fabric choices, and pattern modifications, we have a full post planned on how to sew a perfect inset panel, with lots of tips and tricks to get great results; that post will be coming later next week.

Today I want to talk about inspiration & styling! I had a pretty strong caftan Pinterest board going long before I decided to design a pattern for one. In the last few years the style has become increasingly popular, and I love how many directions you can take this relatively simple silhouette. Here are some of my favourite ideas.

CAFTAN MINIMALISM

one. two. three. four. five. six. seven. eight. nine. ten. eleven.

One of the biggest trends I'm seeing in fashion right now is very simple, minimalist shapes in noble fabrics like silk and linen. The great thing about this trend is that it will basically always be stylish; what's not to love about a billowy linen dress? To make a minimalist Charlie, choose natural fibers in solid neutrals like white, oatmeal, black and grey. Wear it with one or two pieces of clean, modern jewelry and simple flat sandals, slip-ons or espadrilles to complete this calm, confidant look.

CAFTANS IN COLOUR

Equally chic but with a sightly bolder approach: make your Charlie Caftan in a solid colour. Experiment with deep, vibrant tones, or soft, subtle shades depending on the mood you're going for.

CAFTANS IN PRINT

If you really want to let your caftan flag fly, why not make one in a graphic print or stripe? I would suggest larger, overscale prints for maximum impact. A bold print can also elevate this pattern from comfy summer loungewear to something more elegant and evening ready; just throw on some comfortable heels and a little lipstick and you're ready to party all night long.

How are you planning on styling your Charlie?

GET THE CHARLIE CAFTAN PATTERN

Welcome Summer with our Charlie Caftan Pattern!

19 June 2017 by Heather Lou 29 Comments

I am reaaaallly excited about this one. We are going through a serious heat wave in Montreal right now, when all you want to wear is loose, easy dresses that keep you covered and cool. The launch of our new design, the Charlie Caftan pattern, could not be better timed.

The genesis of this pattern started last year when I made an enormous linen caftan for a trip to France. My mother in law and I wore our caftans all week long and tried to start a caftan cult of two. I'm hoping with the debut of Charlie, a lot more of you will join us.

While I loved that particular caftan, it ate about twenty yards of fabric - it was basically an enormous rectangle with a neck opening. It was pretty heavy and wasn't always the most practical thing to wear; it trailed on the ground and I had to be really careful walking up stairs. I started thinking about ways to to take the same idea (easy, comfortable, covered-up up chic) and translate it to today, with an interesting shape and some fun constructions details, without requiring more than a few yards of fabric. Enter Charlie.

In an ankle grazing length with a deep V neckline and slits at the side seams, the maxi variation of Charlie is covered-up with a few peeks of skin that keep it feeling modern and a little glamourous. The dramatic doleman sleeves and gently gathered waist add visual interest to an otherwise simple silhouette.

This variation includes ties in the inset center panel for a little bit of waist definition, although you're more than welcome to leave the ties off for something loose and free flowing. I love the maxi Charlie in a show-stopping print and soft, drapey fabric like rayon challis, voile, tencel, silk crepe de chine, noil, or chiffon.

I am also pretty heady-over-heels for our mini variations.

I envisioned this as more of a chic, easy to wear summer dress that could do double duty as a beach cover up. We kept the kimono sleeves and the V neckline, but replaced the gathers under the bust with striking diagonal pleats. I love how modern and architectural this feels, especially in a crisp white linen like the one we chose for this sample. I suggest fabrics that have a slightly stiff or crisp hand for this variation to hold the pleats; think shirting, linen, chambray and poplin.

Our third variation is pretty charming too.

This variation has the same loose fitting silhouette as our maxi, but we've eliminated the waist ties and added slightly higher cut doleman sleeves for more modest coverage. This variation looks beautiful in softer fabrics like the gorgeous Nani Iro double gauze we used for our sample.

And did I mention they all come with roomy pockets? I love this pattern so much, and I can see it equally at home on a city street or by the pool. A new summer uniform for sure, especially if you pair it with our Bombshell or Sophie Swimsuit!

A few notes:

In many ways this is one of our simplest patterns so we will not be doing a full sewalong. I do have a few posts planned on fabric, fitting and inspiration, and we will also be doing a full post on how to sew the inset panel since this is the one step that I think could use some further explanation.

Also, someone asked about bra peekage with our kimono sleeves. A bra will definitely show with the lower-cut sleeves when you raise your arms; if you want the mega drama sleeves I suggest wearing a pretty bra you don't mind seeing or using it it as a beach cover-up. We added the higher cut sleeve option for more modesty, but you can always raise it even higher if you want a closer cut arm.

We hope you love Charlie as much as we do. We're starting a caftan cult - the only requirement is to wear a caftan and enjoy the summer!