After a rash of gravity iron breakdowns, delayed shipments, and sewing snafus, I REALLY needed a quick success. This Butterick 6900 caftan top sure gave me a much needed boost. Making a garment in a single day was just the thing I needed to pull me out of the sewing doldrums.
This is the 4th make in my Make it for Mexico sewing challenge. I am a notoriously slow sewist, and have challenged myself to make 6 dresses and 1 top in time for an upcoming trip to Merida, MX.
Making the Right Pattern Choice
There are a lot of caftan patterns out there, and I landed on the Butterick 6900 caftan for several reasons. As floaty silky fabrics can be difficult to work with, I wanted a simple construction. It doesn’t get much simpler than four seams and a vee-neck opening. But this doesn’t mean the Butterick 6900 caftan is a sack. To the contrary, the drawstring ties in the front and elastic band in the back make for some very nice shaping and draping.
I chose to sew View B, Caftan Tunic Top. After reading some reviews on Sewing Pattern Review (a fabulous resource) I decided to size down. I cut out a basic size 12, using the pattern pieces straight from the envelope without any alteration. After a fitting once the shoulder seams were sewn, I found the caftan was too long for me at the sleeves. I sliced off 3″ at the sleeve hem/side seam area to achieve a 3/4 length sleeve.
A Caftan is All About the Fabric…
…and I found the perfect fabric. 😁
I took my time shopping online for just the right fabric for this top – too much time. My caftan fabric parameters:
colorful yet sophisticated print, silky, drapey, cool, at least 58″ wide.
As soon as I spotted this Italian print at Tres Agradulces, an Etsy fabric shop out of LA, I nabbed 4 yards of the 60″ polyester satin. I don’t usually go for poly, but this Pucci-esque print really captured my heart.
Crafting a Caftan
Though the satin fabric was perfect for the look, lightweight silky fabrics can be so difficult to work with. I knew going in this poly satin would be super shifty and prone to fraying, and I was prepared.
To maintain grain, I cut the large caftan pieces on a single layer. I figured this top hung on the neckline, and that neckline needed some stability. I used iron-on stay tape to fortify the neckline edges. I also block fused the “vee” neck facing piece with a lightweight but very stable weft interfacing before cutting.To minimize fraying as much as possible, I pre-serged all of the hemlines. This also helped to stabilize the edges for a narrow hem finish.
A Clean Finish
When I’m making anything, I try to make it to last. Though I am on a schedule, I took the time to sew this caftan with french seams. I had a nice white viscose bias tape in my stock to use for a Hong Kong finish on the neckline facing.
TIP: Sometimes, when I have large enough scraps of quality fabric left over from a project, I make 1/2″ bias tape with it. It is always much nicer than any prepackaged stuff, and comes in handy when doing clean finish work on any garment.
Caftans Are Cool!
Boy oh boy, this Butterick 6900 caftan top is a keeper for sure. Cool to wear and cool to look at, this is a classic caftan design, and a wonderful addition to my travel wardrobe.
7 days left in the challenge – 3 dresses left to make!!!
Check out the dresses completed for my Make it for Mexico sewing challenge:
Dress #1 McCalls 7969 Pullover Dress
Dress #2 Vogue 1937 Swing Dress
Dress #3 Closet Core Elodie Wrap Dress
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