The Sunkissed Kaftan by Pattern Emporium

Hello everyone, I am the last stop on the Pattern Emporium Blog tour today. I've been a big supporter of Pattern Emporium for a number of years now and really rate the patterns highly. Over that time the pattern designer Kate has become one of my sewing BFFs and it's been so exciting to see what a fantastic job the real bloggers (and I say real because I really am only an occasional blogger....something I'd love to fix but at the moment, life is just too hectic) have done on this blog tour.

We chased the last of the Summer sun up to Queensland at the end of April for the last week of school holidays and lived it up on the sunny Goldcoast for a week. No trip to Queensland is complete without lots of time spent swimming and so I'm sharing you with you a ladies kaftan I made up.

This is the cover pic for the ladies kaftan here and that's my impossibly good looking friend Steph on the cover (who I've taken to calling Benjamin Button because I' convinced she doesn't age, she regresses). I've already got three v neck kaftans, so I decided to experiment a little with the pattern and change it up and change the neckline on the pattern to a round neck (which is not included with the pattern). Overall it was a bit of fun and a good experiment, and really easy to do.

You guessed correctly, that this is not the swank pool at the Sheraton on the Goldcoast, but instead my own backyard pool. You see Connor, my seven year old, takes all my photos for me, and the ones he took on holidays were such a hurried affair because he just wanted to drop the camera and jump into the water and only managed to get a few clearish shots.

 The Ladies Kaftan comes with four different v neck depths, five different lengths and has several different options for finishing the sides. It also has 4 sleeve lengths, and about 10 other options to change your look and purposes depending on where and how you sew the side seams, whether you add a belt, a drawstring, trims, panels etc. There are loads of options, but not so many it's confusing.

 I have made here the dress length, changed the v back to a round neck, and sewn the inner side seams. The result is a lightweight comfortable kaftan that fits easily over my swimming costume, but it flattering enough to wear as a light dress on a warm day. Kate thinks long and hard about her patterns and always comes up with a way to make potentially tricky things easy and doable. Her instructions are second to none, and it's why I love Pattern Emporium patterns so much.

Where I live, it is warm enough to swim for 7-8 months of the year. We spend lots of time near the water. The sun kissed Kaftan was a huge part of my wardrobe this past Summer. It's so easy and comfortable to slip on over swimmers, and translates easily into a casual dress if we are out and about. I am well past the age where I want to be parading around in a swimming costume, and I need to cover up from the harsh Australian Sun, so in Summer, the kaftan is one of my most worn items.

I make my kaftans out of Rayon Challis because I think it is most flattering when it is made in a fabric with drape. Plus rayon is lightweight and breathes easily, and it is hot here during Summer. Rayon can be a fiddly fabric to sew with if you haven't sewn with it before, but Kate's instructions really help with it, and it is well worth the effort to learn to sew with fabrics other than cotton for women's sewing. If you limit yourself to quilting cottons for women's sewing, you really miss out!

I hope you have all enjoyed the Pattern Emporium Blog Tour. Please join the Pattern Emporium Sewing Circle on Facebook if you haven't yet and on behalf of Kate, I'd like to say a great big thank you to the fantastic bloggers we have had on this tour, I know she's had a big smile on her face all tour long! Happy sewing, and if it's warming up where you live, enjoy the sunshine because I will be wanting it back come September!!

Pattern Emporium Tour Schedule
5/2 Sew Sophie Lynn
5/3 Handcrafted By Red
5/4 Sprouting JubeJube
5/5 That's Sew Kari
5/6 Simple Blessed
5/9 Wally And Grace
5/10 Free Notion
5/11 Horris And Deedle