I’m diving back into drafting my own patterns while further exploring the most efficient use of fabric. That’s right, sewing with rectangles.
Last year I obtained a free bag of fabric from my local buy-nothing group, in which, were two one-yard, 60-in-wide lengths of knit polyester. One blue, one pink. After having a conversation with the fabric and laundering the pieces, I aim to make two oversized loungewear garments using as much of the available fabric as possible.
The first result is this free-size caftan. The fabric has a little stretch, but I wanted stability in the shoulders and neckline so I went with French seams on the sewing machine instead of using the serger. The neckline has a facing to keep things tidy, but the sleeve-holes and hem is single-roll with a zigzag on the raw edge; a double-roll was too bulky.
The inside of the fabric is soft like a tee-shirt, while the outside has a slight texture. Minimal decorative stitching at the neckline keeps the facing from wrinkling, and topstitching keeps it from inverting itself. The length of the sleeve and the hem were dictated by the available fabric. The only “fixed” pattern elements that I felt had to follow convention are the shoulders and neckline; everything else simply filled the available space.
Gliding smoothly with knee-height side slits for a long gate, I’m ready to haunt the house or the beach.
