So now that I had my pattern pieces it was time to choose fabric. I happen to be a fabric magpie so usually I don’t have to buy fabric for a project; most of the time I already have something suitable. Such was the case with the kaftan.
I had decided I didn’t want an overly elaborate kaftan. I like clothes that are comfortable and easy to clean. Easy to clean is important, especially at a weekend event where there is nothing but porta-potties and they have been used all night by drunks with bad aim.
That is another story, however…
Anyway, I had some of the lovely sage green brushed cotton left from the cotehardie (since I had found 15 yards of it at a flea market for $1.00 per yard! I wasn’t going to pass up that deal). I figured that would make a lovely kaftan. When deciding what to line it with it wasn’t very difficult either. Turkish clothing was noted for lots of color in the layers so it didn’t have to “match” in the current sense. Deep within my tubs of cloth I had 10+ yards of some sort of blue lining fabric that I had picked up somewhere (though the memory of where has been lost over time). So what else was I going to use it for?
After washing the fabric, ironing it, and spending some time fighting the cats off it while I spread it out on the floor I laid out my pattern. Fortunately there was no pattern or nap so it didn’t really matter how I laid the pieces out as long as they were all on the grain.
The folded fabric was wide enough to fit both body pieces at one end; the front pieces on the selvage and the back piece on the fold. The sleeves were laid out on the fold just below the back piece and the gores were laid out just below the front piece.
With the exception of assistance from the cats, cutting out the fabric was pretty uneventful.
After the cutting I had the puzzling task of figuring out how it all went together. I had never sewn something with a lining before and I was rather confounded on how it was supposed to work. I presumed that I would have to sew the shell pieces together, then sew the lining pieces together but there was still something nagging in my head that there should be something not quite that simple. But without experience it escaped me completely.
While attending a weekend meeting for the Ardanroe group, however, Avice gave me the piece of the puzzle I needed. She told me to sew all the pieces together, except the sleeves, then attach the lining to the shell around the edges. The sleeves would be sewn together separately and attached later.
That small bit of information was a huge help. So, wanting to do something small first, I started with the sleeves. They went together fairly easily and the blue lining looked pretty good with the sage outer layer.
You can see the sleeves turned out in the above image.
And here are the sleeves turned in and pressed to flatten the edges.
That went pretty well and so I decided to start sewing the other pieces together.
I learned on the outer shell (after it was done of course!) that it is easier to attach the front and side gores if you do it before you sew the shoulders of the front and back body pieces together. It can be done the other way without causing huge headaches, but it is simply easier to handle the overall pieces during sewing if you attach the gores first.
One thing I noted is that I need to pay much closer attention when I’m pinning fabric together. Twice I had to rip out seams because I had either inadvertently put the seam on the outside rather than the inside, or because I stitched the “right” side to the “wrong” side of the fabric (my brushed cotton has a soft, fuzzy side on the outside and a smooth side on the inside).
But, hey. If your garb isn’t liberally sprinkled with curse words during the creation process then you are doing something wrong.
After I got the pieces sewn together I began pinning the lining to the shell. Of course the cats wanted to help with this part of the process too! And something about the lining attracts Tiger to romp and roll and bite and claw it. This is why I keep a squirt bottle on my sewing table.
I got it pinned together, sewn around the edges and didn’t have to rip out a single seam! Though I did have to fight a couple times with my bobbin throwing off the stitch. Still can’t figure out why it was doing that.
Here is the result:
One thing I would do different if I made this again would be an adjustment to the side gores. I would make the little rounded part that sticks out more prominent (you can’t see it in the pictures, but after sewing it together it was way too small) and I would set it up higher on the hips. Like almost onto the waist but that is because my hips are far too wide.
I’m still puzzling over whether that piece is supposed to stick out while the garment is being worn or if it supposed to be sorta tucked in to cause the folds of the skirt to look fuller. I suspect it is the latter but I have no evidence of this. Mine will likely end up tucked in simply because the fabric isn’t stiff enough to hold it out even if I wanted it to.
So far I’m pretty happy with it. The next steps are attaching the sleeves, the trims and the buttons. I’m sure the experienced tailors out there are hardly impressed with my progress, but for me, this IS progress. It has been a fantastic learning experience and I’m learning more and more about drafting patterns and how things go together with each step I take.
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