So I’m jumping on the Charlie Caftan train about two years after it left the station.

Better late than never!

But, you know, that’s what’s great about Closet Case Patterns. You don’t really look at their past patterns and think “ughhh, that one was so 2016”. Nope, they all have a space in a modern maker’s wardrobe.

I actually purchased this pattern two years ago (as in when it first came out) and gave it to my Mum as a christmas present. I thought it might inspire her to kick start a return for sewing. Or, at the least, that she might like to sew it for my sister.

But, during a visit home two years later, I saw it still in its envelope. Under a pile of bills. Gathering dust. Nowhere even remotely in the vicinity of a sewing machine.

So I was, like, “Mum, screw this, I’m taking it back”.

Good sewing patterns should not be lift to linger in benign indifference!

Having said that, how many sewing patterns do you own but have never sewn? In my case, it’s quite a few…

I maintain, with sincere, albeit optimistic, conviction, that I will get to them all one day!

So I’m starting with a re-gifted pattern to myself. That sounds nicer than admitting that I effectively stole this pattern from my mother!

My Charlie Caftan

My Charlie Caftan is a size 12. The size chart had me between 12-14 at the bust, up to a 16 at waist, but looking at the amount of ease, I preferred to go small.

This is view C, the maxi-caftan view. I used the higher sleeve option on the pattern, in order to avoid any visible side bra through the arm sleeve.

I’m really pleased with sizing and style choices. I feel it looks definitely caftan happy but I also feel well covered. I also had seen some people online complaining about the neckline being too deep on their body. On my body, I had no such problems and I actually think this v-neck is quite modest on me.

The fabric was bought in Australia from Spotlight when I was home over Christmas. For non-Aussies, spotlight is the Australian big box chain and, well, it’s not great. But this cotton has the perfect colours and it was love at first sight. I wasn’t alone, since this fabric pops up pretty frequently over on instagram too!

Sewing the Charlie Caftan

The Charlie Caftan is, overall, a pretty simple pattern. Yet, worthy to its place in the Closet Case stable of patterns, it actually has quite a few more intermediate sewing details in it.

You basically start off by sewing two steps which actually rely on a great deal of sewing accuracy and which, while not complex, wouldn’t be something I recommend for a complete beginner: sewing the front inset panel and sewing a nice crisp v-neck.

BOTH of these tasks involving one of the most terrifying steps in all of sewing – clipping right up to but not through your stitch line.

Aghhhh, the terror!

I highly recommend checking out the Closet Case tutorials for these steps, as I definitely found that they had tips which were not included in the instructions which made it much easier to get a good result. There is a tutorial on sewing the inset panel, finishing the back of the inset panel (me, I hand stitched while binge watching television) and sewing the v-neck.

The good news is that, once you’ve done these two challenging steps at the beginning, you could basically sew everything else with your eyes closed and one hand tied behind a back. That’s how much of a sewing super star you will feel after mastering these mad sewing skills!

This Charlie Caftan has been a great addition to my summer wardrobe. I’ve been a bit on a long to midi length dress kick lately and this one is up there as a favourite! Here it is on some summer adventures

Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.