Reproduction 1972 Caftan

Reproduction 1972 Caftan

1970s summer caftan using Nigerian fabric bought in Tanzania. Worn to Costume College in 2018, Crocker ArtMix March 2022, and Costume College in July 2024.

Dress

Nigerian wax print cotton bought in Tanzania caftan has inside ties and back keyhole with button. Cotton made it a little stiff. Has softened a little bit over time. The stitching lines up the front and back may indicate that the pattern may have been used with narrower width fabric.

Front V seemed a little low so wore with a tank top underneath.
Pattern: Simplicity 8505 Misses' Vintage Caftans View B. Repro of a vintage pattern. Modifications include: I should be a size M or L, but couldn't bear to waste so much fabric. Ended up cutting on the fold to get a size medium width. This required splitting the back neck and making a placket. But the neck hole is so large that the back neck slit isn’t necessary.

• Size M.
• 5' tall. Shortened hem 2".And then turned up hem 5.25" so should have shortened it, at least, 5"
• Safety pinned front opening
• Stitched to make smaller armhole
• Used 3/8" ribbon ties

Notes

[20180725] Hemmed and put neckline and shoulder seam back at a medium.

[20180711 7:51 PM] Measured out the small shoulder line 1" in, ripped out seam, and sewed new seam. Then was too small. Tried ripping out and sewing between the two old lines of stitching. Still seems too tight and the back neck bunches up too high on the back neck. Not sure if I should sew back on the original stitch line or if it should be 1/4" from the original stitchline with neckline lowered in back.

[20180506 8:10 PM] A little low cut. I could have used the size small shoulder cutting line. Also, if the armholes are too large, people can see in to the insides so would either need to wear a garment underneath or make the armholes smaller.

[20180506 6:43 PM] Tried adding 1.5" band on the inside with 1" elastic so that the band would go all the way around instead of just using ribbons ties on the top end of the band. That didn't turn out well.

[20180506 2:30 AM] Looking at other makes of this online, not so sure about the two ribbon/twill ties above the belt on the inside. One make with a contrasting belt showed that band just kind of hanging/floating instead of looking like a real waist. A band the width of the front band on the inside like the one on an extant 1960s watteau Hawaiian dress might be better..

Completed: July 2018
Tags: #1970s #caftan