New Pattern: Beach Towel Kaftan
Hi All,
I have a new pattern, a kaftan cut from beach towels that’s almost zero waste.
It’s a collaboration with alterations styling guru Nicole Akong, who I met on Instagram. If you’re a Great British Sewing Bee watcher, Nicole was in the 6th series.
The pattern can be ordered here, and there’s an option to pre-register for a sew-a-long hosted by Nicole.
Let me tell you the story about this kaftan!
Nicole went on holidays, and as part of her holiday wardrobe she made herself a kaftan out of beach towels, using a striped towel for contrast.
View a reel of the kaftan here:
It came out great! She asked if I would be interested in doing a pattern for it, and I said yes.
She told me the dimensions of the towels, then I watched her Instagram reel a large number of times and banged out a pattern.
It got a few little changes in the name of zero waste, including making the sleeves blousier at the cuffs and a pocket re-design. I also fitted all the pieces on three towels.
To test the pattern in beach towels presented a problem: although I live in Australia where beaches are plentiful, we are inland, it’s the tail end of winter, and beach towels are scarce if non-existent. But Mr H to the rescue! He came home from the shops with three fluffy white bath towels. This gives my kaftan a definite day spa vibe!
I feel rather fabulous wearing this.
I’m taller than Nicole – you can see that I didn’t need to cut any length off the towel.
By accident, I discovered the same pattern cut in cotton makes a great beach dress. I was testing the higher neckline version, and having already used the towels I made it in some cotton gingham.
Pattern details
The kaftan is cut from three beach towels – one each for the front and back, and a third towel for everything else in a zero waste arrangement.
It comes in one size, and obviously the size of the kaftan is restricted to the size that towels come in. The pattern is made for towels 70cm x 140cm, and fits hips up to 114cm/45″. However, towels of a different size can be used, as long as the width of two towels will fit around you with enough room to spare. The pattern has guidelines for using different towel sizes.
There are no pattern pieces to print, as they’re drawn directly onto the towels.
As zero waste patterncutting is part of my thing, and I like to discuss cutting layouts, here’s an idea of how the pieces are assembled on the third towel.
Modular doesn’t mean the pieces can’t have curves (although this kaftan doesn’t have any) as long as the curves are contained within straight sides.
If you’re only using part of a towel if, say, the towel is bigger, or if you’re cutting the bands in a contrast, any offcuts are easy-to-use-later rectangular pieces.
There’s an amount of waste on the front and back…or not, depending on how you use it.
The front neckline cutout got overlocked and is currently hanging in the bathroom as a face washer.
The other small offcuts also got overlocked and are being used as reusable makeup wipes. The strip of hem at the top of the towel got partly used as a hanging loop.
Cheers!
I love a good caftan! Using beach towels is so clever:) I’ll have to give this a try next summer.
Yes, a very clever idea – I think you would like this Michelle.