Sew a Summertime Cover-up in 7 Steps
Alter a basic T-shirt pattern to make a breezy summertime cover-up.Make a fashion statement on the beach by following 7 steps to sew a summertime cover-up —or caftan—that is light and flowy.
It’s easy to design and create fun cover-ups you’ll love to wear based on a basic T-shirt pattern. We added length and width to this Simplicity 2190 View C shirt and turned it into a beautiful, ankle-length caftan. This pattern is discontinued by Simplicity but available on various after-market sites. You can also try using the Cashmerette Cedar Dolman Top or the Sewing Workshop Noto Tee, both of which have similar lines.
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Alter the pattern
1. Lengthen the T-shirt into a caftan. Measure from your upper shoulder point to the desired caftan length. Extend the pattern to the new length, plus hem allowance. This design is 53 inches long.
2. Add width to the body. On the pattern front, draw an angled line from the underarm to the hem. Angle the line to be a few inches away from the side seam at the hem. Draw a second line extending horizontally from the underarm a few inches and then down vertically to the hem. Cut along the lines and spread the pattern pieces apart. Determine the total extra width you wish to add to the garment. Each slash represents 1/8 of the added width. (The garment front and back each have four slashes.) For the design shown, we added 24 inches to the garment circumference at the hem (3 inches in each slash).
3. Make a new back pattern. Apply the length and width alteration to the back pattern piece.
4. Mark the neckline slit at the center front. Do not cut. The example slit is 7 inches long.
5. Draft neckline facings. Follow the back neckline to draft a…
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Thank you. Very useful and easy to follow
wow very nice...
Awesome and easy Useful
wow really nice summer design..
wow very nicee.