Simple Sewing - Caftan Pattern

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I thought I lost this pattern!

When the WWW was in its infancy I found this caftan pattern on the web and printed it out. Hard drives were only a few megabytes in size at the time so who had the room to save everything, right? I saved the bookmark, but after a year or so it was no longer valid.

I adored this shirt! It takes only 2 yards of fabric, has simple cutting and sewing, and is basically patternless. With my 60 inch hips, it fits with *plenty* of room to spare. I've made this multiple times in a variety of fabrics, from batiks to novelty calicos. Once the fabric is pre-washed I can usually whip one up in less than an hour.

Then I lost the pattern. Well, out of the three pages that printed out, I lost the first page. I looked for about 3 years for it and was so disappointed when I couldn't find it.

I mentioned this on one of the sewing forums I go to yesterday, and today I was given a number of links that others had, asking if that one was it. Well, HALLELUIA! One of them was!

Here's the link, for those of you who are either beginner or even seasoned sew-ers and would like a nice, breezy plus-sized top to make.

http://www.modestclothes.com/patterns_files/caftan.htm

And here's the whole page, in case it vanishes again:

How to Sew a Simple Caftan

Measure from the nape of your neck down to the desired length: purchase twice this amount of 45" wide fabric.

Cut the fabric into two equal lengths.

Reduce the width of both pieces to 35".

From the excess cut-away material, cut two rectangles, each measuring 6" wide x 12" long. Fold each in half, lengthwise, wrong sides together, press to crease the folded edge. Set these aside to be used on the neckline.

Choose one length of fabric to be the front of the caftan. Spread it on the floor or tabletop, right side up, mark and cut the front neck opening as follows:

Place a pin in the center top edge of the fabric.

Measure down 8" and mark with a pin.

Along the top edge, place pins 6" to either side of the center pin.

Place pins 2" to either side of the bottom pin.

Cut out the neck opening. Refer to diagram.

Take the two folded rectangles and pin them to the neck opening, aligning raw edges. (There will be some excess at the top and bottom). Stitch with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Turn the rectangles toward the center and overlap the bottom edges.

Gather or pleat the excess fabric along the bottom of the neck opening and pin it to the overlapped edge of the neckline. Stitch.

Trim away excess fabric from the rectangles along the top and bottom of the neckline.

To complete the caftan:

Place the front of the caftan together with the back, right sides together. Stitch along the top.

Stitch the sides, leaving a 10" opening on either side for the arms.

You may choose to cut a large curve bottom or leave it straight.

Hem the bottom.

Hem the armhole openings.

Hem the back neck opening.