Such a beautiful and dearly worked textile, a caftan was gifted to me in the 1980s. I was honored, yet stymied by it. As a textile professional I appreciated the sheer woven black wool and as a visual artist, I appreciated the embroidered cream design: Symmetrical, organic, lyrical and paisley. Unsubtle. Not actually wearable, in my humble experience. Still I held onto it. (Sorry Marie Kondo)
Enter today. That’s where I realize I can reuse this big beautiful design and make a wearable garment. In other words, Hello new dress.
That is the layout. Thanks to One Hundred Acts of Sewing for the dress pattern.
And another!
This is another caftan gifted to me along with a batch of interesting fabrics. Someone was decluttering and I was collecting. I took it apart and the batiked cotton is machine embroidered all over.
Here it is now:
The Ship's Cat 