Friday, December 26, 2014

Merry Kaftanmas

I decided not to travel anywhere this Christmas, because travelling at Christmas is nuts and we always do it. It involves hours in a plane, and then hours in a car or train, or else 8 hours in a car south or 15 hours in a car north, and last Christmas we did BOTH families over 7 days both north and south which was just ridiculous, so this year I stayed home and spent Christmas Day with my Spoolette friend Amanda and her husband.

Merry Kaftanmas - Simoplicity 2929

Amanda recently made a kaftan - and it was fabulous, and not in a hippy, folk singing, creepy, key-swapping way either. When it was decided that I would gatecrash Christmas, she declared Christmas to be Kaftanmas and holy crap what's a girl to do but join in? I mean, in Canberra it's likely to be hot and sunny and we are both originally from Queensland so a kaftan is all shades of perfect for Christmas attire.





I fully embraced the concept of making the kaftan, and then realised that any shapeless kaftan on me could make me resemble Demis Roussos without the beard and the eyebrows, and a lady can't have that for Kaftanmas. Luckily I realised that Simplicity 2929 (and here I go again) View B is perfect for kaftanning it up, so I bought some blood orange tropical voile from Remnant Warehouse and I was off.

Merry Kaftanmas - Simoplicity 2929

Whoo! Kimono sleeves!

I cut the dress out on Tuesday night and I sewed it up on Wednesday afternoon after I'd finished work. It took me exactly 2 repeats and 4 songs of the latest Hilltop Hoods album which would be, I don't know, about 2 hours? Except for the slash at the centre front neckline, this view is a lot less fiddly that my usual version D or E.

Merry Kaftanmas - Simoplicity 2929

Look I'll be honest here and tell you that I don't think this is really my style. Especially not in tropical prints. But on Christmas Day it was perfect to wear - we had a very hot, extremely humid day, and if it hadn't rained so much we'd have been sitting in the park across the road so the cover up on my shoulders and arms was a lot better than my usual sleeveless style. This dress was very cool to wear, extremely comfortable, and we managed a lot of eating, drinking, more eating and even did a jigsaw puzzle before I went home and collapsed in a hot sweaty heap. And then jumped up again and got the tripod out and took photos of my kaftan for Kaftanmas. Hence the wrinkles. But it's held up pretty well I think! I wore it out to dinner with friends on Christmas night and it was still going strong and the elastic around the waist got a good workout throughout the day with all that food.

Merry Kaftanmas - Simoplicity 2929

The centre front slash I did is not perfect, but the print hides a million sins. I also slightly pressed down the neck opening because I can't stand shirts that flap around and can't make up their minds as to whether they are open or closed. Or both. I'm tempted to put a closure on the neck for future sun protection - and it actually looks quite nice closed up.

I think this is the last Simplicity 2929 I will make for a while - time to try some new dress patterns. Although I will always end up going back to this one I think. It's so versatile.

Merry Kaftanmas - Simoplicity 2929

Merry Kaftanmas!

10 comments:

  1. As a fellow east coast Aussie, I *really* understand your Christmas travel comments - what a great solution you found this year!
    I found your blog fairly recently - and really enjoy your posts - thanks so much. As a relatively new sewer, your relaxed, joyful approach to makes is very reassuring (and suggests that the whole process can be enjoyable, rather than just a little fraught as it is for those of us with little sewing experience!)

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    1. Oh wow Kitty! Thanks so much! Yes sewing should be fun. If it's not fun, try harder! Or try something else. I guess it's all how you look at it. For instance yesterday I was having NOT FUN with a raglan sleeved top. No one needs nipple points in the sleeve dart in my opinion! So I just walked away and will try again today.

      It was fantastic not having to travel - when I picked my husband up at the airport last night I scoffed at all the exhausted people getting of the plane. But the downside of course is that i missed seeing my family, and that made me a bit sad :((

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  2. And merry kaftanmas to you and yours! This is such a freaking rad summer number and perfect for jigsaw-ing in :D

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    1. It's the kaftan that will just keep on giving! Not just at Christmas!

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  3. Love it Michelle, it looks great! I so understand your Christmas-travelling-pain, we alternate between Lismore (well ... more recently Lennox Head, which is definitely very nice) and Rockhampton each year and have not yet ever been brave enough to stay put, much as we would love to ... maybe next year will be the year and I might even also be brave enough to sew myself something to wear! Glad you had a great, relaxed day :-)

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    1. Thanks Kat. Yes distances suck - my parents have already driven 20 hours to get to south Qld, so they don't need to travel further to Canberra! It would probably help if I could take some time off before and after our Christmas shutdown to allow more time at home but that wasn't possible this year.

      Yes you should make something wearable for Christmas! It's lots of fun! I think I've done it every year except last year because that was the year we did the 3 states in 7 days Christmas trip and I was also in the middle of renovating so had no sewing room.

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  4. I really like this dress on you. It looks so incredibly comfortable and summery! Glad to hear you had a stress free Christmas this year!

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    1. Thanks Elizabeth! I need to find an occasion to wear it to again - I'm sure we have some hot days coming up!

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  5. I like it! It's so hot today, think I need to get hold of this pattern and make one.

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    1. Yes get this pattern Kate! It will definitely suit you!

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