It is about 7 pm and the thermometer is reading about 32 celsius, in the shade!! It has been one hot month in Toronto. This is what I’m going to make tonight as I have a poolside BBQ to go to this weekend and it’s feeling alittle too warm in our non-air-conditioned house to even wear clothing.

Source: two

Source: ASOS, a how-to make a beach cover up from a cotton scarf from Martha Stewart

Source: EmersonMade, two

Here’s my stash of (pink) cotton fabrics from an Indian fabric store and some light gauzy material that I think would be perfect for making a breezy caftan to wear around the house+beach. I love looking at fabrics from Indian stores because of their unique patterns and designs. Fabric for the purpose of making punjabi suits or sarees are usually about 6m of fabric (great value).

1. Cut a rectangle to suit your body size. It can be anywhere from 26″-35″wide and 36″ or longer in length.  Cut a hole for your head with about 1″ extending into the back so that your caftan can rest naturally on your neck. Also make your cut in the front alittle wider so that you have some fabric to gather.

Here is another view Alternatively you can fold your fabric lengthwise, mark your center seam and cut your neck hole.

3. Gather, sew and finish  Gather the fabric at the neckline base. Finish your seams at the neckline. You can add a decorative placket or just finish the seam with one length of binding. With right sides to together, sew the sides together and you are finished.

And here’s the final result. I ended up tapering the sides to the bottom because the border didn’t quite reach the width of the fabric. I love it and it’s so comfortable to wear.