Tuesday Treasure – Groovy (and absorbent) 1960s Caftan

This adorable kid-size caftan was sold at our last estate sale. It can be dated to the mid 1960s – 70s by the 1966 Simplicity Jiffy pattern # 6795 that a loving home-sewer used to make it. Originally a luxury garment worn by the upper classes in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and parts of Iran during the Ottoman Empire (14th to early 20th centuries), caftans first became popular with the American public in the 1910s – 1920s. They fell out of style but then enjoyed a resurgence in the 1960s, popular not just as comfortable robes to lounge around in, but also as eveningwear created by glamorous designers such as Halston, Zandra Rhodes, Thea Porter and Oscar de la Renta. Here is glamorous 1970s movie star Elisabeth Taylor in a designer caftan.

And because us regular people enjoy glamor too, many companies created caftan patterns for home sewers. Each envelope contains a sheet of directions and pattern pieces printed on tissue paper. As with most patterns, there are multiple ‘views’ included in the envelope – this caftan was made with the view depicted as flowered, with fringed hems and a front zipper. Simplicity’s Jiffy line was (and still is) for beginners; they require only a few pieces and easy seaming.

The Simplicity Pattern Company was founded in New York City in 1927 by James J. Shapiro after a suggestion by his father, Joseph M. Shapiro, a Russian immigrant and magazine ad salesman. Their timing was accidentally impeccable – when the Stock Market Crash kicked off the Great Depression in 1929, demand soared for thrifty clothes made at home, rather than store-bought. 

There were many competing pattern companies in the United States, but the “Big Four” are Simplicity, McCall’s, Vogue, and Butterick. Butterick Publishing Co. was founded by Ebenezer Butterick in 1867 and sold the first graded sewing patterns incorporated into the pages of the Ladies Quarterly of Broadway Fashions magazine. James McCall, a Scottish tailor, started the McCall Pattern Company in 1870, also in New York City. Vogue Pattern Service began in 1899 as the weekly pattern feature of Vogue Magazine published by Conde Nast, again in NYC. 

However, times change and today there are considerably fewer home sewers so independent pattern companies merged and got swallowed up by bigger companies and as of 2020 British company IG Design Group plc (via their American subsidiary Design Group Americas, Inc.) now owns Simplicity, McCall’s, Butterick, Vogue, New Look, Know Me, and German pattern company Burda Style. They also bought and then discontinued the much beloved Kwik Sew patterns. 

But back to our caftan, because it’s not just the product of a 58 year-old sewing pattern, it’s also a fine example of groovy vintage 1960s & 70s bath towels! Groovy vintage towels which can also sometimes be found at our estate sales. Not to be left behind in the boho craze for Near Eastern glamor, in addition to mod flower-power and geometric designs, both the Cannon Royal Family and the Fieldcrest Imperial towel lines offered opulent ‘carved’ designs modeled on Oriental carpets in 1970s colorways. The caftan sewing patterns were specifically designed to incorporate hand towels and bath towels in different configurations, depending on the size of the wearer. If you’re interested in making yourself a caftan from vintage towels with 1960s Simplicity Jiffy pattern # 6795, there are vendors on Etsy happily violating copyright law offering unlicensed digital versions, or you may find vintage paper versions through eBay, Amazon, and yes, Queen B, since vintage sewing patterns are one of the most economical things we sell.