This donut caftan is a playful, easy-to-wear summer cover-up that brings a bright, whimsical touch to beach days and poolside lounging. If you love relaxed silhouettes and fun prints, this DIY lets you create a breezy caftan from scratch or customize an existing dress or cover-up with iron-on donut graphics.
If you prefer not to sew from scratch, you can buy a plain cover-up, maxi dress, or batwing dress and add the donut transfers to it. A simple pink or pastel piece works best to let the donut graphics pop.
Recommended styles to customize: Midi batwing dress, maxi cover-up, sleeveless maxi shirt dress, henley shirt dress, tie-front maxi beach dress, mini beach cover-up.
DIY Donut Caftan
Total Time: 2–3 hours
Supplies
3–4 yards of lightweight cotton, silk, or similar fabric (amount depends on height; 3 yards used for a 5’6″ person)
Fabric scissors
Pinking shears
Sewing machine + pink thread
Single-fold bias tape
Donut printables (print on iron-on transfer paper)
Printer
Iron
Iron-on transfer paper suitable for your fabric color
Directions
1. Fold the fabric in half width-wise so both layers are equal. For example, with three yards of fabric fold to create two 1.5-yard layers.
2. Find the center of the fold and cut a neck opening: a half-circle about 7″ wide and 3″ deep through both layers. Next cut the overall caftan shape. You can keep it rectangular or add a slight curve for sleeves. For the shown shape measure about 16″ from the neckline to the sleeve edge, a sleeve curve of about 10″ tall, and a body width around 28″. Use the diagram for reference.
3. With right sides together, sew up each side of the caftan until you reach the sleeve area. If you left the garment rectangular, leave roughly 10″ open at the top for the sleeve; for a curved sleeve shape, stop where the curve begins. Trim seam allowances with pinking shears to reduce fraying.
4. Try the caftan on with the shoes you plan to wear and mark the desired hem length. Add 1″ to that mark, cut off the excess, then hem. Fold the bottom edge under 1/2″ twice to encase the raw edge and stitch along the hem. Hem the sleeves using 1/4″ folds and stitch in place.
5. Hem the neck with bias tape. Open one fold of the bias tape and pin it to the right side of the neckline. Stitch in the crease of the tape’s fold.
6. Fold the bias tape to the wrong side of the neckline and stitch along the edge to secure it, using the bias tape edge as your guide.
7. Print the donut printables onto iron-on transfer paper following the manufacturer’s instructions. We used about 45–50 donuts. Cut out the donut shapes and arrange them on the caftan while it lies flat on a protected surface.
8. Iron the donuts onto the fabric following the transfer paper instructions. Different fabrics and transfer brands require different times and temperatures, so test on a scrap piece of the same fabric to determine the correct ironing time. After applying from the front, flip the caftan and press from the back as well. For very thin fabric, place a barrier between the layers to protect already-applied transfers.
Photos by Jeff Mindell
Get yourself to a pool—this caftan is made for lounging. Which part of donut week was your favorite? Stay tuned for the giveaway coming tomorrow.
p.s. There’s also a tutorial for the coordinating donut floppy hat.