Cielo Top Hacked Dress

Phew! Sorry it’s been so long since I posted! Between December and March it felt like I was exclusively sewing for others or slogging through projects that needed finishing. I ordered fabric in April and when I got it, I realized how in need of some fresh material I had been! I’ve been sewing a lot since then and I have a whole slew of backlogged posts to write but I’ve felt too busy to sit down and write!

Anyway, before diving into today’s post, I wanted to share some happy personal news:

My husband Ben graduated! Many people have said, “Didn’t he already graduate???” So if you’re thinking the same, you’re not alone! He submitted the final draft of his dissertation the day after Christmas and his degree was posted in February. So this final step in the graduation process was just commencement, but we discovered it was hugely important to us as a symbolic marker of him completely finishing his degree. I keep trying to write a brief sentence or two trying to adequately portray the over-decade-long process from dreaming up this goal to actually achieving it and there are just no words. At least not in my vernacular and definitely not if we’re going for a condensed version, so just suffice it to say that the day of graduation was one of the best days of my life. We felt an immense sense of support and gratitude for all who’ve helped along this journey, whether they were able to be present that day or not. I’m so proud of Ben, so grateful, so relieved that this chapter of our lives has been completed. And finally, I just want to point out how goofy the doctoral hat is. That is all.

Anyhow, back to the dress! I didn’t plan to make it specifically for graduation, but things just kind of lined up for that to happen. I was happy to wear it for the day! It’s not the best thing I’ve ever made, but I like how it turned out and I definitely have and am going to wear it!

This dress was an attempt at a Pinterest dress that I liked so much, I pinned it twice.

See? It’s not the same image, but basically the same long-skirted, big-sleeved dress. It seemed like it would be easy enough to copycat it, so I went for it.

For my fabric, I bought some Brussels Washer Linen from Surge Fabric. It was my first time buying from Surge, I ordered quite a bit of fabric and I’m really happy with my haul. I’ll definitely buy from them again! Of course, the Brussels linen is available with lots of online fabric retailers, but I was happy with the color selection Surge had. My first color choice was out of stock so instead I got “mist” which is quite lovely, in my opinion.

I am not a linen expert by any means, but I’ve been really happy the few times I’ve bought Brussels washer linen. It’s solid quality, with a good weave and a medium weight. It’s very versatile, not to mention reasonably priced (about $14/yd). I love the texture of linen. It add so much character to a garment.

For my pattern base, I used the Cielo top from Closet Core Patterns. I’ve made a handful of Cielo tops and it’s a great basic pattern that’s easy to hack. The Cielo pattern includes a dress, but the style of that dress is a sheath dress, so using just the top pattern worked out just fine. I cut the top right where my waist would be (adding on 5/8ths inch for seam allowance). When sewing the bodice, I tapered in the side seams at the waist about 1 inch on each side (I could have done more; the Cielo top is designed to be boxy). For the skirt, I took the remaining fabric (after cutting out all the bodice + pocket pieces) and cut it in half to make the skirt pieces. I usually just use the width of the fabric if I’m making a skirt, but that was going to make the skirt ruffle x2 of the bodice and that felt like too much for this dress. So I cut off enough from the side to make it about x1.5. I also added pockets to the skirt.

And when I first tried on the dress, my skirt landed right above my ankles but it felt like too much skirt for my frame. I cut off about 4 inches from the bottom of the skirt and then hemmed with a half inch fold followed by a 1 1/2 inch fold. It hits mid-calf now, which isn’t like the Pinterest dress but I think it suits me better.

For the sleeve, I wanted that oversized, triangle shape. The Cielo sleeve is already quite big, I just needed it to be longer. I didn’t measure how much longer it needed to be which was obviously poor judgment on my part. I went back and forth on whether to cut out cuffs for the sleeves. I did, but only because I was able to fit the cuff pattern piece in easily while I was cutting out the rest of the pattern pieces. I didn’t commit myself to using them, though. Of course, when I tried on the dress, I realized my sleeve was about 2 inches shy of extending past my elbow, like it does in the inspiration photo, so that was kind of a bummer. If inserted as intended, the Cielo cuff adds no length. So I inserted the cuff improperly in order to lengthen the sleeve, but it didn’t look right, so I unpicked it and inserted it the correct way. It’s not the sleeve I had been hoping for, but I do like it!

When I did my final try-on, I was happy with how it turned out. But I had the scrap of fabric that I had cut off the bottom of my dress and I wondered if maybe the dress would look better with a waist tie. I tied the scrap around my waist and felt like it was an improvement. With that, along with the long rectangles I removed for the skirt pieces, I was able to cobble together a long and wide sash, with squared ends. I still wasn’t sure if I was going to use the sash, but it felt nice to have the option of it.

Luckily I had a whole crew of people to give me their opinions when I wore the dress for the graduation, so I modeled the dress with and without the tie and the vote was unanimously for including the tie.

And I think I’ve made the discovery, here, that oversized, loose dresses are not for me. I love the look of an oversized dress. I think it can look very chic. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean it looks very chic on me, because I’ve determined that it does not. I think I ought to stick to more structured silhouettes for a time.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with how my dress turned out. As often happens, my inspiration photo got me going but I took enough twists and turns along the way that my finished product hardly resembles the starting point. But that’s sewing as you go! I did end up with something I’m happy with and that will, I imagine, get some good wear, especially with the upcoming summer months (assuming the weather decides to cooperate!). I’m especially loving the color of this dress! Somehow it’s the exact same color as another dress I just made, though that one is made from knit fabric. Previously, the color was missing from my wardrobe but I’m glad it’s barged its way in!

Pattern: a hacked Cielo top from Closet Core Patterns
Size: 12
Adjustments: cut pattern at waist, added a skirt, lengthened the sleeves
Fabric: Brussels washer linen in mist from Surge Fabrics
Cost: fabric ~$40 for 3 yards, thread from stash
Would I make this pattern again?: I don’t know if I’ll do this particular hack again, even though I like how it turned out. But I’ll keep making and hacking the Cielo top for sure!