Closet Case Patterns – Cielo Top Dress Hack

For months I’ve been after a particular style of dress but not been able to find the pattern to match it exactly, so instead I’ve hacked the Cielo top/dress pattern by closet case patterns.

I’ve made this top before and love the style and fit on me. I wanted a floaty style skirt with big sleeves and a dropped waist. It should ideally be loose and comfortable with plenty of room for cake.

The fabric is a light weight linen from rainbow fabrics, it’s beautifully soft and deadstock. I highly recommend them.

For the sleeves, I’ve drafted a cuff and attached it instead of using the method and pattern pieces included. It’s a 14 by 4.5 inch length fabric, interfaced, sewn into a circle and then stitched on. I pressed it under and stitched in the ditch from the outside to finish it.

The skirt is a self drafted double tier knee length… but I forgot the pockets!

It’s super easy to do it yourself, as it’s just rectangles. To draft the tiers, I make them one third longer that the bodice. Example: if the front of the bodice is 20″ inches across then the skirt top front panel should be 30″ inches across. The depth is personal preference on how long you want the skirt to be, for the length of this dress I’ve made the depth of the panels 12″ inches. Then then lower tier should be one third bigger, so the lower tier front panel is 45″ inch across.

Be careful to measure your back bodice and front bodice separately as they may be different widths. This is to ensure the gathers are even.

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The dress, once completed, is exactly what I was looking for. It’s feels floaty and comfortable to wear and it makes me feel confident and happy. The soft linen is my favourite and I think it will work perfectly during autumn and winter with tights, and is perfect throughout the summer.

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Thanks for reading and happy sewing,

Samantha x

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