Okay, so as soon as Closet Case Patterns announced the release of the Rome Collection, I knew I wanted all three patterns IMMEDIATELY. The Pietra, Fiore and Cielo patterns tick all the boxes for me – classic, timeless and versatile. They have been designed with a capsule wardrobe in mind, and enough variations to sink a ship! I purchased the three as a bundle, and I’ve started my tour of the collection with the Cielo.
I clearly have an attraction to tops and dresses in this shape, as I also own the Stevie from Tilly and the Buttons and the All Well Box Top from All Well Workshop. What drew me to the Cielo was the versatility – it will transition well from my day job to weekend adventuring, and I can make a few different variations and they’ll all look like completely different garments. I also quite like the pattern design, as the shoulder and pocket construction set it apart from similar patterns on the market.
I’ve started with a very plain dress version due to fabric restrictions (more on that below), but I can see myself making a few more of these, especially the top – not that I need more tops, let’s be honest. If you’ve seen my Instagram feed, you’ll know what I mean!
OKAY SO. I decided to take my first pass at the Cielo with a remnant from The Fabric Store here in Melbourne. I purchased this from them last year, and have since lost the tag telling me how wide/long it was. I think it was just under a metre and a half in length. This did mean I had to forgo the pockets (next time!) so I have made a mashup of views C and D in a size 0 based on the finished garment measurements. I would normally be a 2 but decided the dress would be too roomy if I cut my regular size. I absolutely SQUEEZED the pattern onto the fabric, I had barely any scraps when I was done. This did mean that my options for pattern matching were quite limited – I know now that dart placement would have been better on a plain section of the fabric and if I had had more room I could have lined up the shoulder pieces with the sleeves. Overall, I am very happy with how this turned out – it is an abstract print and I made sure I used as much of the fabric as I could.
The construction of the dress was incredibly straightforward. The only hiccup I had was basting the sleeve on inside out, and I would put this down to not enough coffee and the instructions veering away from a traditional setting in for this type of garment, and instead following the construction I would use for a knit garment by laying it flat and sewing the sleeve and side seams as one. It is good to know now that these methods can be interchangeable as I am sure I’m not the only one who finds setting in sleeves tedious!
The only modification I made was to sew a 2cm seam allowance to my waist to give it some shape and graded out to 1cm over my hips and thighs – straight up and down does not work well on me. This has given the dress a slight A line, but not drastic enough to alter the overall look given that it’s a 5mm change in either direction.
This was a very quick sew – it took me four hours to pull together including unpicking my sleeve mistake. I really loved the instructions, as they were really clear and gave good tips about stopping to check fit at particular stages – this is something I’m not good at doing, and really should do more! I also liked that at the start of the pattern there is a suggestion for french seams including the measurements for sewing them! I have never come across this before and as someone who usually shies away from french seams because of the forward thinking involved (yes, I know it’s prettier – I just can’t be bothered working out how narrow my first pass needs to be), I thought this was great. Definitely jumping aboard the french seam wagon next time!
The one recommendation I would make is read the entire pattern description before you cut out all your pattern pieces on the fabric – I accidentally cut out the neck facing option as well as the neck binding option! Definitely didn’t need both, so I’ve kept the binding to make bias tape for future use, and went with the facing as my fabric is on the heavier side.
This dress is going to be great when the weather warms up, I can see it being very versatile for work and casual outings throughout Spring and Summer. Would absolutely recommend this to everyone as it’s so beginner friendly, and for those more advanced sewists – who doesn’t love an easy breezy sew?!
Sarah Eloise Sews 