Today I’m sharing my first ever attempt at the Cielo Dress by Close Core patterns. I’ve previously made it in its top version, and I’ve also hacked it into a dress with a waist seam, but I’d yet to try it in its simple shift dress format.

Confession: I had thought this fabric was destined to become a shirt but, well, I kind of messed up.

You see, when I bought it, I thought that the geometric design on it was printed in navy. But when it arrived, it’s actually a very dark green colour. It was in no way misrepresented, it was entirely user error on my part.

But when it arrived, that wave of “fabric delivery excitement” quickly turned into disappointment because the colour is really not one that I have much of in my wardrobe. Whereas, I’d imagined a white and navy shirt to go with the 4-5 pairs of navy pants I own, I really own nothing at all to coordinate with the dark green colour.

So I kind of put the fabric aside and waited until inspiration struck.

And, it did in the form of the Cielo Dress. After all, if you have nothing in your wardrobe to coordinate with a fabric, the logical solution is to simply make it a dress. No coordination needed.

I’d been curious to try the Cielo dress in its original form for a while, but wasn’t sure how I would find it. So when I fell a bit out of love with the fabric, it kind of seemed like a pretty low stakes way to give it a try.

This is view D of the Cielo pattern, but with the short cuffed sleeve, rather than the lantern sleeve. Cielo comes with two different dress versions. I actually preferred view C, which has some BIG POCKET ENERGY going on.

The only reason I didn’t sew view C was that I didn’t have enough fabric!

So I went with view D, but added in side seam pockets. Yes, they are the poor man’s alternative to the pockets as designed, but we all do the best with what we have!

Now, the pattern pieces for Cielo that I already had cut out from my Cielo top was a size 12. But when I looked at the measurements for the dress around the hip, I realised that I maybe needed a size 18-20 at the hips, if I measured using the widest point of my body (my thighs), rather than my actual hips.

And since I was very afraid about whether a straighter design like this would fit over my thighs, I wanted to err on the side of caution.

So I decided I needed to cut from a size 12 at the bust to a size 20 at the hips.

Gulp!!

That’s A LOT of grading.

When I saw how crazy my grading looked, I decided that it would look more natural to just play a bit with the entire shape of the side seam and go for a bit of a more gentle A-line shape.

So this Cielo Dress fits a bit different than it would have if I’d sewn up a straight size, but I think the vibe is still there.

All in all, this was a quick, easy and satisfying sew!

And, yes, maybe this isn’t the project I’ve sewn that I’m most excited about, but I’m still pretty happy. I quite like the Cielo Dress and am imagining that it would look quietly lovely in a wool crepe for winter.

And I think this dress will make a great lightweight item for packing in a suitcase when travelling – especially in these days of “hand luggage only” if you want to see your clothes again.

And now I don’t need to worry about what pants are going to match this odd colour!!

So even if it’s not one of those garments that keeps me up at night with excitement, it’s still a success as far as I’m concerned.