You know, I didn’t think I was going to sew the Cielo top by Closet Case patterns.

I really didn’t.

It’s not that I didn’t like it, it just didn’t seem like something I needed.

I’d already sewn all the other garments from Closet Case’s Rome Collection – there’s my Pietra Pants and my Fiore Skirts. But I had resisted the Cielo top because it didn’t seem to fill a wardrobe gap for me. For boxy cropped woven tees, I had already adapated the Inari tee to my liking.

So I thought I was done with Closet Case’s Rome Collection.

But…….

When Closet Case released the Rome Collection in their extended sizing range recently and started showing a bunch of new photos of the Cielo top, I got totally suckered in by the very cute back yoke detail.

Yep, that yoke is the reason I bought this pattern.

I ultimately made the judgment that buying a new pattern from a company that generally fits me well was going to be a better use of my precious sewing time than adapting something I already had to try to create a similar detail. I know some sewists are in it for the perfect fit and love adapting and modifying patterns. Whilst there is definitely a time and place for that, I can’t say that modifying and hacking patterns are my favourite aspects of sewing. For me, the perfect pattern is one that doesn’t require any adjusting.

Plus, amongst my stocking up on supplies for isolation, the one key item I forgot to buy is tracing paper! I don’t have enough paper to engage in much fabric hacking right now. Seriously, I’m at the point of holding tissue paper from any packages that are delivered to try to create an emergency supply!

Anyone else out there forgot to stock up on something essential? I’m also starting to worry a little about my machine needle supply!

And so, I bought the Cielo top after all!

My online copy shop printing service is still fully functioning at the moment, so I can print patterns, I just can’t trace them!!

And, having purchased the Cielo top, I promptly sewed two!!!

My Cielo tops

I have used the size 12 for these Cielo tops and have sewn them with bias binding at the neckline, rather than a facing.

The only modification which I made was to do a full bicep adjustment, as well as increase the length of the corresponding cuff piece.

I often need a full bicep adjustment, even on Closet Case patterns which generally fit me very well everywhere else.

For reference, my measurement at the fullest part of my bicep is 37 cm. I added in an extra 4cm to the size 12 sleeve.

I’m happy I did, as I really like the quite large sleeve look I have ended up with. But I don’t think it was actually necessary for me for this pattern. Even if my sleeves were 4cm narrower, they would have fit over my biceps just fine.

Fabric love

My first Cielo top is made out of Merchant and Mills Jacob’s check linen double gauze which I bought from my local store Cross and Woods.

You know how these things can happen.

You go in there for a single skein of wool and somehow come out with a new fabric…

Because linen gauze in a navy check.

You had me at hello…

Incidentally, this fabric is a bit of a weird one. It’s super soft and, all, kind of squidgy, and when you wash it, it comes out of the machine as stiff as a board. Out of the wash, I thought this Cielo top was almost capable of growing some legs and walking around the laundry on its own, it was just that stiff and solid. Then, you put the iron to it, and, in that moment of magic, it just melts back instantly into its soft squidgy linen gauzey goodness.

The second Cielo top is in heavyweight ochre linen from the Fabric Store. A fabric which needs no introduction and already plays a prominent role in my wardrobe.

I think both fabrics work fabulously for this pattern and I’m rather chuffed with how they’ve turned out – an unexpected easy win of a pattern.

They both share the same lace on the back yoke cuz, well, I only have one little piece of lace in my stash, so I’m going to milk whatever I can out of what I have!

Sewing the Cielo top

I found the Cielo top to be a very quick, easy sew, and I experienced no issues at all.

The neckline on my heavyweight linen sits better on me than the one on my checked Cielo top, but I think it is because the linen gauze is lighter than the linen bias binding I used on the neckline and I didn’t quite get the right ratio of stretch into that one while attaching the binding.

The one thing I learned after sewing my first Cielo top and applied to the second one is that I found it unnecessary to sew in a line of gathering stitches to set the sleeve, it was very simple and easy to set the sleeve without doing this. Nonetheless, as a pattern designed to be beginner friendly and help people learn to sew, I do understand why the instructions included the gathering step.

When I put on these finished Cielo tops with my Pietra Pants, I had a real a-hah moment. I was like “wow, these coordinate perfectly”.

Which, you know, shouldn’t have been such a lightbulb moment since, as part of a capsule collection, this is precisely what they are designed to do.

The truth is when I’m trying to sew ‘outfits’, I do sometimes struggle to identify a pattern that is precisely the right cut to coordinate with the type of bottom I want to wear it with. Or I struggle to decide exactly what length to hem a top at, so that it works perfectly with the bottoms. I can’t count the number of times I’ve managed to just mess up the hem length of a top and end up with a combination which is the perfect portrait of “almost but not quite”!

Well, sewing patterns which are part of a capsule collection definitely takes the guess work out of it and I’m feeling really good about this combination.

I guess I’m a bit of a sucker for the Rome Collection after all…

Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.