Cielo Top - Sleeve Drama

I am head over heels in love with the drama of the sleeve on this top even though making it stressed me out to the point the muscles in my neck started tightening up and was causing me pain.

Closet Core Pattern Cielo Top

I don't know why the simplest sewing causes me so much distress and takes so long.

How I Did It

This was the first time I made a top/dress from Closet Core Patterns so I thought it was best I do a muslin since I needed a small bust adjustment.

When I tried on the muslin there was significant gapping around the armhole in both the front and back. When I looked at the detail for the adjustment it didn't seem to make sense (like I know anything about pattern making) and it seem to be a whole lot of work.  I am a lazy sewer.

I decide I would use my go to "Pattern Fitting with Confidence" by Nancy Zieman.  The problem I had was there was back yoke when you put the two pieces together it was "different" so I gave up on that idea and went back to the internet to search for a solution.

In my search I finally realized I needed to use armscye in my search criteria and stumbled across some information from Wild Ginger Software that suggested decreasing the shoulder height - that was what I needed.  It was simple and quick.

Fabric

I used linen I had purchased from my local fabric store and some kind of polyester like fabric that had been in my stash for at least 15 years.

Pattern Alterations

Normally I have to removed 3" from the length but I knew this was a crop top and I did not want that so I did not remove any length.

• I cut a size 18 and graded up at the waist and hip by adding 3/4" which was  between the 20 and 22 
• On the back I removed 1" from the length above waist to handle the sway back adjustment.  To keep the length I added 1" below the waist.  This helped with the pooling of fabric in the small of my back.  This makes the sway back adjustment easier for me.
• I needed to remove 1" from the bust.  I ended up removing 1/2" from the front and back shoulder seams and that fixed my issue.
• I removed 1/2" from the front and back of the sleeve.

Some Construction Pictures

Some Finished Pictures

The pattern calls for tacking down the collar facing at 1", but because of my label I had to go down 1 1/2".

The one thing I would change is using the linen for the back yoke rather than the sleeve fabric.

Conclusion

The pictures really don't do this blouse justice nor does the dress form.  This pattern is simple yet elegant with limitless possibilities - and it almost got tossed.  Leave it to me to take something so simple and make it ridiculously hard 😕.

I was nervous about using the polyester with the linen because the linen is heavier, but I was happy with the result.

I absolutely love this blouse and can't wait to make something to go with it.

What's Next

I have been sewing but have fallen behind again on my posting.  What's next is catching up on my posting.