Style Arc Cleo Dress

Well.... almost.  This is Yorkshire Cleo.... altered to account for draughts and cold weather.  And I absolutely love it. 

Those who read regularly will know I cannot be trusted to leave patterns alone, though normally I do at least make it once the way its supposed to be before fiddling around with it.  Not this time though...  this time I went straight into modification mode.

The Cleo dress as sold can be sleeveless or have long sleeves, darts, or not, and has a vee neckline in all incarnations.  My Cleo, however, has a polo neck and I chose, unsurprisingly, the long sleeves and the darted fit. 

Fabric is from my latest trip to Abhakhan Fabrics in Preston and I believe its a poly wool knit of some indeterminate variety.  Quite soft, very stretchy widthwise, not stretchy lengthwise, and feels warm.  Its very similar to some slightly heavier fabric I got last year which has worn like iron, can be washed in the machine, rarely creases, dries quickly, and doesn't need any ironing so it should be a very practical garment.  I have a burgundy piece which will become another Cleo.  And I wouldn't rule out a few more Cleo's in addition. 

Super simple to make.  A back, a front, two sleeves.  Even the modification for the polo collar was super simple.  I laid my TNT top pattern on top of the Cleo pieces, front on the front, back on the back, lined up the shoulder seams and center fronts, pinned the neckline part into place over the top of Cleo, folded the rest of the TNT pattern back away from the edges, cut it all out, and that was that.  Cut the polo collar out from the TNT pattern.  Everything fit together/on top of each other, as though designed to do so. 
The only thing I had to be a bit careful of with this version was getting the stripes to match across the seams.  I'm very pleased with how that worked out and I think I even managed to get the stripes to match across from body to sleeve, more or less. 

Construction order was just as normal for a top;
Sew the darts in the front and back of the dress. 

Sew the shoulder seams, stabilising them. I've found if you stick the stabilising tape in place with steam a seam first, it doesn't slither out from under the overlocker foot. 
Sew the collar seam, fold the collar right sides outside and quarter the neckline with pins.  Quarter the dress neckline similarly.  Pin the collar in place matching the quartering pins and overlock. 
Sew the sleeves in flat. 
Sew up the side seams, crossing the underarm and sewing down the sleeves. 
Turn up the hems on sleeves and skirt.   
Wear dress. 

 The dress, with a black jacket is scheduled to be worn tomorrow for my first day at yet another temporary assignment.  At least this one is in an office though.  The last three weeks were spent in a warehouse environment.  Safety boots, a yellow reflective tabard, filthy hands and dust in your hair aren't a particularly good look.