So today I tried copying some Cecilie Bahnsen fluffy dress styles. Always loved those dreamy puffy sleeves and weird fabric combinations, so I figured – hey, why not try making one myself?
Gathering the Stuff
First thing was hunting down materials. Didn’t wanna spend big money, so I raided my leftover fabric bin:
- Some super thin white cotton I bought years ago for curtains (never happened)
- This scratchy tulle stuff from a Halloween costume
- Random lace bits my grandma gave me ages back
- A stretchy knit scrap, baby pink and kinda faded
Grabbed my sewing machine, matching thread, and a bunch of pins. Felt totally ready. How hard could sleeves be?
The Pattern Disaster
Took an old t-shirt dress pattern as the base. Made sense at the time. Drew big circle shapes for the sleeves – like, really big. Traced them onto the thin cotton, cut four pieces (two for each sleeve). Feeling confident now.
Sewed the main dress body fast. Knit fabric slid around, but got it done. Then came the sleeves. Pinned the cotton layers together with the scratchy tulle sandwiched inside, right sides together. Sewed around the edge… looked like a wonky pillowcase. Flipped it inside out – fluff explosion! But flat as a pancake in the middle.
Puffed out the cotton part by hand, tried stitching the tulle down inside randomly. Big mistake. Suddenly had one puffy chicken wing and one sad deflated balloon. Looked ridiculous.
Getting “Creative” (Desperate)
Panic mode. Grabbed the faded pink knit scrap. Cut uneven strips. Started tying them onto the flat sleeve, trying to fake that Cecilie ruffle vibe. Tied some lace bits too. Now it looked like a craft project attacked by a kindergarten class.
Machine started jamming. Thread snapping constantly. Changed the needle twice. Finally just hand-sewed the monstrosity sleeves onto the dress body. Dropped pins everywhere – spent 10 minutes crawling on the floor finding them.
The Final… Thing
Tried it on. Oh man. The “puffy” sleeve was lopsided – one stuck straight out like I had a shoulder injury, the other flopped sadly. The tied-on bits hung like sad little noodles. The main dress was too tight across the back because I eyeballed the seams.
Cat walked in, took one look, and ran. Probably a sign. I felt like a walking craft fair reject.
Anyway, learned a ton:
- Puffy sleeves need structure or wiring, not just hopes and prayers.
- Mixing fabrics needs actual planning, not just rummaging.
- My freehand pattern drafting is officially cursed.
- Next time? Maybe just buy the damn dress.
Probably never wearing it outside, but hey – laughed a lot. Might keep it as a reminder to never underestimate sleeves. And maybe chase down the cat, he owes me for judging.
