Cecilia Puff Tee free pattern by OUSM

A couple of weeks ago I had the fun experience of testing Once Upon a Sewing Machine’s new pattern, the Cecilia Puff Tee. A few months ago I sewed OUSM’s Grown Up Thumbs Up shirt/dress, and I loved the pattern so much that I made three (and have received an order for another from my sister!), and so I knew that this pattern would most likely be another great one. I was not disappointed! This is a wonderful pattern and, to make it even better, it’s FREE! Let me tell you about it!

One thing I love about sewing my own clothes is blending sizes, especially when sewing for my daughter, who is an average 8-year-old height, but very thin, so I generally have to sew 6-year sizes with an 8-year length.

For my first version of the Cecilia, I made a sort of Frankenstein pattern, blending between three different sizes in different areas. My daughter asked for the same pink and white striped jersey that I’d used for one of my Thumbs Up dresses, and I simply cut out the neck and arm bands from the pink stripes.

Alas, the Frankenstein backfired, because the shoulder area ended up a bit distorted. (I made the shoulders too high.) And double alas, the stripes accentuated the defect. But I want to make it clear that this defect had nothing to do with the pattern, but with my bizarre size blending.

Sofia didn’t seem to care; she loves this shirt! (I love my perfect stripe matching, if you’ll just allow me to toot my own horn!) The puffed sleeves are adorable and really easy to create, so I decided to change my pattern and make another.

Just a plain size 6, without any blending at all, was *perfect*!

Perfect all around!

Being a lover of upcycling and refashioning, I used a men’s t-shirt for the body and scraps of another, stretchier, men’s t-shirt (the rest of which I’d used for Sofia’s Everyday Tank Top) for the neck band and cuffs. One thing I love about upcycling used clothing is when you can use the original garment’s hem. I simply folded the bottom of the pattern pieces 1/2″ from the bottom and lined the fold up with the bottom of the hem. That way I could skip hemming the Cecilia Tee, making it even faster to sew than it already is normally!

To jazz it up a little, I added some glittery iron-on decals from Supercut.

After I took these pictures, Sofia refused to take it off again!

Conclusion? I LOVE this pattern and can definitely see myself making a LOT more! The fit is perfect, the puffed sleeves adorable and easy, the sewing simple and quick. The pattern could be hacked in all sorts of ways, such as upcycling, like I did, or making it longer for a sweet little dress! I really want to make a Cecilia dress, but I still haven’t gotten around to it yet. Think of the precious little shirts and dresses that you could give away to all your neices, granddaughters, daughters of friends, etc!

So do you want this pattern for FREE?! Well, of COURSE you do! Then just head on over to Once Upon a Sewing Machine and sign up for their newsletter, and you’ll get it right away, a pattern valued at $7.95 on Etsy (affiliate link*) for free!

update: The designers from Once Upon a Sewing Machine have retired their website, so it is no longer available for free. You can still, however, purchase it from their Etsy shop*.

Then, when you’ve finished sewing up your first of many Cecilias, come back and leave me a comment to tell me how much you love it! Happy sewing! 🙂

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