Thursday 9 August 2012

Peplum Skirt Experiment


A couple of months ago I set myself a challenge to develop a peplum skirt. I'd been adding peplums to top styles using jersey and I wanted to see how I could translate it into woven fabric on the lower half. 

I clearly cared enough about my little experiment to have taken photographs of the result, but not enough to have remembered to share the pics until I was reminded of the project last week. I was flicking through the Topshop website to keep an eye on 'what the kids are into these days', when I saw a few skirts (including the one pictured below) that looked very similar.
Source: topshop.com via Zoe on Pinterest


Surprisingly, the basis for the skirt was McCalls M5590, the same pattern that I made my denim high waist bow skirt from. The peplum was drafted in a very similar manner to those jersey tops, but with the main difference being how it was constructed and applied to the rest of the garment. 


Satisfyingly, the Topshop versions appear to have dealt with the fastening issue in the same way I did, by inserting a centre back zip with a split in the peplum. What I like about my version above Topshop' is that my peplum is not the same depth all the way around and I feel the deeper dimension at the back gives a nice balance to the garment. 


The element of my version that I am unhappy with is the visible dart lines that form the waist shaping. If I'd used a skirt pattern with a waistband, Burdastyle's Jenny skirt for example, to apply the peplum to, I would have eliminated those visible dart lines. 

12 comments:

Sew Lonnie said...

I love that fabric very much!

Judith said...

Smart thinking!!! Love the wider waistband...

joelle st-laurent said...

This is really cute! I like how the colors and the print of the fabric makes it more "grown up". I have a way too high waist/hip ratio to pull off a peplum skirt but I do love looking a them!

Christina said...

This fabric is gorgeous! And I like that your peplum is longer in the back very much, too. (Yours looks like the better finished/made garment anyway.)

Penny-Rose said...

This skirt is really lovely, I really like that the peplum is not uniform length.

Helen Made said...

Great skirt - love the fabric. I can't wait to see what it looks like on! I like the idea of making the peplum longer in the back for better balance

The Reckless Needle said...

Yours is way nicer than the Top Shop one! :)

PoldaPop said...

I love it! I've been wanting to try the Jenny Skirt AND I love peplums so this really has me feeling inspired. I like that your peplum is longer in the back. This give it a more sophisticated look and I wouldn't have thought to do that on my own.

Bex said...

I love this fabric - especially the birds! I think your version is way cooler than the inspiration skirt. I would love to wear this to brunch with a little cropped turquoise jacket.

Shannon said...

I just love this skirt to pieces!!

sorbetsurprise said...

I really love this skirt. So many peplums just looks out of proportion but yours looks fantastic.

Cirque Du Bebe said...

This is so lovely! The fabric is perfect for peplum attire.

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