Free Pattern Friday: Women's Peplum Top

Welcome to my monthly 'Free Pattern Friday' feature, where I road test a free sewing pattern or tutorial: sometimes a children's one, sometimes a women's one. I publish these posts every first Friday of the month, timed to provide inspiration for those who plan to get their sew on over the weekend. I firmly believe that, if you pick your projects carefully, sewing doesn't have to be a crazy-expensive way to clothe yourself and your family. Thanks to all the amazing pattern designers who have offered up their hard work for us to enjoy for free.

I may be wrong, but I think a near-global lockdown with many people staying in their homes for weeks (months?) on end is exactly the right time for some free sewing pattern inspiration. It's possible that you, like me, have had your income effected by the corona virus, so in these financially uncertain times you may be looking for some free resources to keep you sewing. You are probably already well aware of the amazing array of free sewing patterns available for download on the Peppermint magazine website. But what are the patterns actually like to use? Previously I reviewed their Boxy top pattern, and now I've come back for more and have tried out their popular Peplum top pattern, created by In The Folds designer, Emily. Massive thanks to Peppermint magazine and the designers who collaborate with them to make so many wonderful free patterns available to the sewing community. Oh, and to help them stay afloat during this international crisis, they have added a little donate link on their pattern page so you can flow them a couple of quid. I did and I suggest you do too if you can. 

(image source: Peppermint mag)

Pattern type:

This is a simple little summer top with gathered peplum, rounded neckline that goes into a V shape at the back. The shoulders are formed from separate panels. Please note: I altered the pattern by lengthening both the bodice and peplum (each by 2cm), so my version is not exactly true to the original pattern. 

Sizing info:

The pattern has been sized from A-K, which translates to bust measurements 30" to 51½". I often fall between sizes so I opted for the smaller based on the finished garment measurements, and I'm happy with the fit as I didn't want to be swimming in it. 

Fabric info:

It is suggested that you use lightweight woven fabrics for this pattern, and I'd really advise against anything too stiff or with too much body. Although the sample on the website has been made in linen, I'd be careful to avoid anything that made the peplum stick out too much. For my version, I harvested the fabric from a vintage viscose dress (see above) that's been in my stash for at least seven years. I'm guessing by the small shoulder pads that it was made in the 1990s, and I've always loved the 1940's-esque print. 

It's amazing how much fabric even a small top project will need, and I had to disregard a number of existing seam lines when cutting out the peplum pieces. Thankfully the busy print and gathering hides them well. I'm really happy with how the viscose works with this style. It's not too slippery so it wasn't a total headache to sew, but the slinkiness feels nice to wear and doesn't allow the peplum to poof out too much.  

Findings:

This pattern was a real pleasure with work with. Both the pattern itself and instructions were clear and user friendly. As for the finished garment, well I'm not entirely sold on it for myself. If I had to describe this garment in one word, I'd say it's 'flirty', however my daughter announced it looked like a little girl's dress (!), and I can kind of see what she means.

The main front and back pieces are really quite A-line, so the lower edge of the top section is pretty wide even before the peplum is attached. When I added the additional 2cm to the top section, I made sure to slash and insert 2cm across the width of the pattern pieces about half way down, not just to add the 2cm at the hem because I didn't want to make the lower edge even wider. But generally, I'm not sure the extra fullness around my waist is doing me many favours. 

Plus I am not a fan of the separate shoulder sections, I can't figure out what the point of them is, it kind of feels like design for design's sack. I do, however, love love love the neckline. The scoop at the front and V at the back are perfectly proportioned, IMO. Overall, it does feel really fun and swishy to wear, so I'll give it a couple of wears during actual summer, and who knows, I may fully fall in love with it.

Customisation ideas:

To be honest, I've not got much for you with this one. 

• Alter the pattern pieces to eliminate the separate shoulder pieces, making a regular shoulder seam instead.
• Extend the peplum pieces to make this into a dress.
• Extend the peplum pieces AND add an additional tear for a different dress style. 
• Add a small ruffle/frill into the arm hole over the shoulders. 

Would I make it again?:

Hmm. I probably wouldn't make this pattern again exactly as it is, I'm just not sure how many of this style of top my wardrobe really needs. I am tempted to incorporate this neckline into other garment projects though. 

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. 

Jersey Peplum Tops

**UPDATED with pattern details for creating your own peplum top. See bottom of this post**

The readers of this blog with the keenest of eyes may have noticed a few garments popping up in various photos that I have yet to 'introduce'. Two of those anonymous garments are jersey tops with peplums. I wore the emerald one that is pictured above when I went to London to make shoes with Emily. The second version was made in red and navy stripes (pictured below) and got its debut on Day 12 of MMMay'12 (during which I managed to clean the kitchen and get a bleach stain on the front but thankfully isn't too bad!).

As the unveiling of my blouse sewing pattern hoard illustrated, I'm a big fan of peplums. They also happen to be very 'on trend' at the moment, which is probably why Modcloth started selling some lovely simple peplum bodice tops, including the stripey one pictured below.

I'd been thinking about making my own version of these Modcloth peplum tops and started to get my head round how to go about it, when my boss came along and did the hard part for me. Having talked about how it would be great to get some peplums into our Spring/Summer range, she consulted her pattern cutting book and created a peplum pattern piece which was included in this and this design.

So I used the peplum pattern piece, pairing it with my own modified self-drafted T-shirt patterns to come up with the gathered head half sleeve, scoop neck version using the awesome emerald jersey I got from the most recent Brighton fabric swap meet up. The colour of that fabric really is far more rich and emerald than the turquoise my camera would have you believe in the top photo.

I really love that top, but my heart had really been captured by the stripes of the Modcloth top pictured above. The way they change direction, really emphasising the way the peplum is cut, looks so cool that I knew I had to make a second peplum top. But due to my whole 'not buying new fabric' thing, I had to wait until some suitable stripy fabric came my way. The navy and red jersey was part of a large haul our charity was donated by a jersey manufacturer. Because I'd just made a gathered head half sleeve, scoop neck version, I decided to alter those elements to create a differently styled garment. My navy and red striped garment has flat head sleeves that are 3/4 in length with a cuff band to finish them. I've also gone for a self-bound slash neck line to get with the more nautical feel of it. Both the neck binding and cuff bands play with the direction of the stripes.

So now you are properly introduced to my two new peplum tops. I can't promise there won't be more in my future!!! Have you made anything with a peplum? Are you a fan of this trend? 

** UPDATE** For the lovely commenters who expressed interest in how these peplum tops were created and what the peplum pattern piece looks like, please see below. 

You may or may not be able to see that the measurement of the Centre Back is a bit longer than the measurement of the Centre Front. The CF and CB should both be aligned to the fold of the fabric. Create notches at the CF, CB and side seams to make the construction easier. Please let me know if you have any more questions and I'll try to help if I can by putting the answers up here.