I finally decided to give in and join the peplum bandwagon. After seeing if every where on runways and in catalogs, I knew this was one trend that would break me. Last winter, I made the Fabiana Peplum by Debbie Brooke Designs, for my friend’s daughter, Vivienne, and she looked beyond adorable.
I thought peplum tops for children were fabulous but nothing I could ever pull off. Then I saw this top at Anthropologie and feel in love with the idea of a peplum top for women:
Of course at close to $198, buying this top was out of the question for me. And the bottom of the peplum was just a weeeeee bit too poofy for me. So I stumbled upon the Penelope Peplum pattern from See Kate Sew and decided to venture in making a peplum top for myself. What is perfect about this peplum is that the hanging frill falls right at the natural waist line and the use of knit fabric gives it less volume so it does not add more fullness to my already very full hips.
The azaleas in my neighborhood are all in bloom. Don’t they just look gorgeous!
This fabric is a simple black jersey knit that I bought from Five Eighth Seams awhile ago. I have been hoarding it away for a raining day but decided to give it a try on this project since who doesn’t love a “little black top.” Plus I was a little nervous of how I would feel about the peplum accentuating my hips so I decided I better go a little more “quiet” for this one vs using a loud print.
Will took these pictures. We are working so so hard on him not making every photo blurry. Its a work in progress. A slow slow work in progress. But he means well. I guess I should take what I can get.
A view from the front. I used an interfaced neck piece and then top stitched along the neckline to hold in in place. I love that my sewing machine allows me to move the needle over about a quarter of an inch so that I can do really tiny top stitching along the cap sleeves as well.
I am actually pretty darn proud of myself for matching up these side seams. Meticulous is not my middle name but I somehow managed to make it work even with a slippery jersey knit in hand! Annoyed that the wire of my bra is showing up in the picture but eh oh well. Pick your battles.
Fabric: black Jersey knit from Five Eighth Seams //Pattern: the Penelope Peplum from See Kate Sew -$12 PDF //Jeans: Joe Jeans Corporal skinny Ankle Jeans // Shoes: Steve Madden Espadrille circa 2012. Similar ones seen here // Necklace: Madewell.
That’s all for the Penelope Peplum! I just bought the PDF for April Rhodes’s Riding Peplum so perhaps there will be more peplums in my future. ohhhh. Stay tuned!
xxoo Priscilla
