Skip to main content

Pretty Peplum Top Sew Along: Finishing + Turning the Peplum into a Dress

We're in the home stretch! All we have to do is stitch the bottom hem and sleeve hem, then we're finished! I wouldn't normally talk about what to do for this, but Pamela has an ingenious way to get a really nice hem. I have been using it on other projects too and it's been great!

Pamela uses stay tape to finish all her hems. She likes to use SewkeysE brand, which we talked about HERE. You can also refer to the video on stay tapes in that blog post. SewkeysE has a 1" Double sided Fusible Stay Tape. If you are using this brand of stay tape for this project, you will need to cut the stay tape down to 1/2". I did not have this brand of stay tape at the time, so I found Pellon EZ- Steam II - a Two sided pressure sensitive Fusible Tape at a local fabric store. You will see that I used it in the photos below, but I'd like to try SewkeysE in the future. It was hard to get the tape off of the fusible part once it is fused down. But once you got it apart, it peeled right off.


Press the stay tape to the wrong side of the hem edge. Since the peplum is curved, you will need to cut the stay tape like Pamela mentions in the video. Remove the paper backing, fold up using the edge of the stay tape as your guide and press. Stitch in place! How easy is that? Do the same for the sleeves. If you make the longer sleeves (or any other length than the cap sleeves) use the 1" stay tape. For the cap sleeve cut the 1" down to 1/2".




I know a few of you were wondering how you could make the peplum top into a dress. I was curious too and decided to give it a try. It's actually really easy! All you need is some extra fabric (I would say about 2 yards extra), pattern paper, a yard stick or long ruler and a marking tool. The amount of yardage you need will depend on how long you want the dress to be.

Fold the fabric in half, I like to do right sides together. Then line up the peplum front piece with the top of the fold. You want to make sure you have plenty of space for the dress length.



Take a yard stick or long plastic ruler and line it up against one of the peplum side seams. Mark this length. For this demo, I have the dress 18" longer than the peplum piece. (If you see the photo above, the 18" mark is right at the bottom edge of the peplum. 



Move the ruler a few inches, keeping the ruler and bottom edge of pattern piece together at the 18" mark. Make another mark. Do this the whole way across the peplum till you have a complete skirt.




If you feel like the skirt is too big, you can make it smaller! You can adjust it when you try it on, or before cutting out. If you do it before cutting out, line up your ruler at the peplum waist. Then move the ruler till you feel like you're at a good width. The key is to make sure you keep the sizing at the waist so you don't have fit issues later!


Repeat the same step for the back peplum piece. Follow the same steps for the rest of the garment. How easy was that?

Here is my finished Pretty Peplum Dress. It's been so cold outside to get good pictures, so this will have to do for now! I like the overall look, but in certain photos the waistline does not look flattering to me. I think this may have something to do with the fact that I did not cut out the darted front top piece. Read about that HERE. I plan on taking the front piece out and re-cutting the front with the darted piece.


Tomorrow, I will share with you my finished peplum tops with some commentary about what I did on each. I'd love to see how your peplum tops are coming along! Please share photos with me and I'll share them on the blog! (Finished top photos will be due at a later time to be considered for the sew along prizes!) 

ALSO! One of our followers, Angela, submitted photos of her muslin --so far so good! Can't wait to see it finished! 




Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Popular Posts You Might Like

Made By A Fabricista: Three Bengaline Basics – A Jacket, Skirt and Vest

Hello Sewing Friends! It’s Sharon from Sharon Sews excited to share my latest Fabricista makes with you.  When Fabric Mart offered an array of stretch bengaline suiting fabrics , I choose three different fabrics to sew myself a few basics to be worn as the season transitions from winter to spring. The bengaline fabric I used is a woven rayon/nylon/lycra blend fabric with the stretch running vertically (lengthwise on the fabric) instead of horizontally (selvage to selvage).  It lends itself well to fitted and structured garments, such as jackets, pants, skirts and dresses. Because of the vertical stretch, I folded the fabric cross grain to cut out my fabric pieces so the greatest stretch would go around my body.   I used a stretch needle size 75/11 due to the lycra in the fabric. I also eliminated the interfacing as I discovered this fabric did not like fusible interfacing and I did not have any sew-in interfacing on hand.   Now let’s talk about the garments...

Made By A Fabricista: FROM FABRIC TO FASHION: - The Saguaro Set with Fabric Mart Fabric

The weather in Southwest Florida is finally starting to warm up.  With the warm air and bright sunshine, I have been thinking about refreshing my “at home” wardrobe with some fun easy pieces this year.     I have wanted to make The Saguaro Set for some time now.   When I saw the beautiful selection of rayon challis on the Fabric Mart website, I knew now was the perfect time to get it started.   THE FABRIC I researched a lot to see which fabric would work the best for this pattern.   I chose the Deep Amaranth Pink 100% Rayon Twill Challis for my project.    It is a beautiful color that to me looks more coral. The fabric is light to medium weight and has beautiful drape.  The care instructions said gentle wash or hand wash.   I prewashed the fabric in cold water on the delicate cycle.  However, after drying it on the delicate cycle, the fabric had an almost vintage distressed look.   I was a bit co...

Made By A Fabricista: Revisiting a Pattern After Five Years

Have you ever used a sewing pattern and then immediately vowed never to sew it again? Well, I have. It all began in the spring of 2020 at the start of the pandemic lockdown. I tackled sewing projects that were more challenging to help me grow as a seamstress. There was one pattern in particular that almost did me in, the Seamwork Penny shirt dress. The Penny dress pattern has a classic button-up dress shirt style bodice with a gathered skirt and pockets. It is a beautiful take on a shirt dress, and my sister and I loved it. The only downside is that it was recommended for intermediate-level sewists and I was only an adventurous beginner back then.  I think I had only ever made one button-up shirt before attempting this Penny Dress and it didn’t even have a collar! Despite all of this, I thought “Why not try it, what’s the worst that can happen?”  Thankfully the worst didn’t happen, and the dress turned out surprisingly wearable, but I had some intense frustration at the end. I...