Saturday, October 1, 2016

Peplum Questions

SOOOO....I've been wanting to make an Alabama Chanin top with peplum for a long time and have never found the right peplum pattern and fabric combination. AC does ruffles around tops,


but that makes me look thicker or more hippier, so I wanted a traditional half-circle skirt kind of peplum, and wanted a bit of hi-lo with lower in the back. I found a DIY tutorial today at It's Always Autumn, then found some cotton knit I bought years ago at All About Sewing. The problem is that I didn't measure completely when I folded my fabric and just started cutting, then found out I was a couple of inches shy in one corner - DOH! Luckily, the tutorial tells you how to make a hi-lo peplum by shaving off a couple of inches in one corner....trouble was that I was in the wrong corner...thus I ended up with a center front seam. Is this a deal-breaker? And this is pre-sleeve just to see what I had in the closet to go with it. Obviously the men's shoes don't compute with a peplum.


Here it is with 3/4 length sleeves, and the seam is just killing me, but ignore the weird wrinkles - it's not pressed.


I could take it off and move the seam to the side like it was intended, with the shorter side on my left hip where I wear my beeper, so that would be FUNCTIONAL, if not weird. I could also make it all one length and move it to the side, since I don't have any crazy-tight leggings to wear this with, which was why I wanted the hi-lo thing - to cover the rear in case of tight leggings.


So please comment on whether a center front seam is a deal-breaker or not, and be BRUTAL and HONEST.

So I held off on hand-stitching the neck and sleeve bands because we had a benefit gala at the Greek Orthodox Church which was black tie, which meant I got to wear this oldie but goodie, Butterick 6582:


Looking back at my original pattern review (none of the picture links to Picasa work anymore - boo), I didn't remember that I used this black dress as a muslin for another pink dress that I wore to a cancer benefit! I LOVE this black fabric, but it was only $3.99 a yard, so I guess that's why it was the guinea pig.


Anyway, it was MADE for the Ivanka Trump zip-up heels, which I didn't have the last time I wore it, so this was a great night! Now to work on knitting a V-neck sweater, and later I'll tell you about the 2-socks-at-once-on-circular-needles that I'm attempting. What are you working on this weekend?

7 comments:

Junior said...

Love those heels with that dress! You could be in the InStyle magazine!

Anonymous said...

What center seam??? I can hardly see it! The dress and the heels are HOT!

Robbie

Amy Bailes said...

The front seam is fine. If it bothers you that much do some appliqué over it and make it a "feature"

Dr. Fun (AKA Sister) said...

Ooh, Tracey, thanks for that compliment! Robbie, there ARE so many wrinkles in it that the seam doesn't jump out immediately, but I didn't know if in THEORY, a center front seam is against the rules of peplums. Amy, that's thinking outside of the box - didn't even occur to me - thanks for the idea!!!

Anonymous said...

The dress is gorgeous! Not sure about the peplum top though, regardless of the center seam. I'm not sure the proportions are right for you with this top. Sorry :-)

Anonymous said...

That second anon is not me...just FYI, I sign my name

Robbie

Dr. Fun (AKA Sister) said...

Bahahaha! I knew you signed your name. I'm happy that somebody made a constructively critical comment, though - thanks Anonymous commenter! I was feeling that myself when I put the arm bindings on and tried it on again. I decided to cut the length to be even and move the seam to the side, then see how it looks. One problem may be the drapey knit - peplums seem to look better when they're stiffer, though I may just not be a peplum girl.