Monday, August 20, 2012

The making of a peplum top: pattern review

Pattern: Peplum top Burda 8/2012 113-114

Size: 34

Alterations: omitted the sleeves, finished armholes with bias stripes; added satin binding to the neckline instead of finishing with facing. Pattern correction - fitting the shoulder line.

Fabric: sheer crepe (I think) it is not too slippery, does not fray too much either and was easy to work with. I had about 1.2m 115cm wide originally, and there is still some (about a fat quarter) fabric left to be used as a nice detail somewhere.

Time to complete: about 4-5 hours from tracing the pattern to a finished garment

Sewing Process and Challenges: I found this pattern to be very easy to sew, the instructions were quite good and I had absolutely no issues during the process.

I liked the fact that inserting the invisible zip was suggested before sewing up the shoulder and side seams, it makes perfect sense and so much handier to do.

As my fabric was very light, I interfaced the centre back seams before sewing with a stay tape:


As the fabric doesn't really fray too much, I trimmed it to the edge of the interfacing tape:


 Then I sew the invisible zipper following a tutorial- Invisible zipper insertion from pattern~scissors~cloth


 The result is a very neat invisible zipper- and so easy. Is it even there?


after machine basting the shoulders and the sides, the first fitting was quite satisfactory, the only adjustment was lowering the shoulder line at the armholes. As I decided not to sew sleeves for this version, all I had to do is to pin the excess and sew a new seam accordingly:


Hemming this top was a dream- unlike chiffons and silks, this fabric was very easy to press and it was not slippery at all to sew. So I presses the hem allowance to the inside and ran a row of straight stitches a few millimeters from the edge.


Then I simply cut the allowance excess close to the hem:


I wanted to add something different to the top and when the white satin bias tape caught my eye, I knew this was the answer! To prepare the bias tape, i always stretch it with a hot steamy iron. ( A handy tip is to pin the edge of the tape to the ironing board cover…


 and then pull the tape and stretch it to the maximum, running a steamy iron over it (see how much more narrow it becomes? I also press a curve into it, to help hold the curvy shape:


 I loved the contract between the main fabric and the white satin:


I then stay stitched the collar and armholes and then applied the bias tape to the neckline. At first, i wanted to decorate the armholes the same way too, but later i decided that less is definitely more in this case and simply used bias stripes of the main fabric to finish the sleeves.


The result is my new top: I love it paired with narrow trousers and very very very high heels!
 For larger images, please read my previous post: I'm Back On Track 






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