Gemma’s Hacked Peplum Top
With just 1m of gorgeous heart print cotton poplin in this months Mini Box, Gemma hacked the Peppermint Magazine Peplum Top
Whether you’re team Valentines, Galantines or not bothered at all, you can’t escape the colour theme of red and pink during the month of February. Personally I love it, the excuse for all things cute, and fell in love with this month’s heart print fabric when I saw it. Such a simple print that can do so much! As I had the Mini Box this month I knew I would have to get thinking about the best way to use my fabric – even though there is only 1m I still wanted to make something that I could wear that looked special!
One thing I find really helpful when deciding what to make is taking a look through free patterns: the wonderful Vic of @makingandbooks over on Instagram has compiled a fantastic guide to all the best free sewing patterns out there, handily organised into sections such as tops and dresses.
Knowing I have a limited amount of fabric, this is a great resource to browse and get inspiration for what I could possibly make. One pattern that I saw (and as it goes, had already previously bookmarked myself too!) was the Peplum Top by Peppermint Magazine. They offer a great range of patterns for free (or for a small donation) and I have made several of them before, including a few in past boxes!
This top looked like just the thing I was after – something I could make with a small amount of fabric that would still pack a punch and look really good in the heart print! The versions I had bookmarked as inspiration were hacked versions without the peplum, and I loved the simplicity of just a standard crop top, so got to work making it happen!
When you download the pattern it is a layered file, which makes printing and sticking together so much easier – I hate this part! My measurements put me as a size H, which has enough room to move without being too fitted. As this fabric is a narrow width I knew I wouldn’t easily be able to add the peplum, but as I had already decided not to include it it wasn’t a problem!
I added 6cm to the length of the front and back pieces to give it a better crop, so that it would sit just by my natural waist (my preferred height, you can measure and add according to your preference).
The top is a fairly easy make – interestingly it has shoulder panels attaching the front and back, and the back has a V-neck centre seam in contrast to the round neck front, all features that make this anything but ‘just a simple top’.
Construction was easy to follow, although I did find the bias binding of the V-neck back a little tricky to make sure it was neat. And with that I had made myself a cute cropped top in an afternoon!
I love how simple yet statement this top is. Such a satisfyingly quick make, and perfect for smaller amounts of fabric! Because of the different pieces to the construction, it would be great for using up different fabrics to create a mix and match look, oh the possibilities! I’ve paired it over a thermal top whilst it’s so cold at the moment, but it will get plenty of wear when it warms up too. Now I’m ready for Valentines!