Since the peplum trend started I’ve watched gorgeous peplum tops appear on a myriad of blogs and sat back and thought “oh, those are so gorgeous, but there is no way that they would suit me”.  The solution?  Make one for my cousin Freya, who has the proverbial hourglass figure.  (In contrast to my proverbial apple figure).

I came across New Look 6130 a little while and it appealed to me on a number of levels. It gave you the option of a simple straight skirt or narrow pants for the bottom half, and a peplum top with options for neckline, sleeves and peplum shape for the top half. For Freya’s outfit I made the skirt in a cotton/lycra sateen from Darn Cheap Fabrics, and the top from a lighter weight but matching cotton/lycra print, also from Darn Cheap Fabrics! One of them is here on their web site.

The hardest part was deciding what size to make. I asked Freya to email me her measurements, and made the skirt in a 12 but the top in a 14 around the bust, narrowing down to a 12 through the waist. As it turns out I could have made the top in a 12 throughout – maybe even blending down to a 10. Sizing is always a challenge! She popped down to her local clothing alteration guy and had it taken in (I’d posted the top and skirt to her) and it looked wonderful on her at pre-Christmas lunch yesterday.

The skirt is super simple – a kick pleat at the back, centre back seam invisible zip, two darts at the back but none at the front, and a narrow facing at the waist. The top has the option of sleeveless, cap sleeves or elbow length sleeves. Both sleeves have a lovely inverted pleat at the cap. The neckline can be a V, a simple curve, or a notched curve, and the peplum can be even all around or have an assymetrical deeper point at the side front. The peplums all have pleats where they meet the princess seams.  You can make a tie belt to go with it, or be as lucky as Freya was and already have the perfect matching one.

Good blog posing Freya!  I think that you’ve been taking notes!  There were lots of positive comments on the outfit at lunch yesterday, so I was quite smugly pleased with myself. There are more photos, including detail photos (and some photos of the outfit on me) over here.