Reader request: Ruffled peplum skirt tutorial!

Reader request: Ruffled peplum skirt tutorial!

• 12.20.2010

A while ago a reader wrote to me and asked if I could do a tutorial on how to make a skirt like this one, the "Full of Pep-lum" skirt from ModCloth.

It is darling!  It's actually a skirt with a detachable ruffled peplum belt.

It is a lot of fun!  I gave it some thought for a few days... and then I also saw it in a wardrobe board from the great blog What Would Emma Pillsbury Wear?.

So, I went to JoAnn and bought some cheap and sort of icky polyester suiting.  I wanted to try it out without wasting too much money just in case... but here's how it went, and here's a little tutorial (not as many pictures as usual, since I was learning as I went!)

To do this, I recommend you use a simple pencil skirt pattern.  I used the pencil skirt part of this pattern, Butterick B5147:

• Cut out the skirt front and backs, making it your preferred shorter length (ModCloth tells us that the skirt is 18"-19" long).  Also cut a waistband, 1.5" longer than your waist (1/2" seam allowances, plus 1/2" wearing ease).  Make the piece 3"-4" wide, depending on the width you want.
• Assemble the skirt as per the pattern instructions, zipper and all, except instead of the facing or lining or whatever you'll add your waistband.  INSTEAD of making darts in the skirt, turn them into pleats.  Use the lines where the pattern marks for darts, just pleat them and don't sew them down instead.

• OK, great.  Now, for cutting out the peplum belt...
• You'll need another waistband, this time one with a front and back rather than a fold-in-half, and you'll need a top ruffle and a bottom ruffle.  Here's my top ruffle (the 3" wide one) and my bottom ruffle (the 4-6" wide pieces)

• Here's how I cut them out--you'll want them about 1 1/2" times the circumference of your waist, so they gather the right amount.  Here's my approximately 40" long pieces... and, yes, just cut the bottom ruffle, the one that gets wider at the back, by eyeballing it.

• Also cut out a waistband!  Cut two pieces, again 1 1/2" longer than your waist is around.
• Hem the top of your top ruffle and the bottom of your bottom ruffle.

• Sew a row of looong gathering stitches on the unhemmed sides of your ruffles.
• Right sides together, sew your ruffled onto one piece of waistband.  Then, sew the lining/underside of the waistband right side to wrong side of ruffle to cover the raw edges.

• Uh oh... here's where the pictures stop.  Sorry.  Now you should have a closed tube of a waistband, with your ruffles inside.  Turn it right side out and press as best as you can.  
• Top-stitch 1/4" or less from the top and bottom edges of the waistband piece, keeping your seam allowance in place.
• Close the short ends of the waistband by pressing and turning, and top-stitching them as well.
• Chose a closure, and install it.  The ModCloth version has a button and buttonhole, but I didn't have any big buttons so I did hooks and eyes.
• Wear together or apart!

Add another belt if you like!

So fun!

I may make another one of a nicer fabric... maybe a variation on the belt, like a pleated peplum??  So cute, so many ideas!  What do you think?

And, what could I pair with it to make it more office-ey and professional?