Fashion Fix: Dello Russo Peplum

Quite frankly, the peplum is nothing new. It's been adorning our waistlines for centuries. It wasn't until the madly brilliant Anna Dello Russo started rocking it that Ros and I felt compelled to turn it into a project. The beauty of this peplum is that it is detachable, so you can fling it on in a moment of high fashion fever and channel the sculptural brilliance that a peplum gives to the female form. I encourage you to channel the Dello Russo and go for bold statement fabrics. Give a thought to the item you will be wearing it with and build a colour palette from that.

Dress; Joy, shoes; Kurt Geiger

You will need:

• Peplum fabric x 1m
• Peplum lining fabric x 1m
• Belt clasp
• Interfacing
• Sewing machine 
• Cotton thread
• Tape measure
• Pattern paper or News paper
• Masking tape or blue tack
• Pencil
• Paper Scissors
• Fabric Scissors
• Pins
• Hand needles
• Iron

How to do it

1. Measure the waist band circumference of your skirt and divide into two. If you want your peplum to have a gap at the front then only measure this far around.
2. Using pattern paper, measure out the length of your peplum (½ the measured circumference or waistband) and the peplum width. 
3. Draw a curved incline on the rectangle and cut out the pattern paper.
4. Slice to the very top of the pattern but without breaking the rectangle every 1.5cm
5. Lay the slit paper onto a 2^nd piece of pattern paper. Using masking tape or blue tack, secure one end of the paper to a 2^nd sheet of paper. Spread into a fan leaving 1” gap between each split. 
6. Draw around this shape adding a 1.5cm seam allowance all the way round and cut out. This is now your peplum pattern. To make a two tiered peplum, make a 2nd pattern piece but wider.
7. Once you are happy with your peplum shape, fold your chosen fabric in 2 with the right sides facing. Pin on your pattern placing the Centre Back on the fold of the fabric and cut out your peplum.  Repeat this step with your lining fabric. Repeat with your second peplum fabric and lining fabric.
8. Take one peplum and one peplum lining, place right sides together and pin all the way around. Sew all the way around the curve, leaving the top edge (waistband)  open. Trim the edges of the sewn curve.
9. Pull the peplum right side out. Push the corners out from the inside using the point of closed scissors. Press with an iron
10. Place the narrower peplum on top of the broader peplum, lining up the top edges on both. Pin together. Machine a running stitch along this line. REPEAT STEPS 9 AND 10 WITH THE 2^nd PEPLUM.
11. For the waistband; Cut a piece of fabric the same length as your waist plus 5cm seam allowance with a width of 8cm wide (make this wider depending on the width of your belt clasp). To stiffen your waistband, iron on a strip of fusible interfacing to the underside of the waistband fabric.
12. Pin the waistband to top edge of the peplum, right sides together.  Machine a running stitch along this line.
13. Fold the waistband up and fold the remaining waistband fabric over to enclose the fusible interfacing and raw edges of peplum. Hand sew a slipstitch along the inside of the waistband.
14. Finish by fixing your belt fastening to the waistband.

Fabric Details

Needle cord from Sewbox.co.uk

clasp from Sew 'n' Sew St Nick's Market

Stitch Details

Running stitch

slip stitch (hand)