Vogue 8815- Peplum Tops: Part 1 of 2 - "A tale of three muslins"

I'm a fan of the peplum trend. It's great for us pear shaped women since it camouflages the size of the hips. It's also wonderful for giving the illusion of a small waist for those of us whose waists are not what they once were after a kid (or four) I have a top with a peplum in my wardrobe and I love how I look in it. Since it's more summery in it's style and color I needed one for fall/winter. I really wanted one in faux leather (I've been seeing them around) but after some research (Pintrest!) I decided I needed one in lace as well.
Some of my inspiration photos:


For modesty reasons I wear all my sleeveless and short sleeved tops and dresses with a thin rayon/lycra knit layering shell that covers my elbows. It opens up my wardrobe options to many different styles that don't have sleeves and a high neck. It's also great in the cooler months. I can't imagine wearing any of the above tops in the winter (and they are supposed to be fall/winter styles) without sleeves underneath or a cardigan on top. brrr...

I started with Vogue 8815, which I ordered from sewingpatterns.com, and went shopping for fabric.

For the faux leather version I found this at fabric.com I wish I had bought more since they're now out of it in black until the end of March and I wanted to make a doubleknit skirt with a faux leather panel.

I came up with some stretch lace for $6 a yard at a local discount fabric store (that unfortunately has mostly home-dec stuff lately) and chose to underline it with some gold colored knit lining I bought at Emma One Sock years ago.

Pattern with fabric swatches:


As soon as the pattern arrived I traced off the pattern in my size as per my bust measurement (18). That was my first mistake... I should have remembered from years ago that I am always one size smaller (at least) than my measurements in the "Big 4" patterns. In my defense it's been a long time since I've sewn for myself, let alone used a Vogue pattern. I completely forgot how off the fit usually is for me out of the envelope. I did my usual flat pattern alterations including adjusting for narrow, square shoulders, and adding to the waist and hip.


Muslin #1 had so much extra fabric in the back I couldn't even see anything else. I took in the back, shaping the CB seam. I also changed the placement of the front darts. (Why in the world was this pattern drafted with the front darts so close to each other?). I probably did some other tweaking that I can't remember about now because by the time I was done the muslin was so marked up that I felt I couldn't work with it any more. I transferred my alterations to the pattern and cut...

Muslin #2  which was much better. I was able to see that the front was large as well. so took it in along the center front ( See, I really should have traced that size 16 to start with). I tweaked the front darts some more. The back still didn't fit to my satisfaction. I took a 1/2" tuck out in the center back horizontally across the back just below the armholes, tapering to nothing at the side seams. (Well, my 11 year old actually did that for me. That made things much easier than my old method of trying to twist myself into a pretzel to fit my back) This took out more of the extra fabric and shaped the center back seam more.  I added a bit to the side seams at the bottom of the back, because that's where I need the extra room, not in the center of my back. Now that was more like it! Again the muslin was so marked up and taken in that I felt I needed another one just to be sure. So I transferred the alterations again.
The back was now looking like this: (including my change to the seam allowances and changes at center back due to using a different length of and method of invisible zipper insertion than the pattern called for)

So I cut Muslin #3- This time I added the peplum which only needed very slight alteration to match the size the bodice ended up at. Finally I got a good fit! It fits me even better than it does Freeda (my dressform). At this point I had invested about a week and a half into it and I was so proud I was ready to wear it just the way you see here.

 

Which I didn't. I continued onwards. But that's for next time.

Continued here: "A Tale of Two Peplums"