Tshirt to Peplum top tutorial

I’ve really been into trying new (to me) fashion and styles. I’ve been seeing peplum a lot lately on a few fashion blogs, but you know me and my cheapness. Why would you buy something you could refashion?

I picked up this tshirt at the Salvation Army for $1. It’s an XL women’s shirt, so I knew I’d have to work a little magic for it to fit. I loved the color for fall, so I bought it.

I decided I’d turn this tshirt to peplum top. Get ready for some really awful pictures of the steps I took to make it.

First step, I cut the shirt at the bottom where I wanted the peplum to start. I choose about 2 inches above my natural waist.

Next, I took a shirt that fit me well to determine where I’d cut the sleeves/arm holes. I also cut the sleeves off each side right beside the seam. I guess if I really wanted to, I could have kept the sleeves and just hemmed them to fit my arm, but I’m into layering because it’s hotter than blue blazes STILL in this swamp of a state. I cut along the sides of the tshirt to peplum top with one inch seam allowance on the side.

Next step, I sewed the sides to make the top of the tshirt to peplum top.

I took the bottom of the top and cut it at the seams so it was two pieces. I don’t know if I needed to do that or not, but I did. I did a basting stitch at the very top of both sides to create a ruffle effect. That just consists of a loose stitch with pieces at the end so you can pull the material together. Here is a great tutorial on how to do this and many other ruffles. 

Next, I pinned the peplum skirt to the top. Now, this took some pinning and repinning to figure out how it would work. Turns out you should pin the skirt with the “right side” of the material to the “wrong side” of the bottom of the tshirt to peplum top. The peplum skirt should be pinned within the top, like so:

(It will look like the second picture, except you’ll stick that whole skirt inside the top.) The seams of the bottom should match with the seams of the top.

I did a zig zag stitch to connect the peplum to the top,then sewed the sides.

I decided the top of the tshirt to peplum top needed to be more structured and not so t-shirty, so I cut off the ribbing, shaped the neckline, pinned (and included some little pleats on the neckline) and sewed.

I didn’t sew up the sleeves because I intend to wear this with a jacket or cardigan.

I loved how it turned out.

And here’s me rocking tshirt to peplum shirt, my cardi, refashioned skirt and teal jewelry.