DIY: Rocker peplum tee

The peplum style shirt is everywhere right now, and as I think about new DIY's to do, the peplum is always in the back of my mind. The problem I ran into was which kind of peplum.... there's the: (now keep in mind I'm making up these names on my own)

Sophisticated tailored peplum:

Which is usually done by adding a circle skirt at the smallest part of the waist of a shirt

Baggy youthful peplum:

Which is usually done on a baggier shirt with a short peplum lower than the natural waist

Ruched peplum:

Pleated peplum:

You get the idea.......

What I was looking for was more on the baggy youthful peplum look! I have all of these band T's laying around that are either XL's or I just never wear. I thought I'd turn them into fun peplum T's or cut them up into tanks for the summer. So here's the tutorial on what I did...... 

Keep in mind, it's not super easy. You do need to know a bit about sewing and how garments are constructed. BUT if I can do it, I'm sure anyone can:)

Inspiration>

Here's mine>

So, I took a random big T-shirt and cut across where it hits the smallest part of my waist.

Then I turned it inside out, tried it on, and pinned the shirt to fit me a little better. I sewed along those pins and cut off the excess.

Then I took the bottom half of the shirt and cut it in half long ways. I sewed those two pieces together at the two small ends to make one long tube. This tube will be the bottom peplum. 

The next step is a trick I saw online. Do a quick loose stitch along the edge of the tube where you're going to sew the bottom piece to the top piece. Then pull the thread tighter to cause it to ruche.

Turn the top piece inside out and keep the bottom piece right side out. Slide the bottom piece inside the top piece so that the two seems you're about to sew meet.

Pin them together all the way around and pull out the white thread. Sew the pieces together as you take the pins out. Just make sure you keep an eye on the ruching and that it's even and laying right. It takes some getting used to.

This is the end result! It actually looks really cute on! I cut the collar off and the sleeves a little shorter so they're capped. The only thing I'd do differently next time is I'd choose a thinner softer shirt and I'd make the peplum longer. Can't wait to make more of these!