We’re back with more Holiday dress inspiration! In our last blog post, we covered how to add a gathered skirt to your Cassidy pattern, and today, we will show you how to lengthen the peplum into a skirt.
Pssst: You can get Cassidy for 30% off in the shop using the code CASSIDY30. Coupon code valid until December 23, 2024.
Note that this hack works best for folks with waist and hip in the same size or hip in a smaller size. The resulting skirt is quite skimming, and because of the wrap design, the dress may open up when the difference between the waist and hips is larger. If you have a larger hip, you may want to consider grading out the peplum or doing the gathered skirt dress. This will result in a similar look with better coverage.
Choose a lightweight and drapey fabric. Although not as important as when adding a gathered skirt, we still recommend using a lightweight fabric. It will feel nice and flowy (technical term, haha) on the body and hang beautifully.
Lengthen the Peplum Pieces
Trace your front and back peplum pieces onto a large piece of paper. You can tape extra paper to the bottom of your peplum pieces instead.
Working with one pattern piece at a time, extend the horizontal center front/back line down. Extend the side seam line down and out to the side, keeping the line at the same angle as the original peplum side seam.
The hem is perpendicular to the center front/back right at the center front/back. Looking at the hem of the peplum, eyeball a spot where the hem starts to curve. Draw a vertical line, parallel to the center front/back through this spot.
Divide the curved part of the peplum hem into 3 parts and mark them. Working around where you think the hem of your skirt will be, divide the distance between the side seam and the line you drew into 3 parts and mark them. Connect the marks vertically. The distance between the lines may not be perfectly equal, but it will be a good guideline for lengthening the curved part of the peplum’s hem.
Mark the desired length on all lines. The length of the skirt is entirely up to you! When lengthening, consider the existing peplum length and do not add the entire desired length of the skirt to the hem of the peplum. Make sure to add hem allowance, too. We recommend a narrower hem—about ⅝” (1.6 cm).
Connect the marks, copying the original hem of the peplum as best as you can.
Repeat the same steps to lengthen the other peplum pattern piece.
If you want to add inseam pockets to your dress, now is the time to do it! Refer to this blog post on adding an inseam pocket and downloading a free inseam pocket pattern piece.
Finally, you will need to lengthen the peplum facing piece to match the desired length of your dress. Make sure the hem allowance on your new facing matches the hem allowance on your skirt.
How much fabric will I need?
This will depend on a lot of factors, like the desired length of the dress, the fullness of the skirt, etc. I recommend making your calculations and laying out your pattern pieces on a large table or floor to get an accurate picture of how much fabric you need. Consider the width of the fabric when you are doing this! You may need to cut the pattern pieces flat.
Assembling the dress
The best part of this hack? You get to sew the dress as you would the Cassidy Wrap Top! There are no changes needed to the construction steps. When sewing the skirt, simply follow steps 12-17 in the instruction booklet as if you were sewing the peplum.
Happy sewing and let me know if you try this hack!
Helen
Pssst: You can get Cassidy for 30% off in the shop using the code CASSIDY30. Coupon code valid until December 23, 2024.
