Turn Your Clothes into Chic Peplum Pieces

Misty Spinney
Nov 12, 2012

Peplum’s been showing up on garments casual and fancy for the last few months, and we’re loving the flirty femininity it adds to any outfit. We’ve come up with one easy way to turn shirts or skirts into fashion-forward peplum pieces!

This project is slightly more advanced as it does require a sewing machine, and you’ll have to measure yourself to create a peplum pattern. We promise though, it’s not as hard as it looks!

Materials:
– skirt or shirt (that you’ll attach the peplum to)

– 1 yard of fabric

– newspaper (for making a pattern)

– scissors

– pins

– sewing machine

First thing to do is make your pattern.

Measure around your waist, where you want the peplum to start. Take that measurement and divide it by 6.28 to get the radius of your pattern. For us, the radius was 5 inches.

Now take a large piece of newspaper. Measure 5 inches from each corner of the newspaper and make a mark. Mark one more dot in the center of the two corners. Connect each dot by drawing a half circle.

Measure out how long you want your peplum to hang by starting at the waist line and measure a little bit past your belly button. We went with 8 inches. Make sure to leave an extra inch or so for the seam.

Cut out your pattern!

Next thing is to cut your fabric.

Fold your fabric into quarters so that the left and bottom corner are where the folds are. Place your newspaper pattern on top and cut.

Now you should have a peplum circle! Depending on the fabric you’re using, you may need to hem the bottom.

Next, time to pin!

Lay out your garment and pin on the peplum material. Be sure to pin (and sew) on the inside so that the lines are clean when you flip it over.

The peplum circle will be longer than your skirt or shirt. You’ll be creating small darts to make the peplum pop.

The best way to pin is to start at the center of the garment on the front and back. Then turn the skirt and pin the side seams.

And now it’s time to sew.

The trick to sewing a peplum piece onto a stretchy cotton skirt or shirt is to stretch your garment a bit while sewing. This ensures that your garment will stay stretch and also gives the peplum a little extra body.

And that’s it!!

And yes, you might recognize that skirt from our recent 5 Items, 10 Ways style hack.

For a more casual playful look, try adding a peplum flare to a tank top.

Or go fancy with vinyl or leather.

You can always just go nuts with the patterns.

Or wear all 3 peplums at once!

What recent trends are you digging? Have you tried your own DIY peplum top or skirt? Talk to us in the comments below!

Dakota Johnson & Josh Hartnett Join Anne Hathaway In Colleen Hoover's 'Verity' Cast

Colleen Hoover stans, listen up! While the announcement that Anne Hathaway would lead CoHo's Verity movie broke the Brit + Co group chat, it has nothing on the announcement that was made today: she'll be joined by the one and only Dakota Johnson. And we freaked out. Dakota is a master at intrigue and suspense, and I can't think of anyone else who'd be able to draw us into the story like she will.

Verity follows it-girl author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway) and her husband Jeremy, who hire Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson) to finish the remaining books in Verity's series. But as Lowen starts to take a closer look at their lives, she comes to the horrifying realization that not all is as it seems. While It Ends With Us is Colleen Hoover's most popular and widely-known title, Verity is regarded as one of the wildest — and I'm sure the movie is going to be the same.

You already know Anne Hathaway, meet the rest of the Verity cast before the movie premieres!

1. Anne Hathaway as Verity Crawford

John Nacion/Getty Images

The Princess Diaries' Anne Hathaway leads the new movie as Verity Crawford, author, wife, and (apparently) secret keeper.

2. Dakota Johnson as Lowen Ashleigh

Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Dakota Johnson stars as Lowen Ashleigh, a down-on-her-luck writer who's confident working for Verity is her big break.

The actress is also starring in Celine Song's upcoming rom-com Materialists, and told Brit + Co just how much she loved working with "big idiots" Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans.

3. Josh Hartnett as Jeremy Crawford

Theo Wargo/Getty Images

We'll also see Trap's Josh Hartnett as Jeremy Crawford, Verity's husband.

The Verity movie isn't the only Colleen Hoover book adaptation in the works! Read up on the latest news on Regretting You, starring Allison Williams and McKenna Grace.

pop cultureentertainmentcelebritymovie

'Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives' Season 2 Is "Better" Than The First, According To Whitney Leavitt & Taylor Frankie Paul

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives totally dominated the reality TV space in 2024 — and season 2 is will be here before you know it. The show premiered on the Hulu on September 6, and quickly became the year's most-watched unscripted season premiere. Well, MomTok watchers: drop everything (except your phones) because Taylor Frankie Paul and Whitney Leavitt just teased a crazy season 2 of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.

Here's what Taylor Frankie Paul and Whitney Leavitt said about The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 2.

Taylor Frankie Paul & Whitney Leavitt say season 2 is "better" than the first.

"With the second season, you're having conversations constantly with your peers and sitting in your interviews or confessionals where they're constantly asking you questions about yourself and about a scenario. It can be very therapeutic," Whitney Leavitt tells People.

Taylor Frankie Paul admits she has some nerves around filming season 2, considering they're not in total creative control. "It's exciting but I guess I'm always a bit nervous," she says. "We're used to making content that we can control and edit and we don't have control with this. It's nerve-wracking going into it knowing that what happens isn't exactly how the edit might make it look."

"But I do think this one is going to be just as good, if not better, than our first season," she continues. "So far, I think everything has been so fun and entertaining to experience for myself."

And one detail we'll see from both ladies in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 2 are their new babies! Taylor Frankie Paul had her third baby Ever on March 19, 2024, and Whitney Leavitt gave birth to her third baby Billy on October 24, 2024.

"It was a beautiful moment that you'll see more of in season 2. I'm so thankful for him," Taylor says.

And they're still getting used to their 'Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' fame!

Despite their cult followings on social media, both women admit they're still getting used to their fame in the TV space, and how wildly successful the first season was. Taylor says she's "at a loss for words sometimes."

"I remember thinking, 'This will do okay. It should do well, given that we all have a story that people haven't heard about, and all of us do have a following," she adds. "I didn't know the extent of how well it was going to do, so it was shocking as it happened."

And it wouldn't be a show about MomTok without some surprising DM's! "The people that are in your messages reaching out, just unexpected people that you have fangirled over, we've all fangirled over," Taylor continues. "So that was really cool to see. And sometimes I just forget that people are out there watching it. It's a nationwide thing. To this day, I still don't think I even realize it, to be honest."

Maybe season 2 will reveal who's sliding in their DM's. 👀

Have you seen all of this month's incredible December TV shows? They make for the perfect weekend watch.

pop cultureentertainmentreality tvtv

These Easy Christmas Cookies Will Make Your Dreams Come True

If there’s one recipe you 100 percent need to crank out some seriously festive Christmas dessert ideas, it’s the classic, basic sugar cookie. Some of the most intricately ordained, masterpiece cookies (like pink Christmas decorations, jolly reindeer, and llamas) begin with a simple foundation. Let’s start with this recipe we love for a vanilla-bean-speckled version that’s sure to hold its own under all that royal icing.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter (room temperature + cubed)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
  • 1 egg
  • 3 cups flour

Directions

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add vanilla bean and egg. Mix until just incorporated. Stop mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

Gradually add flour (you may not need the full three cups), and mix until dough forms and pulls away from the bowl. Divide dough into two even discs and wrap in cling wrap, then refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.

When ready to roll dough, pre-heat oven to 350°F and line baking trays with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Using a rolling pin, roll cookie dough between two pieces of parchment paper to 1/4-inch in thickness, and use cookie cutters to cut out cookie shapes.

Transfer cookies to a baking tray using a lightly floured spatula. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes before baking.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or when edges begin to brown. The time will be dependent on size and thickness of cookies.

Allow to cool on tray until warm to touch, then transfer onto a wire cooling rackbefore decorating.

Decorate your easy Christmas cookies to you and your family's liking!

Check out our baking and cooking classes for more recipes to make at home!

Brit + Co may at times use affiliate links to promote products sold by others, but always offers genuine editorial recommendations.

See our ‘Grammable Holiday Cookie Guide.

Recipe via Vickie Liu; photos via Brittany Griffin/Brit + Co

cookiesholidaycookie recipeschristmas recipesholidayschristmas cookie recipe ideas