Ginger Made: Naughty Kitty Petrouchka Top

February 17, 2013 By in knits Tags: , , , , 108 Comments

It’s still January, right?

OK. I may have technically missed Jungle January, but I was with you in spirit and have been dying to add some animal print madness to my wardrobe! As soon as Anne announced the month-long extravaganza, I pulled this jersey out of my stash and started plotting. I picked it up at Mood several months ago during a mega shopping expedition with my sister, and the whole time I couldn’t stop saying to her, “This is so awful… I HAVE to have it!” It’s neon leopard print jersey, people! It’s too obnoxious NOT to bring home with you (ladies: this mantra does not apply to dudes). I found out at the cutting counter that it’s Betsey Johnson… makes sense, right? Homegirl loves her crazy prints!

I used Papercut Patterns‘ new(ish) Petrouchka Top pattern, a raglan-sleeved peplum top with a curved seam at the midriff (totally obscured by the print, but it’s an adorable detail). It was mondo easy to put together– seriously, the most difficult part was trying to figure out what 1cm seam allowances are equal to (I spent a ridiculously long time trying to do that math… before I figured out that there’s a 1cm mark on my sewing machine…). I made an XS, and I had to remove a ton of excess from the side seams and sleeves (like, as much as 4″ in some places). I wish that there was a chart of the finished garment measurements (OH WAIT, THERE TOTALLY WAS BUT I IGNORED IT BECAUSE, AGAIN, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT 99 CM EQUALS IN REAL NUMBERS???). So yeah. After I’d already made all the alterations, I spent 3 seconds Googling “99 cm to inches” and realized that 39″ in the bust would never work for me, so I should’ve known better and just sized down from the get-go. Live and learn. Let’s see… I also re-serged the seam joining the peplum to the bodice to raise the waistline a little. I still think it’s a bit too low, but I don’t want to lose any more length in the front, so I’ll just leave it. I’ll shorten the bodice and lengthen the peplum if I make this again.

I’m still not 100% sold on the peplum trend. This doesn’t emphasize my hips, luckily, but I’m not sure how flattering it is to have all that fabric hanging from the waist. But I definitely wouldn’t have tried a peplum at all if I hadn’t loved this pattern so much, so that says a lot. I will probably make this again before ye olde peplum’s 15 minutes of fame in 2013 is up. I’ll say this, though– I definitely feel like a bit of a naughty kitty in this top.

Wicked, wicked kitty…

I’m so glad I finally have a reason to get this out of my stash and onto my body! It’s so trashy and fun– I feel like throwing a cosmo at someone when I’m wearing it! I’m sure Anne would approve this message– if she’s not president of the Sewing Bad Girls Club, I don’t know who is.

108 responses

  1. The print, pattern, fabric – I love it – well done! The peplum adds a little more interest to a straightforward jersey top. I don’t know if I could wear a peplum either but it totally works on you!

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  2. if i only knew that ‘dude rule’ back when i was in my early 20s hehe.. anyways, love the crazy print 🙂 i’m on peplum craze, for sure, hope the trend wont expire too soon (and even if it does, i don’t give a damn, i plan on wearing my peplum tops for a long time)

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  4. It almost looks like a super badass figure skating dress (peplums almost always remind me of figure skating costumes). Bad kitty will scratch your eyes out and steal your routine!

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  12. Damn it, I’ve now had to add this pattern to my wishlist too!!! In or out, I love peplums and your version of this top is super sassy. Love it you naughty little kitty!!!

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  13. I’ve been waiting to see someone make up this pattern! I can’t think of too many people who could pull off neon leopard but you can for sure. Looks great! I see what you mean about wanting to lengthen the peplum and shorten the bodice…good tip.

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  14. Love it! I really like the colours of the leopard print (I think they come that way in the ‘wilds’ of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory). And the peplum!! On a knit shirt, fabulous!

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  15. I love it! That print is awesome and I’m loving this pattern too. I might have to copy you and make one too! ha I love it, only if you don’t mind of course. 🙂 All credit would of course go to you for being totally awesome and making it in the first place! I agree with the peplum trend too, I can’t really decide what I think of it. A part of me loves it, and a part of me feels way too awkward to wear it so I don’t know! I agree though, I love this pattern so much that I don’t really even care!

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    • I feel like the peplums I’ve seen on people have always looked awesome or terrible, but not much in between. It’s a look that I’m pretty sure we’ll be chuckling about in a few years, but it’s fun to try. 🙂

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  25. I love the crazy print! It honestly does work although I can imagine that after working with it for a while it has seared your eyeballs a bit! It’s a great top and definitely doesn’t make you look hippy at all.

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  31. 15 minutes of fashion fame or not – the peplum top is CUTE!! Dammit! Especially in crazy psychedelic cat prints! And Ooh I loved the comment about it being Tanya Harding-esque! She’s the baddest bitch of the ice-skating rink for sure! This top is totally her territory! Haha!

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  32. That fabric is the balls. Reminds me of something Mimi G. would rock. I love you in a little animal peplum but it is a smidge too long in the bodice… otherwise I think it’s a super flattering look on everyone since it emphasizes the smallness of the waist in proportion to the flounce of the peplum. Did you want to go sing karaoke or something while wearing it? Seems like a good thing to wear when you’re going to go out and make alcohol fueled decisions, haha.

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    • Yeah, it stretched out even more from the weight of the lined peplum– I think I’m gonna go ahead and shorten it more even if it makes it a bit midriff-baring. Wearing this feels like the first of many bad decisions in an evening. 😉

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  33. Ahahahaha I’m so glad I’m not the only one who had a brainfart when trying to convert 1 cm to inches. I think I spent about 20 minutes doing furious, hair-pulling maths, before I realized there was a cm marking on the opposite side of one of my tape measures, and I could just hold that against a regular ruler. Why do we use different measurement systems, again?

    Anyway, I like your peplum top. It’s so fancy!!

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  34. “This is so awful… I HAVE to have it!”

    Haha! I have definitely said that before. Though it didn’t have anything to do with fabric. Love your peplum top! I think a peplum is a very flattering cut, but it definitely has to do with where the waist seam hits. I would say it emphasizes a smaller waist over bigger hips if it’s done right- like yours! I like em’ personally. Hope they haven’t totally died away by the time I can wear one again.

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  36. Your top is brilliant!! The fabric is mad, but in a brill way! I, too, don’t get metric measurements, although I have to admit they’re pretty handy for maths when re-sizing compared to imperial! Luckily I have a converter app on my phone that effortlessly converts them for me. 🙂

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  47. That last picture of you might be my favorite EVER. You rock this neon animal print hardcore, and while I’m nervous about peplums myself, I think that it works really well with this pattern and on you. Well done!!

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  50. I love your top! As far as the metric conversion goes, type it into google next time you need to do the conversion 🙂 I get sick of having to convert everything into inches- it is something lots of us have to do when using American patterns.

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    • Thanks, Jane! 😀 Wouldn’t it be simpler if there was one universal system? You know, I typed it into google, but came up with a decimal instead of a fraction and I couldn’t figure out how to convert the decimal back to the closest 1/8″! Sad…

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