Peplum top - Vogue 8815

I can't remember how I first came across this pattern.  I must have been looking at someone's sewing blog.  I never would have thought of wearing a peplum top, but lots of people seem to have made it, and there are lots of pictures of people looking fabulous in it so what the hey.

I couldn't think what fabric to make it in - I'm not even sure what broadcloth (one of the recommended fabrics) is, aside from it being a type of cotton - so I thought I'd do a trial run in some fabric I had hanging around from my bear-making days.  This blue floral fabric was once a lovely, 1980s dress with an enormous flared skirt  (albeit in a tiny size, and with marks), and then I bought it second-hand and made a mammoth out of it.  There was just enough left to make the sleeveless version of this top.

It wasn't difficult to make, apart from the zipper.  It's a 22 inch zipper running down the back.  The instructions have you baste the two back sections together then, from the inside, centre the zipper along the basting, and attach - basting from the inside, then sewing from the outside.  The trouble I had was that, with the zipper open, it was difficult to know how close the two sides needed to be.  I mean, close obviously - but a millimetre or so apart, touching, overlapping slightly?  And somehow i managed to get the two rows of stitches uneven - so one is 3-4 mm from the zipper, the other is almost 1 centimetre.  And (see last pic), when I pinned the zipper on, I started from the bottom, so the tops aren't quite even.

The other negative is that my stitches are all quite visible.  I used navy blue thread, so of course, wherever I sew over one of the roses, the stitches suddenly become glaringly obvious.  I'm not sure what you're supposed to do about that.  I suppose change between pink and blue thread, if you're really that bothered about it(?)

I do really like it, although I worry that it looks like a lampshade - especially in the picture below. Also the hem has a tendency to fly up in the breeze, or if you run down stairs too fast - which always comes as a surprise.

But it's a comfortable fit, the shape is lovely, and the cotton is nice to wear.  I'm thinking I'll try it again with sleeves at some point.