Slowly, slowly I have found my way back to my sewing machine. Partly because Marc treated me to a brand-new model, partly through wanting to be more sustainable and mainly because I’m excited to see what’s new in the sewing world. Instagram is fabulous for inspiring creativity. I kept seeing a super dress called the Wilder Gown, a voluminous, simple but oh so stylish summer dress. Further research revealed it was designed by an indie pattern company called the Friday Pattern Company
…the Wilder Gown, a voluminous, simple but oh so stylish summer dress.
The Friday pattern Company.
Based in California the Friday Pattern Company design sewing patterns for the modern woman. Minimalist and easy to sew. They donate 5% of all proceeds towards a rotating list of top charities. Stylish and making a difference, what’s not to love?
Inspiration from similar voluminous, kaftan style dresses available from my favourite stores Arket & Cos:
They say…” Sewing patterns for the modern woman. Minimalist and easy to sew”… I agree!
The Wilder Gown
I have been eyeing up all those beautiful voluminous dresses and blouses in the high street this season. Cool, floaty and perfect to hide the ‘pasta paunch’ after a delicious lunch! Or when its sooo hot, you want something that doesn’t cling, that will look equally good at home, on the beach or abroad this summer. This is the answer the wilder gown does all this and more, is simple to sew and very versatile. Make it long, short, wide or more fitted, long sleeves or short? It really is up to you!
Cool, floaty and perfect to hide that little ‘pasta paunch’ after a delicious lunch!
Sewing The Wilder Gown.
I wanted to use up fabric I already had, so although I not as fond of prints as I use to be, I decided to test the water with some ditsy print cotton by ‘Rose and Hubble’ I had 3 metres pattern suggested 3.5m but 3 would have to do.
Downloading & Printing the PDF Pattern:
Downloading is simple, I bought mine from the Foldline because it was the cheapest, I could find. We printed the ‘at home file’ using plain A4 paper. Make sure you print the first page by itself at 100% and then measure the test square. It should be 2” x 2” if not you need to adjust your printing size up or down or the pattern will not be the correct size. If all correct, print pages 1-25 for the dress. Don’t forget to print out the instructions too, they are on a separate pdf.
Putting it all together.
I use Sellotape and the biggest table I can find. First, I cut off the bottom and right sides of my paper pattern pieces and join all the grey diamonds together, row by row. Each piece is numbered so it is a lot simpler than it sounds. Cut out your pieces and off you go…
Sizing:
The Wilder Gown is a floaty, voluminous style, so next time I sew it I will size down, having made it in my normal size.
Things I altered.
I made the sleeves wider as I wanted a wide ‘kaftan style’ sleeve and added a ribbon instead of using the same fabric. Lace was used as a trimming on the inside of the narrow sleeve hem. I used my over locker/serger to neaten and trim all seams. I only had enough fabric for 4 rectangles instead of five, for the tiers and that worked out fine, I still had lots of floaty volume. For a neater finish on the bodice I top stitched the bottom of the top to the first tier.
In conclusion.
The Wilder Gown is a super versatile pattern, simple to sew, even for beginners. It took me a couple of hours to tape the pdf together and the same to sew the dress. The pattern instructions are well illustrated and simply explained. You won’t have to learn about facings or setting in any sleeves as the neck is cut as one with the raglan sleeves, its brilliant!
I Sewed A Wilder Gown by Friday Pattern Company A Review by lazy daisy jones
The Wilder Gown is a super, versatile pattern that is simple to sew, even for beginners.
The Wilder Gown PDF is available from the The Wilder Gown and will be available to buy in print soon!
My next plan is to make another wilder gown in linen, but not as voluminous. However, as linen can be very expensive, Id love to know if any of you sewing fans out there have found any good fabric sites to recommend?
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