The Wilder Gown By Friday Pattern Company

Every so often, a sewing pattern comes along that takes the sewing world by storm. Earlier this year it was all about the jumpsuit. But then along came a pattern for a new tiered maxi dress with raglan sleeves and a gathered tie at the neck. It has been gracing the grids of many of the top sewing stars of Instagram. So I decided to try for myself the Wilder Gown by Friday Pattern Company

Having seen so many people making the pattern on Instagram, I really did want to try it for myself. But really wasn’t sure if the large flowy style would suit my size 18 figure. In the end I decided to just take the plunge and have a go!

The Wilder Gown By Friday Pattern Company comes as the option to make it as a blouse or a tiered dress. You can make it with a short or long sleeve. You can make it with one tier or two. I’ve seen it with ruffles to the end of the sleeves, and with the tier height reduced to make a slightly shorter dress version. Its modular design can be hacked in so many ways! I decided that the only change I needed was to add some pockets.

Recommended Fabrics

The fabrics recommended for this pattern are light drapy woven fabrics, such as rayon, viscose or cotton voile. Though if you made it in a thicker cotton or linen it would make for a lovely sturdy dress.

At the moment the pattern is a PDF downloadable only, but it will be available as a paper pattern from mid August 2019. The brilliant thing about this pattern though, is that you really only need to print out a few pages. As the tiers for the skirt are all the same size, you can just measure and cut these on your fabric if you wish. You do also get the option to print out the skirt tier panels, but you can omit to do this. Also, the pattern gives clear instructions for which pages to print out for which size. You may not need to print all the pages. I love that Friday Pattern Company do this, anything that saves me time and printing ink gets my vote!

Choosing A Size And Adjusting the Pattern

Looking at the pattern, I actually took the finished garment sizes as my guide for which size I was going to make. This mean that I went down a size. The size 14-16 was going to fit my bust with ease, so I decided to make that one. Furthermore the pattern has a clear line showing you where to slash and spread if you want to do a full bust adjustment, which I invariably need. It also gives you a line where you can lengthen the bodice for ensuring that the bodice comes to under the bustling. I decided to do a 1inch FBA and lengthen the bodice by an inch also to accommodate my 45 inch DD bustline.

Starting to Sew

As usual, I decided to make a wearable toile, though I was pretty sure the wilder gown would fit

Find out what a toile is, and why I usually make one

I shopped my stash, and found a wonderful piece of light cotton fabric with a grey stripe and a rose gold line running through it. The pattern calls for up to 4.1 metres (my size called for 3.5 metres), which is slightly more than I usually buy for a dress.

I had already decided that I was going to make the short sleeved version.

Minerva have some amazing fabrics.

Sewing Up The Gown

The instructions for the Wilder Gown By Friday Pattern Company were some of the easiest and most comprehensive I have worked with. The pieces all came together quickly and easily. There are also some useful top tips scattered in the pattern. And some lovely little motivational pictures! These little touches are really appreciated.

Making a really long tube rouleau can sometimes be a bit of a pain, but this one was quite wide and turned easily. My loop turning tool came in handy.

I chose to add in-seam pockets to the first tier. I placed them starting a couple of inches from the top of the tier, and once added they were in a great place for me.

 

For the pattern piece for the pockets I used the pocket bag piece from the Megan Neilsen Darling Ranges Dress.

The trickiest part for me was all the gathering. It is not my strong point, and not something that I truly enjoy doing. But the pattern instructions do make it as easy as possible, asking you to quarter the tiers to be pieced together.

I chose to overlock the seams as I went along, to finish them.

Before I knew it, I had a finished garment!

My verdict?

I love it! It is so floaty and perfect for lazy summer days.

The fact that there are no buttons or zips do make it an easy sew. The only tricky part for me was adding the gathered tiers, and that is only because it is not a job that I enjoy.

Next time I make it I won’t use stripes! I did do my best to pattern match, but it made an easy pattern just that bit more difficult. Similarly, you may want to think again if using fabric with a large print. The seam down the front of the bodice will need pattern matching. Unless you aren’t concerned with that kind of thing.

I also think that I will not add the extra inch drop to the bodice next time. Though I am glad that I did the FBA. And this was made so easy by the lines on the pattern. This is the first time that I have seen an FBA line and that it has been discussed in a pattern, so full marks to Friday Pattern Company for such helpful advice.

I actually am so pleased that I chose to put pockets in, because it doesn’t alter the line of the gown at all, and as a mum I always need a pocket.