Pattern Review: Wilder Gown

So, I am pregnant! Knowing that I will grow increasingly large over the summer, reaching my maximum state of enormousness in October, my sewing attention has turned to maternity wear. I feel quite uncomfortable with the idea of buying or making clothes that will only last me for a few months - many of the clothes in my wardrobe are at least 5 years old, some of them 10+ years. So I have been mindfully considering sewing patterns that have the longevity to act as maternity wear now, and still be suitable for normal-size-me in the future.

Enter the Friday Pattern Company Wilder Gown. I bought the PDF pattern directly from their website a couple of weeks ago. There are quite a lot of pages (30 for the pattern, and another 19 for the instruction booklet), but I appreciated their effort to minimise printing by suggesting I draw out the skirt panels myself, since they are simple rectangles. The option to print these panels as part of the PDF is there too though, for those who don't have a long enough ruler!




Due to the length and all the gathering, the standard version of this dress does ask for a substantial 3-5.5m of fabric, depending on dress size and fabric width. That being said, both versions I made used less. In fact, the blue version used less than 2m. I will talk through my alterations later.


Despite sewing for nearly 10 years now, I am quite a slow worker. I was very pleased to find that I could make the pink version within a day (which is almost unheard of for me!). I used a very soft and lightweight viscose from Sew Me Sunshine.

The blue dress took longer, three or four days, partly just because I was being a lot more careful with the delicate embroidered tulle fabric, but also because it needed a lining - so I was essentially making the dress twice! And then joining the lining to the main fabric was a bit fiddly too. The embroidered tulle came from a fabric shop in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and the lining is a standard black lining fabric from John Lewis.



I have seen people report that they have made their Wilder Gown in an HOUR (?!) or two, which seems crazy to me. If I have decided how to lay out all my pattern pieces within an hour I think I'm doing well! Anyway, the point is: this is a fairly quick make.

There is nothing particularly challenging in the construction process. The instructions are very good - clear and concise, and there are lots of diagrams. You just need to have a bit of patience when gathering the skirt tiers, particularly the lower one, which is looooong! And of course it requires hemming too, arghh. This also means it devours plenty of thread, so make sure your bobbin is fully loaded up!



One of the great things about this pattern is how easy it is to make alterations to the length of the skirt(s) and sleeves. It really allows you to make it your own. I've seen so many beautiful and very different versions on Instagram and have used some of them as inspiration for my own creations.

I lengthened the long-sleeve by 3" and threaded a thin 7mm elastic through the cuffs

I shortened the lower skirt tier by 2"

This is a lovely and surprisingly simple pattern to work with, so I would highly recommend it. Particularly because it is so easy to alter to create different looks, and the instructions are friendly. The only downside from my point of view is the fabric expense if you plan to make it at the original length.

Having now made this dress twice, there are some general alterations (unrelated to fit) that I have made to the pattern pieces which may be helpful to other makers. This is a bit techy so only really worth reading if you have the pattern in front of you and you're about to get started! In which case - happy sewing!

• The original pattern uses two strips sewn together to make the tie that goes around the collar. I calculated the full tie length (the length of the original tie piece minus the 1.5cm seam allowance, then doubled). Then I cut just one pattern piece at this full length to avoid having the seam, thus saving myself a little bit of time and fabric. And I just think it's a bit neater.

• The pattern asks you to cut three panels for the bottom tier of the skirt. But this means having three seams in what I think are kind of awkward places, either one right down the centre-front or two that are visible from the front... I would rather have just two seams, in line with the higher skirt tier, down the sides. So again, I did a bit of maths. I calculated the full circumference of the lower skirt tier (skirt panel width x3), and then halved it so that I could cut two wider panels instead. This does mean now having separate pattern pieces for the two different skirt tiers, but I think it's worth it.

• Lastly, 1.5cm always seems like quite an excessive seam allowance to me, and find myself trimming the fabric down afterwards when finishing the raw edges so that they don't flap around on the inside. So I reduced the seam allowances on the pattern pieces from 1.5cm to 1cm, to avoid trimming and to save a little bit on fabric again. I did leave the seam allowance as 1.5cm for the seams joining together the dress tiers though, to allow space for the skirt gathering.