friday pattern company
Wilder top
This post is going to be short because its much the same as the previous one. Same pattern, different view, different fabric.
After watching a few blogs I went to Walthamstow on a fabric shopping trip. There were lots of shops and I didn’t even get to all them, ran out of time. Prices were very reasonable. You can even get 50p per metre and I will be back soon.
I told myself I’d reached the stage where I need to stop being attracted to the lovely patterned fabric and get myself some easy to wear plains. Trouble is this type of plain fabric often looks like the most boring one in the shop, and this £2 per metre viscose, a rich olive green with dandelion heads and pink leaves, was too difficult to resist.
I made a Wilder top, with a 2 inch full bust adjustment. The top was a much easier and quicker sew than the dress.
The sleeves as drafted in the pattern are not quite full length and I was going to concoct some sort of gathering at the wrist end as many others already have, but have now decided its not needed. The viscose is very slippy and comfortable.
The fabric does suit this top very well and will be a perfect marriage with the yet to be made plain black trousers which are on my must sew soon list. I used 1.5 metres to make the top so total cost £3. This is great but when I started sewing a major goal ( of several) was to save the planet by using second hand fabric. Now I have a growing fabric stash and more than enough clothes. Re-think needed.
Wilder gown – Friday pattern company
The Wilder gown has been a great hit this summer, I was seeing it everywhere in all types of fabric and on all types of bodies. I scoffed and initially thought ‘fashion victims’
I attended a local car boot sale and noticed one seller had some fabric hidden among various items of bedding and other clothing. Whenever I see fabric for sale in unlikely places like this, it makes my heart sing and at only £2 for just over 3 metres it was mine. I asked the seller what her plans had been and she told me she bought the fabric some time ago and never got round to making anything – I’ve got a few fabrics myself that could tell that sort of tale if they could talk, but they’ll be staying with me for now.
I like the fabric, not too boring, not too flamboyant, the sort of design you could wear in a large garment. Its some sort of man made stuff, light with a lot of drape but not transparent and something of a frayer. I had to admit that the perfect garment would be the Wilder gown, so £20 later a paper copy of the pattern arrived.
I chose to make the size L but given the amount of ease in this garment any size would probably have been OK. The pattern envelope recommended 3.5 metres of fabric and I didn’t have quite enough but as I am only 5’3″ and didn’t want to make a floor length dress, I hoped this would do, and it did, though with not much left over. I took about 2 inches off the length of the skirt rectangle pieces. That’s the beauty of this pattern, you can adapt it to suit the fabric you have.
The bodice pieces are not large and could be made from quite a small amount of fabric. The pattern tetris seems to give little waste. On the first day the bodice was cut out and sewn together. I tried it on and the fit seemed good though it was difficult to tell without the neck ties.
The second day I assessed how much fabric was left and made the first tier of the skirt and the tie. The pattern pieces give a tip to rip the rectangles rather than cutting them.
I tried this on a scrap piece of fabric and it seemed to work, and as my fabric was a slippy frayer I went for it with the ripping. Its actually seems more accurate and a method I’d use again but does require some courage. The fabric puckered slightly at the ripped edge but was easily smoothed out again by hand.
The gathering and first layer attachment were unremarkable and with the tie added now looked like a Wilder tunic
Gathering the final tier was a challenge. Its a lot of gathering to pull through one length of thread and I was worried that my thread would snap and I would have to start all over again.
As an exercise and for fun I used as many different seam finishes as I could think of. The bodice pieces were finished with zig zag stitch or overlock stitch. The skirt rectangles were stitched together with French seams and the gathered edges were bound, I also used binding as a facing for the hem to preserve skirt length.
Here is my daughter modelling the gown for me.
If I make it again, and I probably will, I would add about 1 inch to the bodice length as I think it would drape more flatteringly at that length, and would change the sleeves, maybe make them longer and have elastic at the cuff.
Overall I’m pleased with how this turned out and my only criticism would be that the sleeves join the bodice quite low down which means the gown lifts up quite a lot if you lift your arms up.
Although I’ve missed the boat for wearing this as a summer dress, there is plenty of room for vests and leggings underneath for warmth and winter wear.
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