I first heard of Vikisews from Bianca of Sleepless in Bavaria who’s a big fan of this Russian pattern designer. I can certainly see why – plenty of beautiful designs and at a crazy low price. You’ve just got to get over the fact that there’s no English translation!

So since I’m pretty sure all of you have just clicked through to check out their site, I thought I’d explain how it works! Each pattern size is sold individually and as well as the size you have an option of 4 different heights. It’s great if you’re petite (or very tall for that matter) as each size has been drafted for each height. It’s not so great if you’re in between multiple sizes as you won’t have the option to grade between sizes as you would do in a nested pattern.

The dress pattern I started with is actually a free one! It’s the платье вики pattern – or if you put it through google translate the “Wiki Dress”… (I’d like to think there’s a possibility this dress is sponsored by Wikipedia! 😂)

I loved the style of this dress – it reminded me of this dress I saw in Oliver Bonas recently whilst I was out with Harriet of Sew Me Sunshine. We both loved the dress!

I always love an opportunity to copy a RTW dress!

I found a beautiful lilac viscose whilst on day trip to Paris recently (from Sacrés Coupons) and knew that this would be a perfect partner with this pattern. If anything it was a little too similar to the sample garment for my liking but I decided to go for it anyway!

The instructions for the pattern as you can imagine are all in Russian. I only bothered to translate the pattern labels as I wasn’t sure which of the skirt pieces was the front and back! The instructions themselves have lots of decent photos so if you’ve got a bit of experience sewing you can definitely figure it out without the wording.

I pretty much made the pattern as is though I did do a big bicep adjustment as the sleeves were super slim. (If you need to do one too, don’t forget to lengthen the sleeve ruffle too!). I loved not having to do any length adjustments for once!

It’s quite a quick sew – lots of gathers and hemming with all those frills but otherwise, it’s pretty simple. I use a rolled hem foot for the frills to save time and to keep things neat!

I love the finished product! I think it’s a little “young” on me (my hairband doesn’t help!) but that’s what I expected! Proportion-wise it’s right on the money and it’s such a nice feeling not having to worry about more fit adjustments because of my height!

I definitely want to make more and maybe do variations with/without the ruffles and maybe do a short sleeve version for summer and even a maxi skirt one. I love the semi loose fit – I’m always a fan of dresses you can literally throw over your head and walk out the door in!