Vikisews Patterns
If you’ve been following my Instagram account, then you may have noticed that I’ve been a little bit obsessed with Viki Sews Patterns since my feed for the last few weeks has been filled with me-made garments from this pattern company.
So far, I’ve made 3 dresses, a bustier top and 2 pairs of pants from their collection of patterns. Since I’ve sewed up quite a few pieces from them, this blog gives some information about my experience with this pattern company just in case you’re thinking of buying some of their patterns.
The patterns are available in PDF format, and can be found on their website or their Etsy shop. When I made my first dress, I purchased it from the Etsy store because it was seemingly easier to navigate since it’s in English. However, I’ve discovered that it’s better to purchase the patterns directly from their website. If you do, then you first have to set up an account with them before making your first purchase, and then all your purchases will be stored in your account.
The website can be switched to English from Russian, and when you do the language switch, then your feed will mainly show the patterns that have been translated to English. I believe that the company started to translate their patterns about a year ago, and they will probably add more patterns to be translated. When you stay on Russian mode on the website, you will see that they have a whole catalogue of patterns, not just for women but also for kids and men. These patterns can also be purchased, but the instructions are going to be in Russian. I haven’t bought any of these patterns yet, but I think they may not be too difficult to attempt sewing if you have some experience sewing. The instructions come with pictures of the garment being sewn instead of drawings, and even without written explanations, some techniques might be easy to understand from the visual guide.
I don’t buy their patterns from the Etsy store anymore because it’s cheaper on the website, and the website itself offers some good deals from time to time. There’s also a wider selection of patterns. For example, their free patterns are only available on the website. I sewed up the Milana Dress, which is a free pattern. It is hard to believe that this is a free pattern because it’s quite an involved project with all the bells and whistles – meaning that it has a full lining, flounces, and neatly closed seams on the inside. Most of the time, free patterns tend to be simple projects, but this one is a full-on pattern that took me about 2 days to complete sewing. My only warning about this pattern is that the waist of the skirt is a little snug for me to pull the garment over my head in order to take it off. So if you want to sew this up, I suggest adding about 2 inches to the centre back seam of the skirt so that it’ll be a bigger opening to put your shoulders through. Otherwise, this is a really pretty and flirty dress pattern that I sewed up in red plaid Thai silk. And it’s FREE!
What makes Viki Sews patterns attractive to me is that the designs feature wardrobe staples with a twist. Take the Milana dress as an example: it’s a party dress made spicier with a cut-out in the back, the long straps that function as the back opening for the bodice, and flounce galore.
The Oona Dress is a summer maxi dress with side and back cut-outs and this makes it stand out from the crowd.
And the Leora Dress is a long body-con dress with front cut-outs and a neck strap that makes it different from the rest.
The sewing instructions are also very clear and quite thorough. They never fail to encourage pressing and basting wherever possible in order to get a better sewing finish. The drafting is excellent and the pattern pieces fit perfectly with no issues. The price point for the patterns is not bad since most of them range from US$8-US$10, but keep in mind that you will be paying for one-size only patterns. This is probably the main deterrent from buying their patterns. If you had to grade between 2 or more sizes, then the patterns would pose a challenge to do so because there aren’t other sizes to do the grading with. Although my body measurements don’t fall exactly in any of their sizes, I’ve managed to choose a size that works for me. For a really good fit, I should probably grade between 2 sizes but I’m not going to buy 2 sizes of the same pattern and try to grade them. That would be too much of a hassle. I have a smaller chest and a larger waistline than the size 36, but that size seems to work well for most of the patterns, especially the dress patterns.
I suggest looking at the “Circumference Ease” page while buying each pattern to determine which size is best for you. This would give you a better idea whether to size up or down. For the Britney pants pattern, I chose size 38 because I saw that there was less ease at the waistline as compared to the Adeline Trousers, which I sewed up in size 36.
The Britney pants are a loose-fitting pair of jeans with a curved waistband, and balloon shaped legs with cuffed hems. And they are one of the best fitting jeans that I’ve made with only a minor adjustment made to the centre back seam.
The Adeline Trousers are classic wide-legged trousers, and this pattern is very popular in the sewing community ever since it was released in English. The pattern has 5cm ease at the waistline, and I didn’t have to make any adjustment to them to fit well.
There is also an extensive fitting adjustment page called “Women’s Pattern Instructions” that comes with every pattern if you need to make any adjustment to your pattern. One good thing about the one-size patterns is that they also come with the option to choose your length preference for the garment based on your height. I usually have to make this adjustment since I am short, but I don’t have to do this at all with the Viki Sews Patterns.
For the Tally Bustier, there is negative circumference ease but I made size 36 knowing that I wasn’t installing the back closure with an exposed zipper but with grommets and a tie like a corset. If I was using a zipper, then I would probably have to sew up the size 38, and make other fit adjustments at the bust. This is a tight-fitting garment, so sewing this up gave me a good idea about how the sizing works for me with this pattern company.
The other issue with Viki Sews is that the sizing has a limited range. Sizes go from 34-52 which cater for a 86cm-122cm hip measurement respectively. If your body falls outside of this range, then the patterns are not accessible to you. Or if your body doesn’t fit the one-size patterns, then the patterns may not be so easy to adjust, and be a pain to fit for you as well. Those are the 2 main disadvantages of buying one-size patterns. I am lucky that I can make it work, and make minor adjustments here and there, but depending on your body shape and size, this might be more challenging for you.
I haven’t made any of the outer-wear patterns at all, but the catalogue is filled with all these lovely patterns to sew up. I’ve bought some jacket and coat patterns, and I can’t wait to sew these up next. I hope what I’ve offered in this blog would help you determine whether or not you’d like to try out Viki Sews Patterns. I also offered some advice in choosing the right size. The design component of the patterns appeals to me, but I also see how it may be difficult to fit the one-size patterns for different body types. In the meantime, happy sewing and see you soon!
