Auto-expanding layout with Qt-Designer

According to the documentation, there needs to be a top level layout set.

A top level layout is necessary to ensure that your widgets will resize correctly when its window is resized. To check if you have set a top level layout, preview your widget and attempt to resize the window by dragging the size grip.

You can set one by clearing the selection and right clicking on the form itself and choosing one of the layouts available in the context menu.

After creating your QVBoxLayout in Qt Designer, right-click on the background of your widget/dialog/window (not the QVBoxLayout, but the parent widget) and select Lay Out -> Lay Out in a Grid from the bottom of the context-menu. The QVBoxLayout should now stretch to fit the window and will resize automatically when the entire window is resized.