Here is the dress I’m making for the “red dress” contest. It’s a New Look pattern I’ve used before (6723), but last time I made a much more casual version. This is red crepe-back satin I’ve had in my fabric stash for some time. My goal is to finish this weekend. Basically, I only have the hem left to do.

The dress is pretty easy, but I had more trouble trying to find a belt buckle that I liked. I’ve been looking for 2 weeks and finally saw something yesterday. Who knew I would have had so much trouble trying to find something so simple?

I recently finished this dress I’ve been working on for a few weeks. It’s very easy to make, I just went through a phase of low motivation. Anyway, now that it’s done, I really like it. It’s New Look 6723. I made view B without the belt. There were quite a few changes I made to this dress. I decided I didn’t want to line the bodice of the dress. I didn’t feel like the fabric (cotton blend) really needed a lining and I was concerned that I would feel too hot in the summer. But, I did want the bottom (skirt) of the dress lined so that it wouldn’t be see-through. The pattern doesn’t call for this. I just made another skirt (almost as full) to use as lining. For that I used a white, light-weight cotton and attached it to the fabric at the waist. I also added in-seam pockets to the dress (again, not part of this pattern). Of course with not lining the bodice, I had to figure out how to finish off the edges. So, around the neck I used packaged binding that I had. To finish off the arm holes, I made bias strips from some excess fabric and sewed that on. All in all, I’m quite pleased with how things turned out. This is a really easy pattern to sew. By the way, I made this in a 16. The back of the dress fits much better than it looks in the picture. I have to work on my poses!