As much as I like fancy, heavy-duty fashionable piece, I love minimal everyday pieces. A true stylish wardrobe consist of pieces that work in every aspect of your lifestyle. This includes "throw-on-and-go" dresses that work with a variety of shoes and outerwear toppers. And this dress fits that bill. This is season is all about clingy, stretch, second-skin dressing. After a year of being in pajamas and yoga pants, I think most of us want something with the same effect, but a little more on the polished side.

First things first, the adjustments. I cut the size 16 and made my standard 1" FBA. 

Pardon my wrinkles... sometimes I sit. I also made 1" swayback adjustment and a 2" full seat adjustment. A center back seam is the miracle that makes all of this possible.

Since I'm probably taller than the average pattern model, I decided to raise my side slit by 2". 

I finished the slit hems with a 5/8" hem. And I hemmed the garment at 1.5".

I love this dress so much. It's such a quick and easy sew that I see myself wearing multiple versions of this dress for the rest of hot weather season.

Every now and then, I need to cut the damn fabric and sew the damn dress! It doesn't matter whether or not I have a specific place to wear it. Because that's always the number one question: "Where are you going to wear that??" My answer: Around my house... To the grocery store... Anywhere... and Everywhere I'd like. Sometimes, I just want to sew something because I CAN and it makes ME happy. No other reason required.

This project was already on my cutting table when True Bias and Closet Case Patterns decided to host the Sew Frosting Challenge. It's basically just sewing all of that "impractical" shit you've dreamed of sewing or cutting that fancy fabric just for the unbridled joy of it. So, what better confection to whip up than a full-length evening gown... a backless, shiny one at that!

My pattern is vintage Vogue 2230 - by Isaac Mizrahi that was released in 1998. 

It's from his Fall 1997 ready-to-wear collection.

My fabric is Black Jersey Knit with All-Over Circle Sequins from Mood Fabrics. I used the white version of this fabric for Vogue 8961, earlier this year. When I posted this dress on Instagram, I was asked how difficult is this fabric to sew? It's not. It's jersey with flat, round sequins. I used my sharp needle and my walking foot with the lightening bolt/stretch stitch. I only originally bought around 2 yards of this fabric, so I used a slinky stretch jersey for the sleeves.

I cut the size 14 and I added 5 inches to the length. I was surprised at how long the sleeves were. At first, I thought my fabric had some how stretch out. 

But I looked at the envelope and saw how the sleeves were slouching at the wrists of the model. The raglan sleeves have darts at the shoulder and the armholes are finished with 1/4" elastic.

The elastic is carried around the entire back opening as well.

The collar has 3 hook and eyes closure.

Even though I cut my normal size, I found that the dress was a little big at the waist. I'm thinking it was because of the weight of the fabric. So I had to go back and take in the center back seam. And I left the hem unfinished because I like the way the fabric drapes and it looks perfect from being cut with a rotary cutter. Before you even ask about a bra... I'm not wearing one.

Cheers to the ladies for organizing and encouraging the Sew Frosting Challenge. And just like there shouldn't be a special occasion for drinking champagne, there shouldn't be one either for sewing up something fabulous.

I cut a straight 14 with no alterations. The dress is meant to be a little blouse over the drawstring waist, so it had enough ease that I didn't have to do a FBA.

I love a simple design with good sewing details. This dress has a hidden button placket. 

And it's details like that, that make my sewing heart happy.

I love the sleeve tabs. The sleeves are meant to be up all of the time. And that's fine by me.

The one thing I didn't like is that the yoke was cut in one piece. I hate when some the patterns come like that. You NEVER see ready-to-wear yokes like that. I cut mine in two pieces so that the inside would be beautifully finished. Here's my tutorial for How to Sew a Shirt Yoke.

I didn't add any additional length. I'm pretty much over ground dragging maxis. I like for mine to hit at the ankle. This way, I know this dress will work with heels or flats and most importantly, I'm not tripping over the hem.

There is no other reason for me making this dress, other than I had some red fabric and this dress looked interesting. As a sewist, that's a damn good reason!

When I bought McCall's 7775, I liked both versions. Usually when there are two different patterns in an envelope, the styles kind of go together. I don't see the cohesiveness in these two designs. That's not a bad thing... because I feel I got two dresses for the price of one. And I decided to go with view D first. Only because I didn't have a red invisible zipper on hand. I still plan to make the other one.

My fabric is a red poly crepe, that I think is probably a peachskin that I purchased at Fine Fabrics. This fabric has no stretch, but the drape is incredible. It's as lovely as a 4-ply silk crepe. 

I cut the size 14 and graded to a 16 at the hip. I didn't have to add any additional length, because I plan to wear this dress with heels and flat sandals. This pattern has only 3 pattern pieces (front, back and back facing). But don't be deceived that this pattern has no level of difficulty or lacks design interest.

There is a lot of pleating and I carefully transferred all of my markings, because there is no way you can wing this.

The pleating and the interesting collar is why I was drawn to this dress.

And also, it has really good cut-in shoulders.

Even the armhole has a nice style, and it's not too low that your bra will show.

There is a center front seam that ends in a slit. You can adjust that to your own particular comfort level.

This dress is unlike anything I have in my closet. And it's also a machine-washable pullover. Plus, it looks just a great with flat sandals. So, I plan to really enjoy wearing this.

I seem to have a renewed love of maxi dresses.  So this is going to be a thing for a moment.  My latest one is McCall's 7242.  I researched this pattern and I found only a handful of iterations.  I'm not sure why, because this pattern has great bones.  It's a maxi shirt dress.  What's not to love?

The lines of this dress are so simple, it screamed out for heavily patterned fabric.  I'd found this ikat print at Hancock and I bought what was left on the bolt -- a little over 4 yards.  It's a poly chiffon.

I cut the 12 in the bodice and the 14 in the skirt.  For this style of dress, the skirt is cut very slim.  It's really straight.  If you're significantly heavier on the bottom, rely on the finished measurements on the pattern pieces.  They're accurate.  You may have to go up from you usually pattern size, 

I added length to the bodice, the skirt and the ruffle.  This sleeveless dress took all 4 yards of the fabric.  Instead of creating French seams, I serged my seams.  This fabric was shredding like crazy so it was best to just get it done.  

I also partially lined the skirt.  That is the only part that concerned me.

There is also a hook an eye at the elastic waist.

The armhole has a bias binding finish.

And I finished my ruffle with a narrow hem.

I decided to accessorize my dress with a Tassel Rope Belt.  Here's how I made mine:

What you need:

First, I made my suede tassels.  Mine are 1.25" x 4".  You have to cut fringe into the suede/leather first.  I did this by creating a 1/4" guideline.  My fringe are about 1/8" wide.  You can measure these off and draw guidelines or you can eyeball them as I did.  And make sure you don't cut through your guideline.  You'll need a sharp pair of scissors or a rotary cutter like I used.

String your beads on first.

Appy your hot glue to the guideline of the fringe, but not too much!

Tightly roll your fringe guideline around the end of the rope

Slide your bead down over your fringe and work it into place over the guideline.

And repeat for the other side.