WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG

Or, the way I do all-in-one facings on sleeveless bodices without center seams, because I dislike hand sewing.  (Although I don't dislike it as much as I used to...maybe someday I'll start doing this the way the patterns tell  me to.  Maybe.)

Franken Pattern that probably didn't actually need to be cobbled together

Since the 1990s, I've vaguely been searching for a simple sleeveless bodice pattern to use for dresses.  There are always scads of things like it offered by the major pattern companies, but, the few I tried, I just...didn't like.

Last year, I got a big bunch of vintage patterns, including Advance 8984.  The first time I used the pattern, I really liked the fit of the bodice, except for the way the arm openings weren't open enough and felt uncomfortable.  So, next time I made it, I enlarged the front opening a bit and all was well.

Since I haven't been motivated to sew anything for me lately (as opposed to sewing doll stuff, which I've been doing a'plenty), I decided I should just make something, and that using the Advance 8984 bodice might be a good start...but...did I really want that many dresses with the distinct "they don't really look like the pattern envelope illustration" cap sleeves?  Um...no.  No I didn't.

So I delved into the stash, pulled out Simplicity 3263, and started tracing bodice from the Advance pattern and the neckline from view 4 of the Simplicity pattern.  Like I said, nothing revolutionary, and I might have a pattern in my stash that has the features I was looking for, but...well...if a pattern's not already cut, my enthusiasm for dealing it declines immensely.  All that tissue paper can be overwhelming...

Anyway.

I used that really loud heart print I thrifted a few months ago, and a bit of a different print for the facings, since there wasn't much left of the heart print after cutting the bodice and skirt pieces.  When it came to cutting the fusible interfacing, I suddenly decided that this dress wasn't worth using up a lot of resources so I pieced the interfacing, like this

Once it's ironed in place, it works like a single piece.

I set the zipper into the left side seam.  It can be tricky to take off side-zip dresses, but it's nice, I think, to have less overall zipper length to deal with than with a back zip...and the zipper isn't so prominent, so the stitching doesn't need to be perfect. (Not that my zipper stitching is ever perfect, but...um...I don't have to feel so self-conscious about it...)  I used to have a big problem getting the waist seams line up when inserting a zipper that has to be open to be sewn like this, but I eventually figured out that I could pin the zipper, closed, to one side, then make a quick thread tack to the other side of the zipper tape showing where the waist seam should be.  That way, when the zipper is open, I still know where the waist seam should be.

(It really was marking the right place, I promise.) ((And this is the kind of thing that's probably all over the place, but I never happened to have seen...))

So, when everything was finished, I had this

Basic, but should be a good stashbuster.  (Side thought:  Is this a skater dress?  Just because I've been trying to get a pattern like this since the 1990s, and got here by mashing up two patterns from 1960, doesn't mean it doesn't qualify as a skater dress.  Do I want it to be a skater dress?  I'm so confused.)

A dress like this is entirely suitable for someone approaching her 40th birthday.