DIY: New Look 6262 V-Neck Dress with Gathered Skirt

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The New Look 6262 dress is the first dress I ever sewed for myself! I made View C with the v-neck, but added the short sleeves of View B.  I purchased the lovely plain weave cotton in a bright pink and orange poppy pattern from Fabricland during one of their sales. Fabricland is fortunately (or unfortunately?) closer to where I live than the myriad fabric shops on Queen St West, so that’s where I’ve been picking up most of my fabric recently.

I sewed a size 18 with a slight full bust adjustment, my first ever! The neckline gaped a bit in the back so I added two small darts at the back neckline, which took care of the problem. However, the neckline also gapes a bit in the front and I didn’t know how to fix it (yet). I made two muslins of the bodice to check the fit, but before I added the neckline facing, the v-neck was rather high and I didn’t spot the gaping. Maybe if I were to make a size 16 and add a larger full bust adjustment the neckline issue would be fixed. Any suggestions?

Again, I don’t have an invisible zipper foot nor an invisible zipper, so I sewed a centred zipper along the back of the dress. I read in The Complete Photo Guide to Clothing Construction that I should reinforce the zipper area by adding interfacing to the fabric on which the zipper is sewn. I added two 1-inch-wide strips of interfacing, each the length of the zipper, to the back bodice edges before I sewed the zipper –  hopefully this will help my New Look 6262 dress last longer.