This one is definitely dug out from the time capsule. It’s been hanging in my “active duty” closet, but I’m not sure if I’ve worn it in the past year. It’s (mostly) Butterick 2344 — I know I used a different (circle) skirt pattern:

I originally made this dress in early 2006, to give one of the first “big-conference” talks I ever did.

It’s funny to look at these older dresses now — I see all sorts of things I’d do differently today. It looks like perhaps I didn’t pre-wash this piping …

Boy, I wish I had more of this fabric. I remember I bought it at Paron’s, and it wasn’t even in the sale section. I loved it that much. Such a sucker for broken plaids, I am. Looking at it now, though, I’m wondering if maybe it was upholstery fabric? It’s almost that weight. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course.

And this is probably the ONLY back-zip dress I currently own (that’s not vintage):

I know some folks have been asking in the comments “what’s with all the side zips?” and I thought I’d show this dress so I can explain … except there really isn’t a good explanation for why I vastly prefer side zippers; I only have justifications. Which mostly are:

• I have some lingering shoulder issues from ill-advised and uncoordinated college sports days, which make doing the “reach to the middle of my back” contortion uncomfortable, and I travel alone quite a bit and don’t always have someone handy to help with the zipping/unzipping
• Back zips are too public, I like my zippers hidden under my arm
• Back zips are usually much longer than side zips, which means more leeway for things to go wrong
• Harder to match prints across back zips (for me, at least)
• I don’t like the extra step to finish the facing nicely at the top of zip (laziness)

That’s pretty much it! No really good reasons, except maybe the first one.