There’s nothing truly special about this dress pattern. It’s a simple t-shirt dress with a gathered skirt. But that doesn’t make it not cute. That doesn’t make the pattern instructions not well written. That doesn’t make it any less flattering, or any less fun and easy to sew.
I love this pattern. It is easy to put together, and perfectly flattering. Given that, I will admit that its not perfect. I think there might have been some minor mistakes when Butterick translated from the retro original. The back skirt always ends up slightly wider than the back bodice for me, but its easy to fix with a dart tweak. I almost never use the given variations, and I find the bows horrendous.
But this pattern has become an amazing base for me to make up my own variations. You can see that it is easy to draft petal sleeves, create an interesting draped and pleated skirt structure, create a lace bodice top with sweetheart neckline, use a built in petticoat lining or separate petticoat, or anything else!