Patterns From The Past : McCall's 3538 & 3512 - Pretty Dresses From 1973

I found this picture in one of my vintage Seventeen magazines:

McCall's patterns, 3538 and 3512, each made in the full-length version, for "Real Romantics".
A close-up of the top portion of the dresses:

And I found the photo below in one of my vintage McCall's Patterns booklets.
It features another version of 3538:

 I actually think I may have had a dress made from pattern 3538.

 I remember a dress in a cotton knit with a brightly colored floral and a solid-color bodice, and if it wasn't this pattern, then it was a very similar one.

 I still have the bright plastic pin I used to wear with it, but, alas, no picture of the dress, sadly.

 You can see in the artwork that is on the pattern front below, that the yellow floral is a depiction of the very same fabric shown in the photo from the pattern booklet.

 I love that they did that. 

I think McCall's did it fairly often - in fact,

 they did the same thing with that  blue calico fabric Tina and I wrote about (in a number of previous posts) that she made a blouse with, and Raggedy Ann was dressed in it on the pattern , etc.

And here is the other pattern, number 3512:

It's a really cute one, too.
I  like the version in the center on the front - the one made with red and yellow calico, and tied with a sash 'round the waist.
 I'm a calico lover from way back!

(Watch for more installments of my "Patterns From The Past" posts, coming soon to a blog near you)