I don't know if this will help... Nineteenth Century Fashion in Detail by Lucy Johnston, P.50 shows a 1827-29 Evening dress with similar skirt fullness as the Butterick's. The Evening dress shape is the same as the drawing of the pattern and not the cone shape in the picture. Through the book it appears that as you get into the 1838 - 40 the waistline starts to change to a "V". On p.192 The Day dress 1837 has a natural waistline and not so wide puff sleeves. You could lengthen the gathered section down and add a 2" cuff to come close to the fullness of the sleeves of the Day dress in the book. The day dress does not have side back seams and appears to be closed by hooks & eyes in the back. There is a possibility that the Butterick model is not wearing the appropriate undergarments. And yes the neckline dips a bit low but I think that the neckline is suppose to be a bit more off the shoulders which is perhaps why it looks to deep of a "v".
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