Sewing Patterns

So, in an effort to find the perfect vintage dress I've been searching sewing patterns on ebay. The pattern size that fits me is size 16 or size 18. Okay, I'm not too stuck on that number. It's not my dress size, even if I am sewing a dress. The number that gets me is the waist. Size 18 is usually a 36 inch bust. I'm not sure if that will fit me because I'm a 36C, but my tape measurement is more like 37 lately. Okay, so back to the waist. The waist on these patterns is often 28 inches! At last measurement my waist was 30.5 inches. Most of the patterns I find online are size 12 (30-25-33). Were people really that much smaller in the 1950s? I have three patterns now, and one in the mail. So far they run 36-30-39. I'm going to mix and match parts of patterns to come up with the dress that I want for my dessert party. I'd better get to work on it soon. It is going to take me a while.