35" printed raw silk - HELP! When/where was this made?

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dawncrawford

Registered Guest
Hello everyone- I'm new to the forum and wanted to say hello and also post a question about this 5-yard piece of fabric I stumbled upon recently. I believe it is raw silk, but if anyone thinks something different please let me know. It has a light to light/medium weight, a nice drape and a slightly textured feel. It is exactly 35 in wide and is printed with what I believe are Chinese lanterns. The print is small and spaced close enough that I am fairly certain the fabric is intended for apparel.

What I am mainly wondering is what era this could be from being 35" wide?
Secondarily, I am also curious where it could have been manufactured? I'm aware of 22" fabrics from the 40s or 50s and have some 22" wide silk brocade that came from Japan during the late 40s, but I have to say I've never run across 35" fabric until now.

(Also- If it makes any difference- it looks as though the gold was printed on top after everything else. I don't know if it's by hand or machine, but the placement of the gold stays consistent across the width, but varies from row to row in the height (noted in last 3 photos of the same lantern at 3 repeats height wise if that makes any sense lol)
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Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Hi, Dawn. Welcome from another Newbie!

This site is phenom! The amount of knowledge here is astonishing.

If I recall correctly, 35-6" fabric in the States was what I made my first dress of in the early 70's when I was new to 4-H. (How I wept the 7th time I had to remove that zipper! But, my instructor was amazing! Bless her heart!)

I was thinking that in quilting they refer to fabrics as squares. Well, here is a link about it:

They did make fabric in your width.

The pattern is so interesting. I think you are right about them being lanterns.

It's hard to know if it's silk without touching it. It has some characteristics of silk.

What are you going to do with it? Looks like fun!

Welcome!
My friends call me Ginger
 
Thanks so much for your reply! I'm most likely going to sell it rather than do anything fun with it. I'm a bridal seamstress and get gifted so much fabric it's unbelievable. Usually I make quilts or little 1 yard projects to donate but this was a larger, continuous piece and I'd rather it go somewhere its loved. I always like to find the history on vintage items I find or receive before I do anything with them- you never know when you might stumble across a treasure!
 
I so agree, Dawn. These items create a treasure hunt for me! I love it.

Btw, I have two bridal gowns to sell. Both are new, never worn. One is a gorgeous Maggie Sottero Satin gown that is stunning-rated by Brides as one of the decades best gowns. I actually thought about redoing the MS gown and dying it. Have you done this?

They are so nice and wouldbe nice to see someone wear them, too. Have you a suggestion where to sell them? I looked at a few sites but haven't posted anywhere.

Good luck with that fun fabric! It could be great fun as placemats, etc in a Sunroom for lunch, using Chinese lanterns, serving Chinese food.
 
I have dyed bridal fabrics, but not completed dresses. I would definitely try it on a thrift store purchase of a similar material first. As far as resale sites go I like stillwhite because of the traffic it gets, but I also like mercari and Poshmark for the lower listing fees and sales percentages they take. Good luck with your project!
 
whatever you do, do NOT wash it! more likely than not, that gold will come right off. if you are planning to sell it, be sure to pass that information along to whoever happens to buy it. :)

cute fabric!
 
LuxLegacy said:
I so agree, Dawn. These items create a treasure hunt for me! I love it.

Btw, I have two bridal gowns to sell. Both are new, never worn. One is a gorgeous Maggie Sottero Satin gown that is stunning-rated by Brides as one of the decades best gowns. I actually thought about redoing the MS gown and dying it. Have you done this?

They are so nice and wouldbe nice to see someone wear them, too. Have you a suggestion where to sell them? I looked at a few sites but haven't posted anywhere.

Good luck with that fun fabric! It could be great fun as placemats, etc in a Sunroom for lunch, using Chinese lanterns, serving Chinese food.
Click to expand...
Sorry I posted here, I should have sent you a DM.
Thank you for your advice! I appreciate it!
 
The Vintage Merchant said:
whatever you do, do NOT wash it! more likely than not, that gold will come right off. if you are planning to sell it, be sure to pass that information along to whoever happens to buy it. :)

cute fabric!
Click to expand...
Wow! Such good information here!

May I ask, how was the gold applied? Was it a stamp or stencil as it is overlaid on top of the pattern?
 
It looks like a stamp to me- the uniformity across the width of a single row would have me think that it is machine stamped, but that perhaps the machine was not calibrated 100% correctly lol
Then again, I'm not exactly sure how stencils are applied to fabric in a factory type setting so it very well may be that that instead.
What I figure is most likely is that it was stamped or stenciled by machine but that the fabric was moved/ rolled to the next "row (s) up" in the design repeat by hand and that slight shifts + slight human error created the variations. Anyone agree? Disagree?
 
LuxLegacy said:
Sorry I posted here, I should have sent you a DM.
Thank you for your advice! I appreciate it!
Click to expand...
No worries at all- I thought I replied to you here and not in a DM. lol I'd say I'm not the most tech savvy, but a forum is about as easy and old as it gets hahah for technical issues at this point in the game since I started with the BIG floppy discs in school and got excited when I got to use the computer in the computer lab that actually had the color GREEN (and not just black and white)!
i.e. I was around for the dawn of the internet and we even had it in our house- yet I am still perpetually about 14 years behind the curve it seems. But I digress- something I am quite good at as opposed to technology haha
 
dawncrawford said:
No worries at all- I thought I replied to you here and not in a DM. lol I'd say I'm not the most tech savvy, but a forum is about as easy and old as it gets hahah for technical issues at this point in the game since I started with the BIG floppy discs in school and got excited when I got to use the computer in the computer lab that actually had the color GREEN (and not just black and white)!
i.e. I was around for the dawn of the internet and we even had it in our house- yet I am still perpetually about 14 years behind the curve it seems. But I digress- something I am quite good at as opposed to technology haha
Click to expand...
And never mind most of that last message because I DID in fact post it here and not in a DM hahah
I'm really on my A game today!
 
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