Age of this dress?

[Joji Furukawa]

I found this seersucker dress and I am trying to figure out when it is from. There is a ruffle running around the shoulders and above the bust of the dress. Tie belt and white buttons down the front. Seams are unfinished. Label reads: "By Caltond All Cotton". Any information would be appreciated!

 

[Pinkcoke]

It looks like a 1950s dress or dressing gown/robe that was re-cut into a slimmer dress perhaps in the 90s to me?

 

[Joji Furukawa]

Hi Melanie and thank you for the reply. That's interesting. Would the buttons have been added then? I added a picture of the skirt outline.

 

[Rue_de_la_Paix]

It looks like a 1980s dress, with the portrait collar and wide arm holes (at least they look wide in the photo?). It may be a 1950s garment reworked, as Melanie has said.

I think it says Caltona. Can you show a close up of the collar and arm area?

I love the fabric.

 

[Joji Furukawa]

Hi Barbara, I think you're right, it is Caltona. A search turned up another dress from Australia! Here are some more pictures. The ruffle only goes around the front not the back. The armholes measure 7 inches across flat.

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

It looks like a late 40s or early 50s house dress / robe to me...very pretty print.

 

[carla rey]

In agreement with Mary Jane on this one.

 

[Joji Furukawa]

Hi Carla and Mary Jane! This was my initial reaction also as it looked like others I had seen while browsing around the net. The skirt ends in the selvedge of the fabric. Interesting that it ended up in Canada from Australia. Also I believe the flowers are rhododendrons? The print is stunning in person.

 

[Nancylou]

I think this is a plisse robe or hostess gown from the late 40s. It's very pretty!

 

[Midge]

I was thinking 40s - house coat or nightgown... Reminds me of this 40s pattern...

... or even this one, though it's more fitted:

I see that square or almost square yoke, and often with a little bit of ruffle trim around it, in a lot of 40s nightgown / housecoat / pajama top patterns, whereas in 50s patterns I've seen mostly round yokes, and then again round ones in 70s ones, where they did similar "romantic" styles. I won't say it's a rule, but it's something I've noticed along the way, as I get a fair share of nightwear patterns.

 

[Pinkcoke]

I can see from the later photos the shape is not as slim as it appeared in the first photo and I agree it's a dressing gown/housecoat but I would like to know where that seam with the cut edge and different thread colour to the neck stitching is as I would think that's an alteration - I've never known dressing gowns to have raw seams as they are generally designed to be quite robust and long-wearing.

 

[Joji Furukawa]

Most of the seams are unfinished on the skirt portion and also where the sleeves are sew to the body. the darts have grey thread on one side and white thread on the other side of the seam. The parts around the neck are more finished but I imagined this is to reduce irritation around the bare neck whereas around the pyjama clad body it wouldn't be as important.

 

[Pinkcoke]

It sounds like it was cut down from a larger size.