Can you help me with this home-made evening dress - 40s? Fabric? Marks?

retro ruth

retro ruth

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I picked this up for song recently. Hope these quick pics are okay.

It has a very full skirt. The skirt pleats and yoke are the same at the back. The sleeves are slighly puffed, which doesn't show so much on the pictures - perhaps meant for narrower shoulders. Bound button holes. Inner seams are either hand sewn over, or turned and straight machine stitched. I suspect the hem has been redone because of damage - it's very narrow and straight machine stitched. Fastens with the buttons and a side zip, marked SWIFT, and ENGLAND on the other side.

I thought 40s, am I right? If so, which end?

It's a gorgeous fabric that appears to be a damask shot through with gold thread. It doesn't seem to burn like silk, so perhaps is rayon. I thought I'd call it a metallic damask. Any other thoughts?

Sadly it has a few marks. Some are fading, where its faded to pink, and presumably nothing can be done about that. But some, which I've tried to show in the skirt, appear to be stains or storage marks.

Presumably I shouldn't wash this? I don't tend to dry clean, but if I did would it be likely to deal with those marks? What about steaming?

Both the fading and stains get quite lost, because of both the fullness of the skirt, and the iridescense of the fabric, so I may well disclose and sell as is, especially as the fading will be there whatever I do, but I'd be glad of your thoughts.

Lots of questions! But it boils down to dating, fabric and cleaning advice. Thanks in advance for your advice and expertise.

Ruth

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This dress wouldn't happen anywhere but England! I think it's from early in the war 1940-41. The high, round neck with the button front and mid-upper arm sleeve length looks right for then, although more typical of daywear, however the use of a zipper and the fullness of the skirt is very pre austerity measures, which were enacted at the end of 1941 and beefed up in spring 1942. The fabric almost looks like it might be drapery material, not dress material. It looks to me like it was intended for an evening in the chilly interior of a country house.

If it were postwar I would expect the bodice to be cut differently - with long or no sleeves and a lower neckline.
 
Thanks Jonathan, that's really helpful. Answered all my unspoken questions about the fullness and zip in a Wartime dress, and yet somehow it didn't look post war to me. Was even wondering if it might be late 30s, but didn't dare say! I can see the chilly country house scenario. It's quite covered up for evening wear.

I also thought it looked a bit like drapery fabric. But it's not very heavy, and only about 36 inches wide (in the skirt there are pieces I can measure from selvedge to selvedge). I'd have thought drapery fabric generally comes wider?
 
Some knowledge is rubbing off on me; lol! This is so not my area of comfort, but I thought at first glance it was early 40s, too. I have had a couple of very early 40s' dresses with similar bodice and upper skirt treatments.

I think a good cleaner would be able to really do a lot with the stains and storage marks, although as you point out, nothing to be done about the fading. (One of my cleaning-everything books claims that exposing faded fabrics to full-strength ammonia fumes "may" restore some color to faded areas, I've never tried it.)

I recently sold a 1930s' dress that I'd sent to my cleaner (who is usually marvelous with vintage), and although it had a large area of slight fading on it, having had it cleaned and spiffed up professionally made a huge difference in its presentation, and I sold it for quite a nice amount. So, if you have a cleaner you trust and whose price isn't an arm and a leg, I'd go for it. I think the color, fabric, and styling of your dress is lovely!
 
Thanks Anne, I appreciate the input. The truth is I've never had any vintage dry cleaned, I always steam, or wash, or air, or spot treat, but someone here recommended a London drycleaner in the UK drycleaning thread, so I've been meaning to try them out. It would be question of which dress to try them with first!
 
Some furnishing textiles - especially drapery material was narrower - and some modern fabrics - especially European fabrics are wider. (I've seen 60+ and up to 118" in sheer goods.) The standard width in the U.S. for upholstery weight fabrics is 54" - for drapery sometimes 48" but as I said, I have seen narrower and wider. My first thought seeing the close-up or the fabric was that the dress might have been made from curtains.
 
Whata lovely, unusual dress :headbang:. Love the shape of it. Not "my" color, but if it were, I wouldn't mind the color fading.
I have more than one 40s dress with some color fading, but dry-cleaning does a lot of good - just having what may be dirt & dist of decades removed, and having the dress nicely pressed etc. really does wonders - it looks fresh a nice, even with the fading. And those dresses are all so gorgeous and fit so nicely that I have decided not to worry about the fading... and I'm sure there will be others who will feel like that.

Karin
 
What a great find.
To me this dress looks like a late 30's style, due to the drape, pin tucked detail and length of the skirt, the yolk detail and the simple sleeves.
I feel that bound buttons would have been very extravagant during war time, as supplies were limited, if this dress had been made during this period it may have just had plain buttons.
 
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