Crinoline tag 'Gabrielle'

[FabFinds]

I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this clothing/lingerie line.

I have a lovely crinoline that has a tag "Gabrielle". I can find nothing online for this line except perhaps it was Gimbels own brand. It looks like it's never seen much use at all and has a stiff tulle under the lace. I'm not sure if washing it would take the stiffness out of the tulle.

Is anyone familiar with this line? I would guess it's from the 60s era but vintage clothing is new territory for me. It's 3/4 length if that's of any help. Thinking on that, I'm not sure if 60s would be the right era. I was into the micro mini.

An aside... the terms crinoline, petticoat and half slip seem to get used intermittently. I'm assuming this is a crinoline and not a half slip.

 

[Pinkcoke]

I would have put this in the late 50s to early 60's, going by the length and volume, and matching that with the type of dress or skirt it would likely have gone under.
The fabric underneath may have been soaked in a sizing to make it stiff, and washing may well remove this, so unless it's got big problems I would probably leave it as it.
Correctly or not, I associate crinoline with this sort of undergarment, that has extra material incorporated into the design to create extra volume underneath a skirt. Petticoat I see as a single layer underskirt, usually cotton, perhaps with one or two flounces at the bottom. Half slip has no layers or flounces and is literally just to provide slip between wearer and outer garment, not volume or shape.

 

[Circa Vintage Clothing]

I agree with Melanie in that this likely dates from the '50s to early '60s but you can narrow it down by measuring the length: skirts get shorter the closer you get to the late '60s.

I wore a lot of these in the '80s, sometimes more than one at the same time. I wash everything so would recommend washing but Melanie's right, the size will come out. You can restore it by using starch. Apparently ladies used to wash them with sugar solutions too and hang to dry, but I haven't tried this method. You can get starch from the supermarket or online.

Back in the '80s we just called these "full petticoats" (for fullness not full size). I agree (once again) with Melanie in that a half slip is a less structured garment. I used to wear a half-slip between my full petticoat and skirt because the tulle would rip snags in my stockings.

Lovely example of this type by the way, pretty enough to wear as a skirt.

 

[FabFinds]

Thank you so much, Melanie and Nicole. I did come across and article about using starch to get the stiffness back. I'll be listing it as is but will inform and instruct the buyer about washing and restoring the 'size'.

I remember as a little girl, ladies who stiffened doilies in a sugar solution and shaped them just so. I would stick tongue on them to see if they were sweet. I was very careful to never get caught but my taste buds had to know.

Michelle