Dating a Christening gown and matching bonnet

[Pinkcoke]

I'm interested in how old this christening gown might be. (it's in a charity shop specialising in children's wear but it's £45 ~$63 USD :( so I doubt I'll be buying it...) I was told it was possibly 60's (probably because of the style of floral embroidery) but I thought some of the stitching looked unusual - but then it's quite likely to have been made by an older lady in the family who may have older style sewing skills.

I also think it's possibly been made from a lady's wedding dress (as was custom, according to my mother!) as there are two sweeping curved seams crossing the main body of the skirt, despite this the embroidery never meets a seam and they have taken trouble to hide ( and not cut off interestingly) a blue stamped mark (like a dye lot mark from the fabric roll?) in the seam just above the skirt's trim. I think it's quite well made but would like to know what you think of the stitching and style of sewing and if anything indicates a particular age to you?
It's quite a light floaty transparant fabric, the skirt lace looks bobbin made to me and if I remember correctly the shirring on the front is not elasticated - is there a method of doing this by hand?

Never seen another christening gown in my life before so please tell me if I'm being suspicious and this is actually a really typical garment!

 

[Rue_de_la_Paix]

Hi,

It does appear to be home made, and for that it is very sweet and wonderful. So much love went into that! 1960s could be right, or it could be even newer, but it is not antique.

The fabric I cannot tell from a photo, but it looks like a thin sheer twill weave, which is not a usual fabric for a wedding dress. Do you think it could be silk twill? It has a glow like silk. The sewing and embroidery look to be done by hand, as does the smocking. That is where the love comes in. The edging is not a true lace, but I would call it a netting or bobbin net edging. That part is machine made.

I used to buy and sell a great deal of antique christening gowns and baby clothing, and this looks more "new" to me, and the workmanship is a bit crude..(but sweet and lovely). Values for these vary, with the true antiques fetching the better prices. I do think it is priced very much on the high side for what it is.

B

 

[crinolinegirl]

LOL, I know where you shop ;) I was there this past weekend (also went in the other one and saw that zippered military undergarment) and saw that but it looked too modern for my tastes.

I didn't go in the shop but looked at it through the window. Looked like an acetate sort of fabric. Hmmmmm, it didn't occur to me then but I'm wondering now if now if it was remade from a parachute silk wedding dress? I wish I would have gone in now to take a look, Jake wanted to go in and look at the toys but my OH wanted to go to Home Bargains.

At £45 though, you couldn't resell it for more than that though.

Lei

 

[Pinkcoke]

Hi B thanks for your input, I didn't think it was antique but just loved it for it's 'vintage' appeal really :D It could well be silk, comparing it to my own few examples it's certainly light enough and has that 'cold' feel I get from silk.

Hey Lei ;) I bet our paths have crossed a few times and we never even knew! The parachute idea certainly has grounds - it would explain the curved seams, would they keep the silk for 10 years or more though? (assuming we're talking about a war parachute - can't imagine they would have been borrowing supplies at any other time)

 

[MyVintageCocktail]

That is really adorable! And, I don't quite know why, but I'm getting more of a 50s' "vibe" from it than 60s. And, really I can't say why, except that it probably looks like christening gowns worn by my little cousins in those days, maybe into the early 60s. But it seems to me that the styling looks a bit older-fashioned (not as in "antique" or very old) than what I remember from the solid 60s.