Dating and fabric help on this sweet watercolour print dress

retro ruth

retro ruth

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Staff member
Hi everyone,

I hope you can help me with this dress, I'm feeling rather uncertain about dating. The style says maybe early 60s? to me, but the fabric is throwing me off.

The fabric is lightweight, a bit rustly and has a fine crinkle texture. Feels synthetic but I'm not sure what. I've tried burn testing but I'm still not sure! It's not a fabric I've seen much before.

The dress fastens with the buttons, then two poppers below the waist. Pinked seams. No labels, looks very skillfully home-made. To my surprise, I found the hem has been let down by 3 inches, again very skillfully. It's quite a large size and has been pinned back on the mannequin, but I think I'm showing the right shape to it.


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thanks everyone,

Ruth
 
Yep, Mary is right--that's what was called a "whipped cream" fabric. And I think it may have been made of nylon in the earlier 60s, then perhaps made in poly later on. Or a blend--I never have had a place to snip to do a burn test on any.

I have had a few dresses of that fabric, and when I was a little girl, my very favorite party dress was a floral whipped cream. I love the look and the feel of it!

Your dress is very pretty!
 
Hi,

Whipped cream! How wonderful a name for a fabric.

I have had some dresses in the past with similar, and I know that acetate was a popular fiber to add crinkles and body to fabrics at that time. It sort of made fabrics "crispy"!!

The dress style looks early 1960's, but the fabric pattern looks much more like 1950's to me. Possibly made in the early '60s of a '50s fabric.

B
 
Thanks for the help, that's really great! Yes, what a wonderful name for a fabric. I was googling it, though there isn't much info, but I read it's a type of crepe, would you agree?

Thanks Barbara, you've put into words what I was almost thinking! The pattern does look 50s, so being made in the early 60s from an older fabric makes sense. It is kind of 'crispy', so perhaps there is some acetate in there.

Many thanks for all your help, you are amazing. I'd never have got 'whipped cream' on my own!
 
Yes, it's basically a crepe texture, but I think it may be an "applied" (post weaving) finish rather than being woven as a crepe. I'm not 100% sure, though, but it seems to me that it's not woven into the fabric. And "whipped cream" is a far better description, especially since it's an airy fabric.

But we don't know what the fiber is. If it has acetate in it, I would guess a blend with something else. My likeliest candidate would be nylon--because that would give it the "airier" body, while the acetate would hold the slightly crispy feel and crinkly texture, as Barbara notes. But I'm just about positive it's not 100% acetate.

I recently sold 2 whipped cream dresses and both had all finished seams so I couldn't do the burn test. Next time I get one, I'll try to get a snip somewhere!
 
Thanks Anne, that's really helpful. I'll definitely use whipped cream, just wondered if I could describe it as a kind of crepe as well. I didn't think it was 100% acetate. A nylon acetate blend seems likely from the feel of it. I must practice burn testing with fabrics when I know what they are! I know it's hard to tell blends, but it seemed to me to have burn characteristics of nylon and acetate. I list it as 'possibly a nylon acetate blend'.

And thanks all, glad to know I was right on dating.
 
My mother also was a sewing enthusiast in the 1960's and she had 2 dresses she made out of "whipped creme" fabric......she was a big show-off when she went to her sister's small town and pulled the balled-up dressed out of the suitcase and they looked like they had never needed an iron and she put them right on and wore them.....they were amazed....she called them her whipped creme dresses....no ironing.......
 
Yes, it is definitely Whipped Cream fabric from the early 60s. The dress fashion might be a shirtwaist dress, which was popular at that time. I had a two-piece outfit of that fabric, which I adored; it was a beautiful print of bright colors. It was so light, airy, and comfortable to wear. Plus it never wrinkled, draped beautifully, was easy wash and wear that you could hand wash, hang on a line, and dried in minutes. It was PERFECT! Why in the world did they quit making it?
 
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