Dating handmade vintage fashion

[We Heart Vintage]

Hi
Does anyone have any tips on dating vintage clothes which were handmade? This is one of my vintage dresses, which is handmade and I believe is 1960s - the fabric and style seem about right - but there is no label. Can anyone give me any tips on dating something like this? Thanks!

There are more close-up photos of the dress here if it helps: LINK REMOVED BY ADMIN

 

[retro ruth]

Hi We Heart Vintage

I removed the link to your shop, as only trade members are allowed to post links to selling sites here. If you want to add more images, please put them into your post as you have done for the main photo.

I think you are probably right about 1960s for your dress.

 

[retro ruth]

Hand made items can be harder to date, but you can get a good idea by style and construction details. For instance, home overlockers/sergers were not in common use until the 60s, so if a home made item has overlocked seams, it's unlikely to be earlier than 1960s.

 

[retro ruth]

Hi again - I've just seen that your site was a blog, rather than a selling site - I looked too quickly. We still prefer to see pictures in the post though, rather than clicking on links.

 

[We Heart Vintage]

Hi Ruth

Thanks for your answers, yes I just blog about (and buy) vintage, I don't have a shop I know this is probably a really basic question, but as a real sewing novice, what's overlocking? Thanks!

 

[retro ruth]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overlock

 

[We Heart Vintage]

OK, the seams don't seem to be overlocked, but I guess this still doesn't really confirm how old it is, just that the person making the dress didn't have a machine which could overlock. Thanks for the tip though, I'll keep an eye out for overlocking on garments which are meant to be pre-1960s I've attached a photo of the zip and seams - I don't know if that tells you anything!

 

[retro ruth]

I can't see your pics?

 

[We Heart Vintage]

oops, the photo was too big, I'll try again

 

[retro ruth]

I'll keep an eye out for overlocking on garments which are meant to be pre-1960s

You do see overlocking earlier than the 1960s on commercially made garments, especially on lingerie, just not on home made garments.

Have you seen our tips and tricks for dating? http://vintagefashionguild.org/tips-tricks/quick-tips-for-dating-vintage/

 

[We Heart Vintage]

it just looks like a simple running stitch (I hope that's a real stitch, I might have just made that up but I think you'll know what I mean!).

 

[We Heart Vintage]

thanks for the link, I'll go check that out. Thanks again for your help

 

[retro ruth]

Well it's a metal zip, and seams look to be pinked, both of which are good indicators of earlier than later, and the styling and fabric, as you say are very 60s.

Of course it's not impossible that someone used an old zip, old construction methods, and an old pattern, and old fabric, and made this last week - but the chances are with all those indicators, that this is a home made 1960s garment.

"If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck."