Dear all, I would like to have some help in dating a dress I recently acquired in a thrift store. My guess is that the dress is from the '80s. The dress is quite sheer, it does not have any label and I'm not sure about the fabric, even if I found inside a piece of fabric stating "seta pur[a]" (pure silk). Could it be handmade? If so, would it be older? Even if I remember my grandma making dresses for me and my sisters when we were children in the '80s I don't think it was so common, particularly for adults. In one of the picture, the detail of the seam at the waist. I tried to wear it with a black belt and I quite like the effect. Any insight will be appreciated. Let me know if I should post more pictures of the seams. Thank you in advance for your help.
This is sweet! Yes, seta pura means pure silk, and if that is stamped on the fabric selvedge, I would assume that it really is silk. Is the zipper on the side? A few more closeups of the seams and how the fabric edges are finished would help, but it could well be home-made. It looks more like 1950s to me at first look. Do you have the sleeves rolled up? I can't see it quite clearly. Are they just seamed or is there some kind of cuff? People have always been making their own clothes, though it was more common in earlier decades and it seems to have become more popular again in the last few years. My mother learned sewing at school in the 1960s and and she has always been making things for herself, for me and for family and friends. And just the amount of vintage sewing patterns that are out there are in my view testament to the fact that people have always been making their own clothes - otherwise companies like Simplicity and Burda wouldn't have survived...
Dear Karin, thank you so so much for all the information! That is really great. I admit I never thought it could be from the '50s, also because it seemed too well preserved to me! No holes and, apart from some seams coming loose at the waist, the dress is perfect and soft. Thank you for helping me learn more about vintage; I'm passionate about it, but I am no expert. I still have to learn a lot. I enclose more pictures of the seams and yes, the sleeves were rolled up so I enclose a picture of the cuffs. The zip is on the side, on the left side. A strange thing is that the stamped "pure silk" is in the front of the dress and that, as the dress is sheer, you can see the shadow of the writing (in the blue circle in the picture, it is nearly invisible). I would not have put it on the front, as it could look like a stain. Thanks so much for your help! Cinzia
It looks like the buttonholes are hand sewn, right? To me it looks like a beautifully home-sewn 1950s dress.
Dear Margaret, thank you very much for your comment. So, it is really a dress from the 50s. It's my first from that period. I'm so excited! Cinzia
Thanks for the further images. It looks right for 1950s. And that zig zag stitch finish says homemade to me (and I still do that - I don't like unfinished fabric edges when I know I'm going to wash and wear things a lot). Beautifully made anyway! The selvedge with the print on it showing through at the front may be an accident - it happens, you don't have more fabric, or you simply don't realise where it will land and show through once you've sewn it because you're busy looking every other way to cut it right...
Dear Karin, thank you so much for the further details! I didn 't imagine that dress to have so much history in it. I think that's one of the beautiful things of vintage. Thanks for helping me discover it. Cinzia
I agree with Karin and Maggie. It is beautifully made with hand thread buttonholes and rolled him. The zigzag stitch is either a home-sewer or a dressmaker. 50s is before sergers. The alternatives were pinking and turned under and stitched.
Just to clarify, I think what Claire is referring to are home sergers, not industrial sergers which were in use for quite a while prior to the 1950s.
Barbara, thanks for the clarification. As I remember, commercial sergers were available in early 20th century but they were't used on better rtw. Better rtw had pinked, turned under and stitched, and sometimes quick flat fell (standing fell seam made with a single pass under the foot.). I bought a Baby Lock serger in 1975 shortly after they became available for home-sewers. C