Hello. I’m looking for a date on this lovely old dress. It buttons up the back with tiny mother of pearl buttons. All the seams are French. I think it might be cotton lawn. Thank you very much!
I think 196t's may be right. The seaming reminds me of an under dress. Can you determine if the sleeves seem to have been added to a slip to make it look like a dress? Is the fabric exactly the same as the body of the garment? Are the sleeve seams the same as the body of the garment? Marian
Good call! Upon closer examination, I see the sleeves and the fabric down the center are older than the rest of the dress. You can see the difference in the pic above that shows the sleeve. It’s all the same type fabric though. Like someone took pieces of something older and used them to make something newer. All the seams throughout it are the same, including inside the sleeves. They are all French seams. The lace going around the sleeves is the same as what’s going around the neckline. Furthermore, just one of the sleeves has an additional seam inside it, but that seam isn’t French. I’m adding a pic of it. This additional seam looks the same inside and out and it’s the only one of its kind throughout the whole dress. The sleeve with this additional seam also has a French seam just like the other sleeve.
I think what you have is an Edwardian era princess line dress liner for under lingerie or sheer summer dresses. The sleeves and front may be a different fabric becaue those areas showed more through the outer dress and the dressmaker wanted a more finished fabric there.
