Emergency - Best guess, is this an authentic 20s dress?

[Joanne]

Hello again vintage experts,
I am in a tizz of indecision about this dress I bought on ebay. I bought 2 "1920s" dresses from this seller, both described as true vintage, mint condition, from an estate in France. One dress is definitely true vintage, a 1920s dress in near perfect condition, but I don't know what to make of the 2nd dress. It seems too good to be true. It is black lace, probably rayon or cotton, (irons easily), but not modern. The lace is threaded through with a midnight blue rayon? (or silk) thread. The bead trim is definitely vintage, based on the tape it's fixed to. What concerns me is that the seams are machine sewed, with the tiniest stitches I've ever seen, French seams. The armholes are also machine finished. The layered lace pieces are stitched across the garment by hand. It appears to have been sewn with black cotton thread, but I've also found some long blue thread ends that appear to be polyester thread. What else worries me is that the vendor also sells reproduction vintage as well as "true" vintage, especially Edwardian and '20s, in her Etsy store. Last night after I panicked about the polyester thread, I decided to return it. (But it's soooo beautiful ): Today, on closer inspection, I wonder if I've over reacted and if she might have made some mends. I will ask her, but I wanted to be fore armed before I contacted her. So, a bit of info about the construction of 1920s dresses would be great. Unfortunately, my local "expert" is out of the country at present, and I don't know who else to ask. I can't leave it too long if I'm going to return it. I know it's hard if you can't examine it yourself, but some basic pointers would be good, thanks.

 

[Vinclothes]

I have seen many, many seams of early 20th century dresses sewed with tiny, tiny machine stitches. We wondered if early sewing machines even had variable stitch lengths! I can't comment on the dress as a whole, but the seams seem ok for the time period.
Marian

 

[Rue_de_la_Paix]

I sympathize with your dilemma. And as you said, we will find it difficult to determine much without actually handling it in person and seeing it up close. I can leave a few comments here, and you can take them with a "grain of salt" as they used to say.

The dress has a general sense of a home made alteration to me. It just does not look "right". It also seems as if it is missing something, (not sure what) and was possibly made of an older lace sewn up in a 1920s style. Or it had more to it at one time. I personally find the placement of the overlaid lace pieces to be a little odd, as well as the way they are sewn on looks unprofessional. The lace for a 1920s evening dress is usually a silk lace, and I have not seen a rayon or cotton lace dress from the 1920s, at least not a short black evening dress. The jet bead work at the collar looks wrong....it looks more like an Edwardian (or Victorian) era French jet trimming that was sewn on to the cotton lace. It looks both too heavy and too sparse for the dress and I do not find the beaded trim to be the right type for a later 1920s dress.

So my general sense is there was something done to this garment along the way. Using a polyester thread for a repair on an antique lace is not a sign of a professional restoration either.

Again, I cannot be certain judging only by the photos.

 

[Joanne]

Thanks ladies. I will take it to my expert when she returns. I guess I can sell it in some form or other, but I clearly need to know my facts before pricing it.

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

I agree with Barbara about this piece, something does not look quite right. The lace does look older to me but perhaps someone found a length of it and turned it into a dress, those applied panels are odd.

I had the exact reaction about the beading as well, it's just not right and looks older than the 20s.

 

[Joanne]

Thank you Mary Jane, more food for thought.