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Jonathan
VFG Member
THat is a very nice but fairly standard lace insert dress c. 1912. The lightweight cotton dresses were most popular from about 1908 until 1915 and were worn as summer dresses by wealthier women and wedding and graduation gowns by lower income women. They seem to have survived in a large quantity because they are so pretty, but they are almost always tiny sizes (I suspect because they were mostly favoured by teenaged girls and younger women. The lace on yours is very nice but the prices on these have actually gone down in the last decade -- the eBay factor has made them too available.
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2bargainjunkies
Guest
I found another similar dress called an Edwardian Tea Dress, is this an accurate description for this dress. Also, what is the fabric and type of lace called? And, did the fact that the buttons were hand crocheted affect the "prestige" for the buyer way back when?
Jonathan
VFG Member
They are often called tea dresses today, but it is not a period term - there were 'tea gowns' at the time, but those were floaty 'at home' kinds of things with artsy flowing sleeves etc; these types of white cotton lace insert dresses were intended for summer outdoors wear for a variety of events. If you look at old photographs you often see women wearing them to fairs, weddings, summer promenades and on holiday at places like Atlantic City... They are always made of cotton, usually a thin weave like a lawn or batiste but I have also seen them in cotton crepe. The crocheted buttons were more 'artsy' than shell buttons at the time, but I don't think they were more expensive or desirable - just a different taste. I have seen that type of heavy woven lace before but I am not sure what it is called...