Help dating little black dress

[acceber]

Another dress with no tags or labels. Might it have been hand made? It makes me think 1960s when I see it but I'm still a newb. The sleeves seem to sit on the edge of the shoulders, sort of. I think the bodice is some kind of wool, and the skirt a rustling material. Maybe taffeta. It has a metal zipper and pinked seams. Thank you for your help!

 

[Pinkcoke]

Probably home made from a commercial sewing pattern. The neckline is called a bateau neckline - it is seen on mid 1950s to early 1960's tops and dresses. If you keep looking you may be able to find the pattern it was made from online and the date the pattern was issued on the Pattern Wiki

 

[claireshaeffer]

Melanie, since the dress has pinking, you can look at a long seam and tell whether it was pinked by hand or machine.

When pinked by hand, you can see when the shears were opened to pink the next section. It's rarely a smooth line.

Pinking by machine was done by 2 diff. machines. One was a sew-pink machine which pinked the edges immediately after the seam was stitched and the garment was still under the presser foot.
The other was a pinking machine which only pinked.

If this dress were pinked by machine, it was the latter because the two edges are pinked differently.

The application of the seam binding on the hem is a bit different from home sewing. 1. If the home sewer had pinking shears for the seams, she would have probably used them on the hem too. 2. The seam binding has some ease on it which looks more like someone more experienced sewed it on.

Thanks for info on Pattern wiki

 

[acceber]

Thank you both for the information. I acquired a few dresses that are all apparently hand made by a very experienced seamstress, all from the 50s-60s, and one dress that was commercially made but without a tag or labels. I found all of them in a thrift store at the same time, leading me to believe they were donated by the same person. I wish I could speak to that person and hear the stories behind these dresses!