Help dating Vera dress

Vintagiality

Vintagiality

VFG Treasurer
Staff member
Hi all and Happy International Women's Day!

I acquired what I think is a late 60s or early 70s Vera dress but was looking for a second opinion from the pros. The label resource has very similar labels with the ladybug on the label but mine is the one that also says "all cotton, dripdry". Made of a rather stiff cotton and has what appears to be a glued hem which has come undone. At first I thought this was how the dress hem ended but when I flipped it over, it definitely looks like remnants of glue. I actually like it with the pink on the bottom and was wondering if I should just leave it as is or re-hem it.

Thought on either the decade or the hem are greatly appreciated.

Victoria
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Thank you both. I will go with mid 60s. Nicole, you are probably right about the belt. I put it on since it looked baggy to me otherwise. I should probably show it unbelted. Any thoughts on the hem?

Also, speaking of the belt, do you think it is from the same era? It says Valentino and is black velvet.

Victoria
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These mid '60s dresses are often a bit shapeless - and short - my guess is that someone glued (!) on the pink to lengthen it. If you can remove without damaging the dress, I would do so.

Regarding the belt, if it's velvet, it probably had a matching dress originally - I think that black velvet is too heavy for this summery dress. If you have a look at the Label Resource you could determine which Valentino and perhaps an approximate date for it.
 
Victoria, that's a great dress! Thanks for posting it. I really like the Vera prints and have a small collection of her older scarfs and blouses.
 
Love those colors! I would say this is in the latter half of the mid 60s, maybe as late as 1967/68. I can see it possibly having had a thin self-fabric tie belt, rather than a wide belt, and made without belt loops so it could be worn with or without the belt. (But, even though these were often made to be worn straight and unbelted, I used to almost always belt these when I wore them....) As Mary says, a white belt (or a matching red one if you can find a red that matches, which is so hard to do) would look great. I'd try for a fabric belt--canvas or poplin--something light feeling and looking.

I'm not sure I quite "get" how the hem is done? Is this an actual separate strip of fabric at the bottom that was glued on, or is it part of the dress and was glued up to hem, rather than stitched up? Did the original stitching come out and someone did a temporary repair with fabric glue, or did they cut a strip of fabric and add it on to the dress?
 
Here are some photos of the hem. I am pretty sure it was part of the dress as otherwise there was no other finish to the bottom. The strip was sewn and then looks to have been folded and glued. There are also two places where the strip is cut diagonally, I am not sure what that is all about. I hope this makes sense, I am not so good at describing sewing concepts.

Thank you again,
Victoria
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That pale pink is bias tape, and would normally be used on the inside of a hem. You can see where the main fabric is folded, just next to where the bias tape is sewn on. This would have been folded up, and then the bias tape would usually be stitched with a hem stitch to the inside. I would guess they used something like an iron-on glued hem tape to finish the hem instead of stitching, which has come off leaving glue residue.

I think that wasn't the original hem, and that the bias tape was added in order to lengthen the dress. Is there another fold line, further up the dress?
 
I agree with Ruth; it is not the original hem. I have a Vera dress from the same era (1968ish) and the hem was machine stitched with clear nylon thread. I can't say that I've ever seen a commercially made garment from that time with a fused hem.

It's a really cute dress, and so typical of what Vera was doing at that time.
 
You may be right. I just don't see how this dress would have been finished though because there is nothing to indicate that another seam was present further up the dress. I definitely see some nylon thread in addition to the regular one. So should I just fold the pink strip over and sew it in or leave it as is?
 
It's possible that the original fold line is no longer visible - Jonathan once told me that they can disappear from cotton with washing. Hem stitching is also often undetectable once it's removed.

I would try and finish the hem so the pink bias tape isn't visible, it's not meant to be seen. Do you know how to hand sew a hem, or can you use a machine hem stitch with clear thread?
 
Thanks, Ruth. My sewing skills are at best rudimentary so I am not sure I can hand sew this without it being visible and ugly from the outside. Isn't there something I can use to re-glue it like it was done once? I have fabric glue but it never seems to work and it leaves awful wet looking stains.
 
I'm no great sewer, but hand hemming is not as difficult as you might think - I taught myself, and it's a really useful skill to have. I'm sure their are loads of tutorials on line. I wouldn't like to use anything glue based on this lovely dress, but if you are sure that's what you want to do I suppose there are iron on tapes you could use.

Maybe someone else will have advice too.
 
I would, as Ruth suggests, turn the bias-hem tape back up on its fold line and hand stitch the hem back in. It's really not that difficult. I would not use any sort of glue. If you're dead set against stitching the hem, you can use a fusible product like stitch witchery, but really, on this dress I wouldn't. I personally think that devalues the item. Hand hemming it would be the best thing, at least in my opinion.... FWIW! (If you sell vintage, it would really be good to learn to do at least some basic sewing skills--it's amazing sometimes what a little TLC can do for a garment, both in looks and in pricing!)
 
As it's all cotton I shouldn't wonder that the original hemline has disappeared - especially if it was lengthened by the previous owner right when she bought it. Cotton can be pretty forgiving in that way. Iwouldn't glue it at all or use any kind of ironing tape. I find that the iron-on glue is ok and works well enough on very small parts, especially on cotton - I've used it very carefully to mend small holes in cotton caused by cigarette ash, to glue a tiny bit of the same fabric behind the whole. But I'd never use it on such a big bit as this hem - no way go get it flat and regular, and the danger of it producing ugly stains is very real... Yes, hemming isn't that hard - you should definitely give it a try :).

Karin
 
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