I picked up this lovely dress for an extremely cheap price yesterday. The reason for the low price is that it seems to have yellowed over the years (and it really smells like old storage). I'm not even sure if it is salvageable but thought it would be worth a try and at the least, I might learn something along the way. The dress holds a union label dating it between 1955 - 1963. Can anyone help me identify the fabric? It's a medium-heavy fabric with a 'shine' on one side. I have done the burn test and it self-extinguishes, burns and chars. No beads are left but a very fine ash. I also took dropped a drop of water on another piece and it just sat on it - didn't soak in until I forced it to! It would be wonderful to get any advice on the best way to try and clean it too. I've added a photo of the dress and the piece of fabric after the burn test. Thanks!
Your dress looks like glazed cotton or cotton chintz to me, and sounds like it from your description. The results of the burn test sounds like the fiber is cotton, also. If you want to clean the dress you will have to have it dry cleaned - which may remove the finish (glaze) but probably won't do anything for the yellowing. If you get it wet by washing it, you will remove the sheen (glaze) which is either applied as a finish or by calendering. You can read more about chintz in the VFG Fabric Resource: https://vintagefashionguild.org/fabric-resource/chintz/ You may be able to remove the smell by hanging it outside. It's a great dress. Good luck!
