how old is this floral Batik print summer dress? unusual plastic buttons

Pinkcoke

Pinkcoke

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This dress has no labels. I didn't think this was that old when I originally bought it to wear myself but I've since been looking at the construction methods (I can't remember what you call these sleeves with no seam? I don't think they qualify as batwing when they're short) including the nicely knotted belt loops (very similar to the embroidery thread hair braiding technique) and the buttons which were impossible to capture on camera but they have a luminescence in the lighter shade that gives the illusion of eyes watching you! The belt is also a stiff covered material in the middle with ties either side, I'm not sure whether this flat piece should go in front or at the back? I was thinking, based on the top shape and narrower skirt that this could be 40's or perhaps 50's but I don't know if the rest of the elements would tie in with this. Lastly since I intend to wear it, what would be your washing recommendations? Please excuse the radiator behind, we're snowed in here and next to the patio doors had the best light reflecting off all that snow!

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Sleeves cut in one with the bodice.
The buttonholes appear to be possibly non-commercial. Can you confirm?
The belt, I think could go either way, as preferred. I would probably wear it tied in front.
The (gauzy, cotton?) textile, (I love the colors of the batik!) looks 60s to 70s to me.

I'd probably go for it with a gentle hand washing; not the belt though.
 
Thanks Joules, the button holes do look a little home-made but my mum though the stitches were too close together to be hand done. I'm not sure to be honest. I know the waist stitching is machine.
Thank you Carrie I would never have thought 70's except I know those colours were really in that decade. It's so different I've never seen anything to compare it to. I should have known though, only 70's stuff fits me this great.
 
I agree with Joules: the buttonholes look like they were done on a machine, by hand - as opposed to a buttonhole machine if that makes sense. Which is to say that it's not commercially made.

The sleeve is called an extended shoulder sleeve - it was popular in the '40s but your dress is much newer than that. The fabric and buttons are fairly modern. I could happily date as '70s but it could be more recent, so I'd prefer to put it in the '80s. I think someone may have bought the fabric whilst on holiday in Asia and made it up or had it made up at home. This is very common in Australia.
 
I think someone may have bought the fabric whilst on holiday in Asia and made it up or had it made up at home. This is very common in Australia.
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Equally possible that some had it made up in Asia. When I was in India in the 80s it was really common and cheap to get clothes made, and these micro business high street dressmakers would probably not have had button hole machines.

The fabric doesn't look quite Indian to me, I think Malaysian, maybe.
 
The belt makes me think 70s, as these belts with the stiffening in the center portion and the non-structured ties were very popular then. And they were meant to go as you show it, with ties in back, but I don't see why you couldn't wear it the other way around.

It's a darling dress, and I love those buttons! And the buttonholes do look like they were made on a sewing machine, but created "manually," rather than with a buttonholer attachment. There were all kinds of sewing machines using various methods and/or attachments to do buttonholes with. The "disc" sewing machines and the early ones with built-in dial stitches usually had a buttonhole function, which gave you a buttonhole somewhere in between a totally manual one and an attachment one--which also leads me to think 70s, as this would have been around 1974 or thereabouts.
 
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