I just don't get why the shoulders are different!

wire9vintage

wire9vintage

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I just don\'t get why the shoulders are different!

OK, this is the last of my queries for a while. This one really has me stumped...

I got this really pretty little day dress, I'm thinking 1950s?, whisper thin and light, really pretty paisley blue and aqua print. There is no tag, but I believe it is not homemade, because there is still one little string belt loop left on one side.

Which makes the shoulders really odd. One is gathered and sort of smocked, and the other one is flat, with a deep pleat at the seam. Huh?

Have you ever seen anything like that? Here's the dress:
 
can you picture the other shoulder too please.

my guess is the owner added the rouching/pleating and only did one side, or the other side came out? does it appear to have any remnants?

btw looks 50s to me too
 
lol you were adding as was i....

I think the owner was experimenting with jazzing the style up a little on each shoulder and I think it is homemade or a very "cheap" (as in plain) dress of the era but ....

I would still wait to see what the more knowledgeable say
 
I am thinking it was homemade and maybe over the level of expertise of the sewer. Having a string belt loop would not exclude it from being homemade.

Still for the right price (cheap), and depending on condition and size, someone might be willing to buy it and redo one sleeve.

If it were mine, I would probably keep and use as a cool summer house dress. ;)
 
OK, I've learned something, then, about those little belt loops. I was under the impression that meant they were mass produced. Certainly the rest of the dress has a more homemade feel to it. I even got to thinking that it could have been some girl's home-ec project (I do tend to fantasize about my finds! :rolleyes:).

I'm in the Texas Hill Country, too, so I know the importance of cool summer clothes! That is worth a thought, for sure!

Thanks, y'all!
 
Originally posted by laughingmagpie
I know how to do those little string belt loops by hand - and it was a 1950s sewing book that taught me :)

Jen
Click to expand...

That is interesting. I wonder if that is still taught?
 
Well, if I'd paid attention to my little book--a 1935 home-ec book called The Mode in Dress and Home--that I use for reference, I would have answered that question. In the chapter on making a dress, and the section on making a belt, it says: "They [belts] may be fastened to the garment by invisible tacking or by passing through loops made of thread or self material."

While the book goes into great detail about every other part of making a dress (as in, you don't even need a pattern, it tells you how to MAKE a pattern!), it does not explain how to make those darn loops! Those already knew how to do it, huh, Jen? :) Obviously my mother didn't pay attention in home-ec... she swore that if there were belt loops like that it was NOT homemade! (she's born in 1928!)
 
I taught myself to do those belt loops - but then I've been taking dresses apart to see how they're made since I was very small. Most of my sewing is self-taught.

I agree that your dress is home-made but I'm going to date it as later: 1960s. I think the sewer might have had plans for the shoulder ruching but found after one that it was too much trouble and so just put a tuck in the second one to take up the extra fabric.

The simple style and light paisley fabric look like something an older lady might have made, with elements of earlier styles but overall it has a '60s feel to me.

Nicole
 
Hi, Nicole,

Please educate me! What about it says 60s? The skirt? (The skirt, by the way is a series of narrow pieces sewn together, each about 2 3/4 inches at the waist and 6 1/2 inches wide at the hem.) The paisley print? The placket?

The theories on the shoulders... the rest of the dress is impecably sewn. Why would they just give up on the one shoulder?? Sigh... I often wish these things could talk...
 
I think the light cotton (slightly sheer) fabric looks '60s and the simple style of the dress...whilst there is a waist, the dress isn't as structured as earlier styles, the skirt is made of gores and not as long as a '50s dress would be. There's an economy of fabric.

Does it have any zips? If the front opening is all there is, that backs up '60s or even '70s. A '50s dress would probably have a side zip. Paisley is something you don't see very often in fashion - it's especially associated with the '60s although you do see it at other times.

I quite like the idiosyncracies of vintage and would probably wear as is, with it's odd shoulders. But then I like things like that - they say "not mass produced" and "unusual" and even " has a story to tell".

Nicole
 
No zipper, just the front buttons. I did wonder about the paisley, too.

Nicole said, "I quite like the idiosyncracies of vintage and would probably wear as is, with it's odd shoulders. But then I like things like that - they say "not mass produced" and "unusual" and even " has a story to tell".
--I like the way you think!!

The more I look at this dress, the more I think I'm going to keep it. It's kind of like a stray puppy! Besides, I'm always a sucker for paisley! And it only cost me $1.25!
 
Here are additional instructions for making the belt loops. I would like to just note that you don't pull the needle through each time (until the last loop); you are just pulling the thread through, to create another loop, then pulling it to tighten the former loop.

And those two different shoulders are quite puzzling...
 
my first impression was a possible home-ec project, too ~
Click to expand...

LOL...sure is a better job than the dress I made in Home ICK.

Funny thing...I was going through a bunch of patterns from an estate sale, and found what was probably the pattern I used back then...

While I am glad the dress I made got tossed long ago, I'd really love to have my snazzy purple and pink patent leather platform Mary Jane's from back then...lol...
 
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