I think it's a house dress, but what era?

[Jaclyn Dobson]

Question 1: what kind of sleeve is this?

2: does anyone recognize what's left of the label?

3. Full dress:

Inside appears hand sewn, pockets look like they were added after the fact. Is this a 50s cotton house dress? Or something older and repurposed? Fabric doesn't feel very soft, the color seems altered, but most importantly i need to know why those sleeves so big lol?

Any who, random midnight quarantine musings.

 

[MagsRags]

I can't say for sure but the tag remnant reminds me of a union label of some sort.

The dress looks 70s to me - the colorway and print are not right for 50s and that looks like an elasticized waist.

I would call the sleeve a banded cap sleeve - not cuffed because it's not folded.

 

[Jaclyn Dobson]

Inside waist, where elastic is... a bit confusing...

Pockets...

Whatever this material is inside the seams where buttons are. lol.


There's so much going on here.

 

[MagsRags]

If it weren’t for the tag remnants, I would believe the dress was made by a talented home seamstress.

The material under the buttons is interfacing, to keep the placket from getting twisted out of shape and keep the buttons from tearing through the fabric easily. Nowadays, it’s usually a non woven “fabric” like Pelion. So that looks as expected to me.

The different fabric for pockets is really puzzling though, for a commercially manufactured dress. And the elastic waist from inside looks more primitive than I would expect.

Is it possible that the pockets and waist were an after-market alteration? Does the thread match everything else?

 

[carla rey]

The colorway and print reminds me of later 1970s to early 1980s. Feels like a casual summer dress., the dress on the left is very similar.

 

[Jaclyn Dobson]

If it weren’t for the tag remnants, I would believe the dress was made by a talented home seamstress.

The material under the buttons is interfacing, to keep the placket from getting twisted out of shape and keep the buttons from tearing through the fabric easily. Nowadays, it’s usually a non woven “fabric” like Pelion. So that looks as expected to me.

The different fabric for pockets is really puzzling though, for a commercially manufactured dress. And the elastic waist from inside looks more primitive than I would expect.

Is it possible that the pockets and waist were an after-market alteration? Does the thread match everything else?

Maggie, no, several threads in fact. The elastic looks added, tbh. Tons of loose threads inside.

The label (or what's left) is very fibrous, I thought I'd read something about dating items with paper tags.

Here's pocket stitching



I don't know why but 70s doesn't feel right to me.

 

[Jaclyn Dobson]

Mom sent this, then immediately said who would ever wear such an ugly thing lmfao

 

[Midge]

Agree it looks like a late 70s/early 80s summer dress. The interfacing at the front where the buttons are is perfectly fine. The elastic looks like an alteration. Looking at how it's been done, I think the bodice and skirt would also have been shortened due to this. Also the pokets look like they had been added - the original fabric edges were finished with overlock stitching, but those raw edges look like they stem from a home alteration.

 

[Jaclyn Dobson]

Ladies, your input helps me sleep at night. Thanks so much!

 

[Rue_de_la_Paix]

Looks 1970s to me also.