Just how wounded is this wounded bird? Help dating this cotton voile dress?

Hi, I'm back with my latest question! I have this dress that I picked up because it was only a few dollars and I thought the fabric was so lovely but it's torn in several places. Okay, to start, it's a handmade shirtwaist dress, made from a very lightweight cotton (voile?). It hits just below the knee and has small cap sleeves with a split on top, the collar and sleeves are trimmed with lace. I'm not even sure what to call it, it's very delicate but also relatively simple and casual looking... a day dress? Was this a dress for misses/juniors?

I'd appreciate help with dating because I'm not sure it all adds up when I look at it? The cotton voile with lace trim and delicate, airy quality reminded me of the '30s but the closures are later. It's got a side Talon zipper with that "V for Victory" V on it (so either wartime or post war, right?) and four oddly heavy duty snaps up the front. I don't know how much shirtwaist dresses snapped up the front, I usually think of them as buttoning? And then the main seams are pinked (though it was sometimes hard to see with how frayed they are), the seams around the armscye are mock french seams. Pinking would mean at least early '50s, right? That seems to be the most recent feature.

As far as mending goes, I've only ever sewed on buttons, finished a hem, and repaired ripped seams so, I'm not exactly sure what's the best way to try and save this dress. It's clearly been repaired at least two different times, maybe three. The best repair is the shoulders, where someone put interfacing and sewed a bunch by machine, those seem to have held up! However, there's a different kind of mending tape on what used to be a tear on the back and just to the side of that is where it tore again (the first big tear). Then, there's an L shaped tear next to that (the second and largest tear). Then, one underarm was hand stitched up at some point but has since torn again around that repair (the third big tear). And then there's a smaller tears on one hip below the waist and one near the zipper on the other side (the fourth and fifth tears). There's a couple more pinholes too.



So yes, that adds up to quite a lot of tearing which is why I was wondering if the repeated tears that have been happening mean the fabric is just too weak and destined to keep tearing somewhere at this point? Do I try to replicate the success someone had on the shoulders, with big sections of interfacing and a bunch machine stitching on top? Does it need patching and new fabric (there's some fabric in facing of the collar and the placket but then idk how to replace it and not mess anything up)? Do I take this to a professional because this is not a good starter project for an amateur? Any help is very much appreciated, as always! Thank you so much for all you've been teaching me about my own little collection of vintage!

 

Thanks so much all! <3

@Midge, yeah, it's just a little loose on me in all dimensions which in this case, is probably the right fit for the sake of the dress! ;) I certainly wouldn't be pulling on it if I wore it. Would you hand sew over the split areas in a zig zag stitch? And try to keep the stitches close? I don't do it a lot so I'm not that proficient but I do like to hand sew, it's what I usually have done for the small fixes I've had to do.

@denisebrain, ah, thank you! The warp rib doesn't weave through the middle of the weft rib, it just goes over top, but otherwise it does look like the example of the crossbar dimity! I really don't know more than the basics about fabrics so it's nice to learn a little by looking at something I've got, I even really liked that windowpane texture. Did you have any ideas about visible mending, were you thinking added fabric or just visible stitching? I've seen older dresses where people have replaced the whole back panel and while I didn't like it when I saw it (due to the fabric selection), I was wondering if this dress might need something like that... but maybe it doesn't need to be so drastic, so long as you're not going to pull on it.

@The Vintage Merchant! Awww, thank you! I thought about calling it a house dress but then I wasn't sure because it didn't feel like a very practical cotton to kick around in and easily wash, lol!

 

I agree with Maggie's, Karin's and Retro Ruth's suggestions. I believe placing a fine, even sheer, fabric behind the thin places, then finish the repair with hand stitching and hand darning. Do not yield to the temptation to use any kind of iron on tape. Zig-zag stitching stiffens the area and "eats up the fabric," in my experience.
Women wore work dresses, often already mended, with heavy work aprons over them, for morning work and cooking. Then sometime in the afternoon, took off the apron or put on a clean cotton dress for shopping or visiting. They made a distinction but now we call them all house dresses.
Marian