Mr. Blackwell Custom Rhinestone/Bead Dress-Needs Repair

TrickVintage

TrickVintage

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i have this gorgeous lime green Mr. Blackwell Custom dress.

problem is there are a few holes (I presume moth holes).

the beading and rhinestone work is quite impressive. I'm getting an asian vibe with the design and mandarin collar.

it seems like a wool with a silk lining. is this desirable even needing repair ?

60's ?

thanks,
connie
 
that it is nice - and I agree with '60s.

If you were selling it, I would sell as is. I however, like to mend everything so I would dry clean (which will also reveal if there are any more holes) and mend the holes - wool is easy to mend but you might like to get a professional if you're not confident of doing it yourself.

Nicole
 
I totally agree with Nicole--60s, and personally, I would repair the holes. I would also stick this in the freezer in a plastic bag for 2 weeks before you do anything else with it, to make sure the moth infestation is killed off if indeed it's still active. That way it won't contaminate any other items.

Is the wool a knit or woven? Looks like a knit "from here." It is not difficult to mend if you can match the color and if the holes are not large.
 
looks like a woven wool to me too. so i'm curious about the ease of mending it, mention by both nicole and anne. not easy for me! i'd think it'd need to be a reweave if this is a woven, but even if it's a knit, i'd have a tough time matching the yarn and darning it so it'd lay flat. and it'd also mean detaching the (no doubt hand set) lining and then resewing it.

that's a lot of labor. plus dry cleaning expense.

it is lovely. great color, obviously very well made, and i love the beading. but moth holes, ugh.
 
Joan, when I mend a hole in a knit, if the knit is very fine, I split the thread filaments so that it's not so thick and blends in better with the fabric. Otherwise, you're right that it won't lie flat. Of course, if it's a large hole, nothing is really going to be "perfect" and I will often just "forget about it," or if there are too many of them I won't attempt. But with a few small holes, woven or knit, this works well. If the lining is not loose at the hem, so that you can tie the ends off on the reverse side, if you weave the filler yarn or thread in tightly enough and extend it beyond the hole enough, you can snip the ends off very, very close to the fabric on the front side and the patch won't come loose (I usually will stabilize the ends with just a wee hit of Fray Check). In fact, I got those instructions from the re-weaving information I've read. Not that I'm an expert at it, and I can't say that my work is by any means perfect, but with most holes I've mended, I will go back later to look, and if they don't jump out at me--knowing where they are--I feel pretty good about it!

I would probably never bother detaching or removing a lining to do this--too much work for the return.
 
anne, really? you do that with wovens, too? :adore:

splitting the fibers is a great idea, but the only thing i've had success with is darning small moth holes in loose knits. like, you know, sweaters? those i can get so even i can't find them often enough. but anything else, bah. i end up donating them, which means i lost what i originally paid, plus the time trying to fix it and then am really annoyed with myself.
 
I've never tried this with a very, very finely woven fabric, so don't know if I could do it right or not! I've done it on a least one dress that was a fairly fine, flat knitted piece. It wasn't perfect, but it was certainly passable! Obviously, the best results have come with the looser weaves, but I've graduated from very loose weaves to tighter ones over time. Although I did have one dress recently that had a hole larger than I could manage--I ended up doing and re-doing it a few times, then gave up....

But I do have a silk and wool Louis Feraud that has some small moth holes in it--and I desperately want to rescue it. So I'm gonna give it a try. Sometime. Soon. When I work up the nerve.
 
It's neat dress. But it is a newer dress and most people will want it to be wearable and in really good condition.

Is it worth paying someone to reweave or re-knit the holes? It all depends on how many holes, where they are and how large. At $25 - $60 a hole, my guess is it will be cost prohibitive. But that quality of work will be necessary to get good money for a 60s dress, even from a known, but not top flight, designer.

That looks like a dense, tight complex weave or knit to me. You will need to pull threads from a seam allowance to work with. If I am reading the photo wrong and it is a simple and not too dense a weave, you have a good chance. If it's a knit or a honeycomb type of weave, it's difficult.

If it were mine to offer, unless the work is good enough that the holes really disappear, I'd offer it As Is with an appropriate price reduction.

Hollis
 
thanks for all the good information ! it seems like a knit to me.

the beadwork is so beautiful and the dress is so unique, it's a shame to just throw it away.

here's a pic of the largest hole
 
Mending moth holes can be a real PITA and you have to weigh up the time, cost and result. I actually won't buy things any more with moth holes, even if they're really beautiful because of the work involved and the difficulty of getting a good result - thankfully not everyone is as fussy as I am so if I turn it down, someone who cares less will probably love it, especially if it's a designer label.

I use a tapestry/needlework loop to darn, and it's crucial in a case like this to match the colour. I work underneath (yes, unstitching some of the lining if need be) and stitch lightly to bring the threads together. Using the loop keeps it flat so you don't get bunching.

There are other things you can do though: eg, if the biggest hole is close to the hem you might be able to shorten it slightly. Because we like legs so much currently, '60s dresses often look better a little shorter than their original length - I would mend then take up - or worse case scenario you can place something over the holes. Eg, find similar beads and make decorative patches.

Of course all these methods take time and effort and if you're reselling you need to factor them all in. The top priority though is to see if there are any more holes - you might find that it's easier to get rid of it. Recently I bought a '40s jacket with a small moth hole that turned into a massive one after it was dry cleaned.

Nicole
 
But I do have a silk and wool Louis Feraud that has some small moth holes in it--and I desperately want to rescue it. So I'm gonna give it a try. Sometime. Soon. When I work up the nerve.
Click to expand...

:D you're a better woman than i for giving it the old college try. i gave up on the (loosely woven) 60s dior suit with the moth holes i posted about a while back.

trickvintage, if you can get a very close-up shot of the fabric, we can tell you for certain if it's a woven or knit fabric.

the largest hole doesn't look very big. it is true that there may be more holes than there are now, which you'll know when it's dry cleaned. of course you also would find out that there may not be any more :)

i understand all too well. it is a shame if the entire dress goes to waste just for a few moth holes. but like nicole, i've stopped buying anything with moth holes (or things with impossible to replace buttons that have any of the buttons missing), unless it's a sweater i know i can mend invisibly.

i like the idea of getting matching beads and beading a similar decoration over the holes. you'd have to have a good eye for design to do that, and the holes in a place that would lend themselves to it, without looking like 'what are they doing there?"
 
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