My mother's needle

[Gail Schipper]

While going through my mother's things I've discovered a nice collection of vintage dresses. Many were made by I've found clothing pieces as far back as the 1870s. I'm wondering what to do with these lovely items. Suggestions?

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

Lovely items. Have you tried to find a vintage clothing dealer in your area? You could put these online as well...if you've never sold online, an easier method could be listing them on craigslist or kiijiji for local people to see. The main thing is to come up with an amount that you want for the lot or selling them individually.

You could also try to find if any museum in your area would be interested in having them donated.

You mentioned above "many were made by" did you mean to add in the designer or manufacturer,

 

[jazzbug]

Beautiful collection! You did a very nice job of displaying and photographing them, too.

Do you have a vintage consignment shop in your area? I do think these would sell.

 

[The Vintage Vendeuse]

Such pretty things, and they look in good condition, too.
I, too, am waiting to hear who made them!

 

[Gail Schipper]

Guess I missed finishing that sentence--and turning on notifications. Many were made by my mother while she was working in Washington, DC during WWII. Until she could afford her own sewing machine she walked to the YWCA and sewed there.

I do have a vintage clothing shop near me but am curious about exploring museum donation for the pre 1910 clothes. How do you approach a museum with this kind of thing? For the rest, my mom was 5'7" tall and truly had an 18" waist. A couple of the items would not close on even the smallest dress form, so sale for use seems unlikely for modern-size humans.

Thanks for the input!

 

[The Vintage Vendeuse]

Wow, your mother was a very talented seamstress!

About your lovely thought of donation to a museum... just check their website and/or give them a call. We have several very large museums in my area and their websites have info about item donations.

 

[BonniesVintageClothesLine]

Such a pretty lot of vintage clothing items and how lovely that your Mother was so talented! Thanks for sharing and hope these wonderful treasures find a good new home. I'm not sure I could part with them!

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

Your mom certainly had a talent as a seamstress. I agree, just look up some museums in and around your area.