Need help dating my dress

bonebroth

bonebroth

Registered Guest
Good afternoon!

I have owned this dress for about 5 years now and I wear it about 5 times a year since it is pretty fragile. The dress is floor length, the blue/yellowish pattern looks like a William Morris floral pattern, there is no tag, the fabric is cotton, has a single metal snap on the back of the neckline and ties in the back. Some pictures below for reference:


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There are little holes about the dress nothing too serious but I would like to be able to keep it from tearing any further. I was thinking of getting some muslin and recreating the bodice part and sewing it on the interior of it.

I have no idea when it is was made I got it from a thrift store for 20 bucks. If anyone has any ideas on preserving it or the when it was created I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you!
 
Hello and welcome!

Lovely print. Would it be possible to see the full silhouette of the dress -either on you or a mannequin? It will help with dating.
The type of closures will also help.
 
Here's some pics of me wearing the dress and the back snap. I put it on by slipping it over my head. I forgot to mention its a bias cut of the fabric. Sorry it's not rotating to portrait!
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It reminds me of Indian dresses I wore in the '70s - the fabric, print and style. Yours looks hand made.

Cotton is generally a robust material although it sounds like yours might have had some rough treatment, to be so fragile. I would search for some spare fabric in a seam or perhaps sacrifice a little of the sash, and patch on the inside and darn to the weakened areas.

It's a lovely floral - not a William Morris but the style and colours look traditional style.
 
I'd expect so but I'm still thrown by the condition of the fabric - perhaps it was an older fabric? It looks quite wide in the skirt panels though, so that suggests more recent. I think it might have been washed in the machine a few too many times rather than hand washing in cold water.

The construction looks to be post '60s home sewer even though the design has elements from earlier times.

I have a late '60s dress that is a similar style (although the skirt is gatherered rather than circular flare like yours, and the neckline is different). It's also a cotton print, although a thicker one.
 
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