PLEASE help me learn! I have 2 dresses I need help dating...more added to ? Burn test, very bottom o

J

Jluthye

Registered Guest
Hello eveyone, once again I am very new to this site and Vintage clothing in general. Im picking up pieces at thrift stores so pretty much every other day I will have something new on here to have dated lol, well until I am confident in my own abilities.... I am doing HOURS of reading/research everyday on vintage clothing, fabrics, patterns, burn tests etc... but I need "experience" to know that I am teaching myself correclty!!! ok enough with that stuff.....

So dress #1 is a yellow dress, I originally thought early mid 60's and just bought it, no tag prob homemeade, so i get it home and realize it has pockets on both sides so now I am thinking somewhere in the 50's? but has long metal zipper down back, so maybe just an old fashioned seamstress? Is the matrial linnen?

Dress #2 is this awfully sewn green one. Its a shame because it had so much potential. Side sipper, very uneven bust darts (see pics) but nice material , just so un even all around (maybe she was lopsided lol) but has plastic or thin metal stips in bodice area and on the linning there are 4 little weired pouch things at the waist area with what appears to be 1/4 thick washers in them? What the heck are these things? very small 31 inch bust. but 26 inch waist? I am guessing somones learning attampt at being a semastress? guessing late 50's early 60's on this one due to attempted style

So any info on these or opinions would be appreciated. I really need help learning clues to eras and ( yes ive read the tip section but i am taking all the info I can get and need to learn to have an "eye"). and i really need help on spoting different materials. I am guessing the yellow one is a linnen fabric? and the green silk, but what kinds of material do you call it since silk has many names based on weave and style? Thank you all once again and sorry so long next one will not be I promise!!!!
 
I think the first one is '50s. It seems too long for a 1960s day dress. Home seamstresses often used old metal zippers in "newer" garments, so that isn't a surprise.

I'm having a hard time seeing the lines of the second one, so I'm not sure...

Laura
 
Oh, the "washers" are weights to help the dress lay correctly. Usually you see them at hemlines, or at the bottom of a drape (such as a cowl neck). I don't recall ever seeing them at a waist line, before.
 
Green dress lines

here is a better pic of the front of the green dress, darkened and adjusted to help show the "attempted" lines lol!
 
those shoulders (on the yellow one) were also popular in the 80's; and i am getting a younger vibe rather than older on that one...even with a metal zipper, there are lots of home sewers that re-use zips, etc when they sew

oh, and that closeup looks more polyester-y to me than linen-y. i'd suggest doing a burn test if you're wondering.
 
I'm with Mary: I think '80s on the first one, and it looks too shiny for linen. Agree with the burn test - most clothing in the last few decades seems to be poly.

The green one is a mystery: are you sure it's silk? The shininess is making me see polyester again - but there are details that look older. I'm wondering if it's an older, well made (hence the weights) garment that was recut and stitched into a prom or formal dress in the '80s when strapless was popular. Is the side zip metal or nylon? I've seen weights at the bottom of jackets but can't make any sense of these. Do you have any more photos of the interior? It looks like it was a quality garment once, so (as you mention) the bizarre stitching doesn't make sense.
 
I'm with Mary & Nicole, I looked at the yellow dress and thought 80s - I don't think I've seen those deep armholes on a 50s dress
 
more on dresses

Ill take some pictures right now... but the yellow one is not shiny at all very flat.... i'll post just that picture not reduced so you can see it.. very cottony and the fabric is in good condition but worn... a little rough feeling like lint balls on them from the wearing of the fabric. but a trick i know there you can take a razor (make sure the surface is smooth and test on something not important to get the feel lol), any way a razor removes the fuzzies and makes fabric look new. I wont do that with this of course becuase the fuzzies are on the inside too, either it is supposed to be like this of from washing? um the button on the one shoulder has a slight pearl look to them but cannot catch it with my camera but they are plastic,,,, umm. so here is a better one of the yellow fabric and 10 mins i'll be back with the green one.....

thank you
 
I think the yellow one is a polyester blend to resemble
linen, esp. if it is 'balling'. The style also seems 80s to me.

That green one is a puzzle. I really can't say what it is, other than I too, think it has been altered in some way.

Sue
 
linen won't pill, polyester will, especially if its a blend

there were alot of polys made to look like natural fiber fabrics, and quite well some of them. but a true linen would be more wrinkle-y, too.
 
picturews of the hacked up inside

ok pictures of the inside... the zipper is worn and split (the fabric part), has a snap button (press snap?) ummm the freying is what made me think it was silk but I dont know what high quality poly looks like,,,,. so could be... its weaved like tapestry... I guess thats called damask? jacquard weave? please tell me if thats wrong. Like I said I have been looking all theses terms up but I need the hands on to get what it looks like lol!

Ok thank yall again!
 
its not poly!!!!

woohooo... i know it may seem like it but my gut said no, so that makes me feel better I am learning... Its just burnt right up (burn test on yellow) and left black ash, wiped away easy, but i didnt notice much of a smell.... but then again,, stink doesnt bother me I have a baby lol....so what pills thats not synthetic? it had no melting properties? did make noise when it burned, but left just ash at the end of the swach, it stopped burning when it reached the scissors that were holdin it so the other side of the fabric did not burn.maybe it has just a slight mix of poly in it but majority cotton. So that would make it 80's then? because by that time is when they realized to stick with more cotton than poly? I dont know... just combining info taht ive read lol? I really thought this was a 50's piece though poopy lol!!!

the arms arent reallythat deep set... its a bigger dress prob 44 inches in bust so i tucked the edges in to make the shoulders stay up on my dress form,, havent measured yet..... and 30+ or so in waist my mannequin is small... 34-24-34.. so thats what makes the shoulders look so flared i guess.....
 
Thanks for posting the extra interior pics on the green dress - it looks '50s to me, or rather was originally. Still think it's been majorly mucked with, but if it's '50s the fabric will probably be silk (looks good quality, yes you're right about the jacquard) or a good rayon.

The yellow one: good news about the test! I don't know any fabrics that pill though, apart from synthetics. Perhaps you're right about it being a poly cotton mix? That was most common in the '80s.
 
POssibly rayon??

OK so,, I was researching many differnt web sites about the different "burn" properties of fabrics. I think this dress is Rayon, made to imitate cotton? there was no melitng in my burn test and no harsh oder. the piece just burned right up, I didnt have to hold it in the flame. and the ash was brittle though like wool..... but wiped away easy.... so then I statrted looking more and this matched SOME websites for rayon, and others for wool.. it does not feel like wool! unless it is a low grade mix, but did not curl like wool when burnt... so anyway... one website had a good clue.... Cotton will have a glow before extinguishing itself. Rayon will not... and this yellow one did not... there was a flame then none, then just a llittle brittle ash that crushed very easly to nothing but black dust... so what do you all think? Rayon... also I was aking about pilling... low grade cotton or heavily washed cotton will pill.... but Poly does more than the rest... Rayon however pills the older it gets due to its breakdown....So the pilling still will fit with rayon, and there isnt that much pilling on the dress, but enough for me to note it when trying to describe the fabric.

Thanks again!
 
I think the yellow is 80s, too...and the poor green one, well, that's just Frankenstein's monster in great fabric!

One of the best ways to start learing the burn habits of fabrics is to dive into your own closet and see what you can snip at that is tagged. You'll just need a tiny bit, and you can do the test knowing what the fabric is already, thus you'll see what the final result looks like in the burn, and can compare the odor for yourself.

I keep a piece of Bakelite (old plastic) on my shelf for when I'm testing old jewelry for the Bakelite odor. It helps in being able to compare what you know to what you test.
 
I've never done any of the burn tests, and judge by feel alone. If you go to a fabric shop and feeling the different materials, it helps you become familiar. Also, you can buy cheap remnants or ask for samples or scraps if you want to build up your own library.

In the '80s I worked for a fashion designer and we used a fabric that looked very similar to the yellow one - we called it Panama and it was a thick linen sort, hung and draped nicely, and was made of polyester cotton for easy wear.
 
BINGO.... thats is then thank you.. becuase to me it felt and looked like linnen and was my first guess. But it pilled. So we I did burn test and it was a mix between cotton and poly,, so thats what I had decided.... and it dies drape nicely.. this dress is about 6 sizes bigger than the mennequin but draped nicely... So thank you very much.. Sadly i walk away with an 80's dress lol! Maybe my mom will like it haha! Oh and excellent tip on the fabrics thank you!!!
 
I found the fabric

I found a fabric in a blue on another dress.. looked exactly th same in the weave and feel just a different color... the tag said 50%rayon 50% poly.... so now i know... but i think the dress i found the tag on was an 80s dres also.. i cant remember found it at good will but was an UGLY dress so i didnt even think about buying it even for learning purposes! lol
 
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