Puzzling dress

Midge

Midge

Super Moderator
Staff member
So, I finally got round to shooting a few pics of this dress which I've had for over a year now, and which has kept me guessing...

I bought it in Paris, more as an afterthought - it was a tiny secondhand shop in a shopping passage with no place to try anything on, but it was "buy one, get the second dress at half price" - and this was the half price one. I just liked the shape and the bright color in general. My gut feeling was pretty good, as it does fit. But all else is a mystery to me :hysterical:.

orangedress1.jpg

(Yup - I have a dummy since last week - woohoo!)

orangedress2.jpg


orangedress4.jpg

A closeup of the front (I think you can't really make these folds out on the other pics because the print is so busy) and the fabric. The fabric's texture is slightly uneven, but I think it is something synthetic - it doesn't crinkle much. Definitely not linen, even if one might be lead to say so from the fabric's texture.

I admit, I see all sorts of things in this dress - a bit of 70s, a bit of 40s... :wacko: I'm confused. What do you all think?

It has a metal zip in the back and it's home made, and except for the straight seams on the sides, on the sleeves, in the waist etc. it is hand sewn. These folds on the top were all sewn in place by hand too. In fact I had to redo these, as they were coming apart.

orangedress5.jpg

Sleeve detail. The sleeves are gathered on the shoulder.

orangedress3.jpg

Closeup of some of the handiwork. I have never seen anything like this before. All the rough edges were treated like this - that's a lot of work!

orangedress6.jpg

One of the seams thatwere done by machine. The stitches ware very small.

Karin
 
Is it that fabric that has the "lines" in it like linen but its not. There was a synthetic fabric - why am I thinking it started with a "K" that was like that. I actually had a pretty basic skirt that I picked up because it had a hangtag with the fabric mentioned on it and it was later - the memory is cloudy but I think it was from the late 70s to 1980. If memory serves me, it was a belted A-line. But the fabric could have been intro'd in the 60s or 70s

This dress reminds me of those Moroccan-like and paisley styled prints from the late 60s through the 70s. Then again, there were exotic prints in the 40s a la Tina Leser. If its a weird synthetic and its not rayon-y, I will have to say based on the fabric, its later. Metal zippers can appear in homemade dresses of any era so that doesn't give us any extra clue.

I could be 100% wrong on this one, so wait for other opinions. Seeing it in person would def. make a difference too. Probs with homemade is someone who loved a certain era could have made it to look like then, too.
 
I had a similar fabic, it was an early 80s dress that looked 40s/50s. I think a few of us were foolde for a while. The fabric was a poly cottond blend, it looked like linen except an ever so slight sheen to it and had some minor slubbing woven in the texture. Not saying this is 80s, but that might be the fabric? I will see if I can find a picture, I know I have one somewhere.
 
I found a picture but I got rid of all the closeups, I cropped and enlarged this one to try and shwo you the material. If this is similar, then I know that this one was poly cotton.

Hope that helps!
 
I agree that the fabric itself looks "newer," but the style of the dress looks older... I have a shirt of my own from the late 70s or early 80s--red with dots & swirls, not the same print as yours, but "in the same style." Not the same fabric, though. Being that it's home tailored, seems reasonable to assume that it was made from an older pattern out of modern (at the time) fabric.
 
Thanks a lot for your input everyone! I had been asking myself if it might be a case of newer fabric and older pattern, but then I was asking myself all sorts of things about this dress :powwows: . I keep on learning!

Jennifer - the way you describe that fabric sounds exactly like this dress. I have never come across anything like it before.

Karin
 
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