UPDATE: It burnt like weighted silk! Could it be Victorian?? DATE HELP, PLEASE!

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The zipper was replaced in this skirt so I'm thinking it is 40's or 50's. That thru me for a major loop.

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The skirt is very heavy. I was thinking embossed satin but the reverse hem looks and feels like velvet.

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Any insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated!

Vicki
 
Your skirt looks like it might be made of satin jacquard, and the velvet hem is there to protect the hem from damage - it's a common technique in Victorian garments, less seen in the 20th century but occasionally used by good dressmakers.

Long evening skirts are something that I generally associate with the '60s and '70s but your fabric sounds as if it could be older. Do you have any photos of the interior and zipper?

Nicole

(PS, in answer to your question - is there such a thing as satin velvet? No).
 
Thanks Nicole!

My guess is the zipper has been replaced. My guess is it use to be metal and they replaced it with nylon. But I'm really not sure.

Do you want a photo of the zipper from the inside??

Thanks again,

Vicki
 
If it's '60s or '70s, the zipper will probably be original nylon.

If you've got any shots of the seams that would help - from the shot you have above, you can see it's hand-finished so it's likely that the maker used older-style techniques which can make dating hard.

Do you know what sort of fabric it is? Silk, rayon or polyester will help with dating. It looks like it's good quality so I'm thinking silk, especially as you mentioned it was heavy.

Nicole
 
Satin is a weave, can be made of silk or rayon or acetate. Velvet is a weave as well, can be made of silk or cotton or rayon.

Agreed this piece looks older, would love to see interior construction!

Ang
 
I am COMPLETELY at your mercy ladies. I haven't dated anything older than 50's by myself. Yikes!

I think the zipper has been replaced. I have no clue on the fabric. The outside feels smooth & silky but crispy. The hem feels like velvet. And the underside is lined.

It is very heavy. Heavy like a vintage coat.

Below: This is the underside. The hem feels velvety.

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This is the inside of the zipper. There is a lot of red thread visible from the underside only.

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This is the inside of the waistband and one of the seams. Instead of two seams. Their are four seams. Two panels in the front, two panels in the back.

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Another photo of the inside lining.

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Another photo of the inside lining. More hand sticked red thread only visible from the inside.

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Outside view of the zipper. Looks like it has been replaced to me.

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Fabric is smooth and silky on the outside. The inside hem feels like velvet. The detail on the fabric is not raised. Hope that helps you to help me!

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To echo Ang and Nicole - velvet is a weave, satin is a different weave, so it can't be both. When describing a fabric you can describe the weave (or knit) which is how it's made, and then the fiber content, which is what it's actually made from (cotton, silk, wool, polyester, etc). When you do a burn test you are testing for fiber content.

I'm having a hard time making out what's going on with the designs on the outside of the skirt from the pictures:

Are they raised? (If they are raised and sort of velvety while the background is smooth and silky, maybe this is a flocked piece, if it's embroidery or woven threads that are raised up a bit from the background, maybe it's a brocade or jacquard.)

Places where the velvet pile has been pressed flat? (That would be embossed velvet.)

Or places where the velvet pile is gone? (That would be voided or etched velvet.)

The "pile" is the soft tufts of fabric that stick up and its fiber content is often something like rayon, cotton, acetate (really common now), polyester and (very, very rarely anymore) silk.

The backing is the fabric that the pile is attached to. Its fiber content is often something like rayon, cotton, silk, acetate or other synthetics.

The pile and backing can be the same fiber, like cotton velvet often is, or different fibers.
 
BTW - It is silk. I did a burn test! Thanks for the suggestion. I found excess fabric around where the zipper was replaced. That sure beats trying to guess!
 
You know, I think this has been sewn for an amateur theatre production and was made to resemble a Victorian skirt - probably a character in mourning or an elderly woman. It likely had a matching black bodice or a 'blouse.' The weight of it makes me question that it may be from the 1940's or the 1950's. Not terribly fashionable or practical. The red thread might be basting stitches or where they have been left in the skirt something may have been attached on the right side of the fabric. The stitches just haven't been taken out.
 
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