Vintage Emergency Room consultation - not novelty prints for a change...

M

mercyonthesubway

Registered Guest
I was incredibly touched when a much-valued teacher of mine decided to pass on some of her vintage clothes to me. They're only a few pieces, but I really like the family history that accompanies some of them, and I want to use them or preserve them as best I can.

Problem is, they're in a bit of a state, and I haven't dealt with this kind of condition before. I think one of them may be a goner. Please do help with any and all suggestions about what I can do with these in order to prolong their lives or put them to good use.

This one has the least family history as such; it was bought second hand in London a few decades ago, when one could more frequently buy chopped-off thirties gowns in Camden... The hem is machine hemmed but has a nice swing to it nevertheless. The lining is coming apart a bit. The neck has a weird popper-fastened triangle of cloth at the front and a recycled bit of the gown ruched into a collar and stitched onto the back. The beads are in a bad way. I've included a shot of the best preserved.... What to do with this?

(bear in mind, I have no sewing machine and am not a seamstress; restorator recommendations will have to be London-focussed; I'm open to ideas of recycling and remaking, but would have to find some nominated person to do it, as I would murder the fabric).









Next intensive care candidate soon!
 
The beads look like Edwardian bits applied to a 30s gown in the 70s or 80s. You could just take them off. Then I would take the added bits at the neckline off and see what you have.

That's a start!

Hollis
 
Hmm, good point on the beading. I've looked closer and the best preserved one has the most backing. The other ones have been disintegrating from the inside out.

The triangle-snap front is integral to the dress (bad description on my part) so I don't want to remove it. It almost looks like the 'old' back, if you know what I mean.

I'm also nervous of taking the ruched collary type thing off, as I'm a bit worried about the fabric behind it. Will proceed cautiously. In effect, the dress is so altered, that I'm hesitant about taking steps to 'restore' it, as that's impossible, ykwim?

thanks!
L
 
Originally posted by vintage-voyager


The triangle-snap front is integral to the dress (bad description on my part) so I don't want to remove it. It almost looks like the 'old' back, if you know what I mean.
Click to expand...

Do you mean old backing or that the dress was remade with the back as the new front?
 
Hi Chris!

I'm not expressing myself very well - I just wonder whether the diagonal snap fastening at the front neck is an indication that the dress has just been swivelled around back to front in the adaptation? Still eyeing it warily...

L
 
This may sound odd - but when I got a suspect backwards dress the only way I knew for sure is to try it on myself (luckily, it wasn't something with a 30 inch bust so I could safely do it without harming the garment). The mannequins are great but since they don't move where normal people move, sometimes strange darts that look fine on the manni but make one feel that their arm is pinned in strangely, etc, are a dead giveaway. Maybe if the garment is small but not lilliputian and sturdy enough, you could try the "real person" test.
 
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