What material is this 50's dress?

Aphrodite_Nymphia

Aphrodite_Nymphia

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What material is this 50\'s dress?

Ok this one has me stuck and the vintage textiles book hasn't been any help...does anyone have any idea what material this 50's dress is made out of. It has a heavy lining which I am sure is man made, but I don't have any idea which man made material. the same goes for the swiss dot net overlay (I think that is the way to describe it) it is quite heavy for the type of material and rather stiff. Also it doesn't crease easily and if you look closely the weave is made up of very tight, identical squares. Oh and the vertical seams have raw edges which have no sign of fraying at all. Anyone have any idea?
 
Ok strike that it doesn't crease at all, if you scrunch it up in your hand it bounces right back. Oh and I forgot to add, how would you describe this bodice treatment with the little triangular flap and the button. I have seen it before on other 50's dresses, but I don't know if there is a name for it.





Emma.
 
Looks like a tufted organza. I have a sample fabric book from the 50s or 60s and that is what the sample looks like.
 
Thanks Linda, sometimes I feel like I have so much to learn. I know enough to be confident for my own purposes, but if I am thinking about selling things on I like to be 120%. I have a vintage textiles book, the one by Elizabeth Kurella, but it only really deals with natural materials and fabiric treatments.



Emma.
 
You are so welcome, Emma. I was so lucky to win these fabric samples on Ebay, although I can kind of guess them myself. Beautfiful dress!!
 
Thanks, I got studio lights last Christmas and I have put them to good use, my sister thinks she is Kate Moss though! I used her for a Christmas fashion photoshoot for my fashion section (I love being able to say I am fashion editor) in the University newspaper and now she has a huge head, heehee.

Thanks again for the tip on organza too, after I read your post I did a bit of internet research and the descriptions of the fibres and the fabric qualities are definately a match. I am still not sure what tufted means though.

Oh and Laura, I haven't been able to get a close up. My camera is playing up (read almost broke, thank goodness I am getting a new one for Christmas) and the one I have in not close up enough.


Emma.
 
The lining is probably a rayon taffeta -- does it have a vinegary smell? If so then its rayon. THe crinoline netting is very likely nylon and the sheer organdy dress itself could be nylon or rayon
 
Tufted would be the little raised dots. Am I seeing right? Kind of looks like dotted swiss?

Is your newsletter online? I would love to see it. Cute sister.

BTW, what type of lighting did you get specifically?
 
Jonathan, no smell off the lining at all. I do know that the ribbon trim is a rayon satin, it is identical to another satin rayon dress I have. Perhaps the rest of the dress is too?

Linda, ahh I see what you mean by tufted now. I thought that is what you meant, but I wasn't sure. The dress does have little dots all over it. As for the newspaper sadly it is not online, but I do have the original photoshop layout on my computer so I could post it here. It might be a little big though.

The lights are actually really basic too, just two tungsten hotlights, one with a soft box. I tend to place them at an angle at either side of the subject. In the pictures of my sister I am just using the light with the soft box to the right of her (as I see it). The lights have built in flashes that go off with your camera, but I rarely use them as I think they make the picture too cold and distort the colours a bit.
 
I used her for a Christmas fashion photoshoot for my fashion section

Or maybe scan the page and post it or post us a link of that?

Anyway would be great!

The dress and pics are both great IMHO
 
Ok, here goes Chris. I have resized the layout so it is not huge (at least I hope its not), but still big enough to make out the photographs. The only thing missing from the actual paper is the page number and the editor details at the top. Besides this should look better as the photos lose a bit of clarity when they go to print.

Emma.
 
Oh, I love all those photos and the clothes are fantastic! Did you photo shop that background in?
 
The background, believe it or not, was actually white Christmas lights stuck on to the black backdrop with sellotape! Because the wire on them is a really dark green it kind of faded into the black so you don't really notice it. I did use photoshop to remove some of the wire that did show though, but that was it with the actual photos. The frames on the other hand were all done with photoshop. There were 50 photos originally and it took me two days to frame them all like that, just so I could decide which ones looked best in the layout!

Emma.
 
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