A few weeks ago I found a really wonderful early 1910s dress. It is wool with silk accents on the cuffs and collar. The buttons are fabric-covered, rimmed with what looks like an early plastic. I was able to get it for a very good price. It's a rare thing to find an example of this type of dress.
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| Cream-colored wool dress. |
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| Fashion plate from 1912/1913 |
Here's a long view of the front and back of the dress. There is some moth damage, but otherwise it's in excellent shape. Structurally, it's very sound.
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| The back of the dress. It's a little hard to see but the skirt has a wonderful middle panel. |
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| The dress is full of beautiful details. It's fastened up with hooks & eyes, the buttons do fasten but are mostly decorative. Notice the nice finishing work under the collar. |
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| A view of the inside waistband and how it all hooks together. |
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| Look at the lovely pleating in the bodice. |
It's wonderful to be able to find pieces like this. You can learn so much about the construction of clothing this way. There are original dress patterns available, and even using these, it helps so much to see an original dress to figure out what the finished piece should look like.
I'd love to draft a pattern off this dress, but that's not a skill I've developed yet. Maybe this would be a good time to learn. There are some wonderful companies that sell 1910s patterns, here are some of my favorites: Wearing History, Vintage Pattern Lending Library, Past Patterns and Fashion Archaeologist
What a treasure. Melts your heart. Thanks for the close=ups. I'm so glad you found it. It WOULD be a challenge to learn how to draft
ReplyDeletepieces like this--but something to work toward!