The brown dress no one wanted.

Good morning lovely people.
In my ongoing work of sewing for the vintage store Playclothes, I came across this rather interesting late 40s dress in the repair pile.



The dress is some sort of cotton blend, has a great drape, and amazing details.


One being this cuff. This has got to be one of the most amazing details that I am SO GOING TO COPY!!! The cuff has a flap that folds under a sleeve with 3 elbow darts, and a slew of bound buttonholes.


The sleeve is cut at an angle, so that detail show through. Can't you imagine that done in a different color? So amazing.

The dress also has some really lovely craftsmanship. It's obviously hand made, with great skirt details, lots of hand stitching, and a great hem done in matching bias tape on the skirt.

It was just gutted: The buttons are all gone, the skirt was ripped at the seam to get to the zipper on the side and there were some other smaller repairs that needed to be done to it.


I took apart the entire left side and pressed it flat. Once that was sone, it was a straight stitch up the side with a brown vintage zipper in place. Then I few hand stitches for fixing the bias tape hem, and it was back to its old self again.


I mean, look at those button holes. So lovely.


I even looked in my stash to see if I had some buttons that would go with it, but I didn't choose any. Perhaps the store will have some, or whom ever gets this dress will have a grand time picking out some for it.

This item would look fantastic with blue, green, or even orange accents. Match it with a nice 40s hat and some heeled oxfords and you are good to go.

I love working on garments like this. It gets you back in touch with a bit of history and you save a piece of clothing that would otherwise be forgotten.

More to come, have a great day!

3 comments:

  1. It makes me feel so much better to know that there are people like you out there rescuing vintage clothing from being forgotten and thrown away! I recently rescued the most stunning 1950's wedding dress, not a blemish in sight, from Goodwill because it was on the Halloween rack and I was afraid someone might get the wrong idea! I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but I feel like I did a good thing :P

    ReplyDelete
  2. Its one of those ugly ducklings that everyone ignores on a hanger but once its on a human body it will be a swan!!I love reading about your repairs and fixes:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with Comrade von Pussycat :) I think it's awesome that you help restore vintage garments and preserve history!

    ReplyDelete

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