Just how wounded is this wounded bird? Help dating this cotton voile dress?

topazera

Registered Guest
Hi, I'm back with my latest question! I have this dress that I picked up because it was only a few dollars and I thought the fabric was so lovely but it's torn in several places. Okay, to start, it's a handmade shirtwaist dress, made from a very lightweight cotton (voile?). It hits just below the knee and has small cap sleeves with a split on top, the collar and sleeves are trimmed with lace. I'm not even sure what to call it, it's very delicate but also relatively simple and casual looking... a day dress? Was this a dress for misses/juniors?

I'd appreciate help with dating because I'm not sure it all adds up when I look at it? The cotton voile with lace trim and delicate, airy quality reminded me of the '30s but the closures are later. It's got a side Talon zipper with that "V for Victory" V on it (so either wartime or post war, right?) and four oddly heavy duty snaps up the front. I don't know how much shirtwaist dresses snapped up the front, I usually think of them as buttoning? And then the main seams are pinked (though it was sometimes hard to see with how frayed they are), the seams around the armscye are mock french seams. Pinking would mean at least early '50s, right? That seems to be the most recent feature.

As far as mending goes, I've only ever sewed on buttons, finished a hem, and repaired ripped seams so, I'm not exactly sure what's the best way to try and save this dress. It's clearly been repaired at least two different times, maybe three. The best repair is the shoulders, where someone put interfacing and sewed a bunch by machine, those seem to have held up! However, there's a different kind of mending tape on what used to be a tear on the back and just to the side of that is where it tore again (the first big tear). Then, there's an L shaped tear next to that (the second and largest tear). Then, one underarm was hand stitched up at some point but has since torn again around that repair (the third big tear). And then there's a smaller tears on one hip below the waist and one near the zipper on the other side (the fourth and fifth tears). There's a couple more pinholes too.

P5307400.jpg P5307401.jpg P5307403.jpg P5307405.jpg P5307412.jpg P5307423.jpg P5307424.jpg P5307407.jpg P5307409.jpg P5307415.jpg P5307411.jpg P5307414.jpg P5307417.jpg P5307434.jpg P5307437.jpg

So yes, that adds up to quite a lot of tearing which is why I was wondering if the repeated tears that have been happening mean the fabric is just too weak and destined to keep tearing somewhere at this point? Do I try to replicate the success someone had on the shoulders, with big sections of interfacing and a bunch machine stitching on top? Does it need patching and new fabric (there's some fabric in facing of the collar and the placket but then idk how to replace it and not mess anything up)? Do I take this to a professional because this is not a good starter project for an amateur? Any help is very much appreciated, as always! Thank you so much for all you've been teaching me about my own little collection of vintage!
 
Last edited:
That's a cutie! Could be late 40s or a late 40s/early 50s cusper... summer day dress yes, worn with some kind of matching slip. The fabric to me looks like it's a bit more loosely woven, which may be a clue as to why it ripped more easily - and maybe worn by someone at some point on whom it was a bit too tight, putting too much strain on it. So I'd make sure to not put too much strain on it when wearing it - though it looks like it fits you nicely without being tight. I do my own repairs, thought I am not super proficient on them. I guess I would also go for some light facing fabric like was already used, and probably sew it by hand...
 
Thanks so much all! <3

@Midge, yeah, it's just a little loose on me in all dimensions which in this case, is probably the right fit for the sake of the dress! ;) I certainly wouldn't be pulling on it if I wore it. Would you hand sew over the split areas in a zig zag stitch? And try to keep the stitches close? I don't do it a lot so I'm not that proficient but I do like to hand sew, it's what I usually have done for the small fixes I've had to do.

@denisebrain, ah, thank you! The warp rib doesn't weave through the middle of the weft rib, it just goes over top, but otherwise it does look like the example of the crossbar dimity! I really don't know more than the basics about fabrics so it's nice to learn a little by looking at something I've got, I even really liked that windowpane texture. Did you have any ideas about visible mending, were you thinking added fabric or just visible stitching? I've seen older dresses where people have replaced the whole back panel and while I didn't like it when I saw it (due to the fabric selection), I was wondering if this dress might need something like that... but maybe it doesn't need to be so drastic, so long as you're not going to pull on it.

@The Vintage Merchant! Awww, thank you! :oops: I thought about calling it a house dress but then I wasn't sure because it didn't feel like a very practical cotton to kick around in and easily wash, lol!
 
I have a wonderful book called Mend It - A complete guide to clothes repair by Maureen Goldsworthy, which lists a variety of darning, reinforced darning (that shoulder repair), and patching techniques, using both machine and hand stitching versions, for different kinds of holes and fabrics. If this were mine, I'd be doing a number of different types of darns and patches from this book

Eg here are the instructions for the L shaped tears.
The Tear Darn.jpeg



The book was written in the 70s, is out of print but available second hand. It is currently quite expensive on Amazon (link above), but I didn't pay much for it a few years ago. If you hunt around you may find a cheaper copy, or something similar.

I love visible mending when it's done well and I see some lovely examples, but I'm not always confident that I will get such a good result.
 
I agree with Maggie's, Karin's and Retro Ruth's suggestions. I believe placing a fine, even sheer, fabric behind the thin places, then finish the repair with hand stitching and hand darning. Do not yield to the temptation to use any kind of iron on tape. Zig-zag stitching stiffens the area and "eats up the fabric," in my experience.
Women wore work dresses, often already mended, with heavy work aprons over them, for morning work and cooking. Then sometime in the afternoon, took off the apron or put on a clean cotton dress for shopping or visiting. They made a distinction but now we call them all house dresses.
Marian
 
Marian is right - as the fabric is so fine, a machine zig zag stitch would probably stiffen it too much and might put too much strain on the fabric around it. To be honest, I have to have something in hand and see it for myself and then decide what I do. I don't have much experience with visible mending. Mostly I've done small holes by hand, as unobtrusively as possible, or two cases I have used decorative, star-shaped iron-on patches - used one to cover up the hole and a few more around it to make it look like a decoration that was meant to be - not unlike the idea that Maggie posted above, which I think looks great, and would be a great idea for your dress. That way you could cover more than just the immediately damaged area and probably make it a lot more stable.
 
Back
Top