On Friday I went into town to check out the second-to-last farmer's market of the year, and...it was pretty disappointing. No one was there! Just a lot of honey.
But first I stopped at a second-hand store near the train station, Helping Hand. They have a funny mix of some really beautiful and valuable things--cheap--and some truly cheap things. For example, they have a really great selection of embroidered table/household linens and incredible mid-century hats with feathers and fur, but mostly H&M button-ups and weird t-shirts in the clothing sections.
However, behind the '70s plaid bib dress with massive hem and shoulder ruffles I spotted some deep purplish-red velvet.
Turns out it is a late-'30s, home-made silk velvet gown! I tried it on and....almost perfect (a little loose at the waist). I rarely am so in love with something that I 'can't leave without it', and I often don't buy home-made, but this is too beautiful. And 95 kronor (14.42 dollars)! Did I mention real silk velvet? I am embarrassingly bad at fabrics for being a costume historian, but this is unmistakable.
It is beautifully imperfect, being home-made; the hem, for example, is even but sewn somewhat unevenly. I love this, and want to attribute it to pre-mechanical accuracy attitudes, although I haven't peeked inside too many designer or professionally made dresses from this time.
It does have a cotton lining in back, a little piece extending below the waistline. I think this is to keep the rear pleating falling correctly. This pleating gives it such a nice drape in back; the nature of the fabric makes them somewhat indiscernible, and between that and a center back seam with a bias so slight it looks like an accident, it's rather romantic to walk around in! It's got these little shoulder pads, too, although I can't tell what's in them. Not paper, maybe more of the lining fabric folded up?
Obviously as someone interested in preservation and collections I am not supposed to be in favor of wearing historic pieces, but the experience of putting one's arms through the slim-fitting sleeves cut on a kind of bias is not common in the days of 5% lycra. Even though the dress is twentieth-century, a full-length deep red silk velvet dress with long sleeves and a loose body drape makes me feel like a Romantic without a corset, wishing she were a Renaissance babe.
I'm also struck by how disinterested I would be in laying this pattern out myself, and thus how impressed I am with this seamstress. Some of the seams need a little help, since it has probably been hanging up for the last seventy or so years. Not so impressive on the hanger, here:
But first I stopped at a second-hand store near the train station, Helping Hand. They have a funny mix of some really beautiful and valuable things--cheap--and some truly cheap things. For example, they have a really great selection of embroidered table/household linens and incredible mid-century hats with feathers and fur, but mostly H&M button-ups and weird t-shirts in the clothing sections.
However, behind the '70s plaid bib dress with massive hem and shoulder ruffles I spotted some deep purplish-red velvet.
Turns out it is a late-'30s, home-made silk velvet gown! I tried it on and....almost perfect (a little loose at the waist). I rarely am so in love with something that I 'can't leave without it', and I often don't buy home-made, but this is too beautiful. And 95 kronor (14.42 dollars)! Did I mention real silk velvet? I am embarrassingly bad at fabrics for being a costume historian, but this is unmistakable.
It is beautifully imperfect, being home-made; the hem, for example, is even but sewn somewhat unevenly. I love this, and want to attribute it to pre-mechanical accuracy attitudes, although I haven't peeked inside too many designer or professionally made dresses from this time.
It does have a cotton lining in back, a little piece extending below the waistline. I think this is to keep the rear pleating falling correctly. This pleating gives it such a nice drape in back; the nature of the fabric makes them somewhat indiscernible, and between that and a center back seam with a bias so slight it looks like an accident, it's rather romantic to walk around in! It's got these little shoulder pads, too, although I can't tell what's in them. Not paper, maybe more of the lining fabric folded up?
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| Inside view, back. Notice the very...okay finishing of the seams. |
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| View from the back. |
but any pictures of it on me were almost less impressive, as it's going to take some getting used to this silhouette on me--I'm more used to the more structured '40s and ('40s-inspired)'80s things, and this soft, long line creates different shapes, highlights different areas.
I wonder if it was made by a Swedish lady?
How exciting to add to my teensy collection. More objects for study, one little step closer to connoisseurship.
Now....where to store it?