Featured Victorian Dress/Jacket.

Hi all,
I bought this Victorian Jacket and what was once the skirt yesterday.
The jacket is in nice condition, The dress was obviously made from what was once the skirt, It has a dropped waist line and was once elasticated.
The sleeves have lace under the fabric and both are very delicate so have been there a long time.

I'm thinking that maybe the dress was made in the 1920's going by the style?
Any thoughts on that?

I'm thinking to leave the jacket as it is and take the dress apart so I can re-use the velvet.

 

Pretty color......looks like it might fit a what???? Size 2 ???? What are you going to do with it......you being SO Creative!!!!!!!????

 

Lovely colour isn't it.
It looks like it would fit a UK size 8 maybe.
I have already taken the dress apart (I wish they had left it as the skirt) and I will put the pieces in my fabric stash for using when I'm being.....Creative

The jacket I will tidy up, the lining needs re-attaching and little things here and there

 

Hard to tell from your photograph. Proportion is key to identifying fashion eras and photographing an item flat and at an angle distorts. Still, you could be right re 1920s. Does dress have a waist? And what would length be -- below the knee? mid-calf?

Debora

 

I want to press the pieces are they are very creased and I suspect they have been for a long time.
I need to get the strong musty smell out of them too.

 

It was mid calf and was once elasticated at the waist.
Whoever made it wasn't the best seamstress and should have left it as a skirt.
Back then though clothes were altered and re-used.

 

Mid-calf and an elasticated waist don't fit a 1920s silhouette.

Debora

 

I don't know, It was made over a long time ago and I'm just guessing 20's as it doesn't seem to fit any other era.

It was a poor job though so probably not accurate.
I just wanted it for the lovely velvet which I know is Victorian and a nice find.

 

Problem....
The velvet is very creased and although I can press it (I tried a small piece) it changes the colour lighter by a couple of shades and I like the colour it is.
I tried steaming a couple of pieces but it didn't help.
Ideas anyone?

 

Hi Poisonivy.....that's what I would've suggested myself...steaming. Perhaps overtime it will work?

Just had another thought.....perhaps a dry cleaner could steam it out for you. Better than one's home iron.....

 

Thank you, I'll keep trying the steam and if not maybe ask the dry cleaners.
Right now it's all out on the washing line to see if I can get the musty smell out.

 

Getting rid of the musty odor is a challenge in itself....best of luck with your project.......if any one can make something of it, you can!!

Just realized the time....off to the shop for the day!

 

Thank you Judy

Have a good day

 

Amazed....
The musty smell in the jacket and the pieces was pretty pungent and I really wasn't sure I could get rid of it but after an afternoon out on the line on a sunny blowy day the smell has gone.
Can't believe that

 

That's wonderful! I'm really surprised it would take so little effort.....just the wind and perhaps a little sun.

So many people do not have "lines" these days.

I myself wouldn't be without them, and "hang" my laundry outdoors for that wonderful fresh air aroma!!

 

I was surprised too, I didn't expect it to work at all.

I ilke hanging my wash out too and I've never owned or wanted a tumble dryer.
I don't like the line out permanently so between washes I take it down

 

Hi,
Alas here in my community we are forbidden to hang clothes outside! I miss my clotheslines. Always, since I was a wheezer we had clothes lines but always took the lines in after drying. The only time I did not was while I was in Brooklyn. My clothes line was attached to a tall pole in the back yard. Since I was on the second actually the third floor of the brown stone it was too tall to take the line down.
greg

 

I don't know anyone around here that ever took their lines down.

Nor do I know anyone else but one close friend who still hangs her wash as I do. Rather than a line, she has one of those clothes poles.

When young, we lived on the 2nd floor of my grandmother's. My mother used to hang the clothes from a line outside a narrow window in the back hall way which stretched across the yard to a tree.

I remember she had many a conversation with the next door neighbor.....whether it be Winter or Summer!!

I especially love how the clothes smell in the cold Winter air....sometimes still stiff as a board!!

 

lol, that is what I thought too!
Around here the new subdivisions have bans for clothes lines and poles. You would think in this day and age of saving energy hanging you clothes out to dry would be encouraged. I have mine and use it whenever I can although in the winter months here you can't dry anything in the rain

 

My thoughts exactly........saving energy....going green.....is the mantra. I don't like spending my money where I don't have to.

Bad weather days I have a line in the cellar.

I just saw a cartoon from Shangas on another thread......priceless!