Hi everyone,
A few days ago, while working in my sewing room, I showed a picture of my bookshelf ALL cleared off and neat as a pin! Linda was the first to ask about the vintage dress displayed on a metal dress form. I thought I’d tell you about it.
It was probably two years ago and we were at a family dinner in a town about an hour from here. After it was over, my hubby’s niece said she had something for me “if” I wanted it. She is a realtor and found this child’s dress in one of the houses she was listing. She told me she immediately thought of me and had saved it for a while in hopes she’d see me. Well, when she showed me this dress, I blurted out, “Oh, of course, I’ll take it!” It was so sweet but was in pretty sad shape. It has age spots and several tears, but I could only think of the little girl, or girls, who had worn it as they were young children. I’d guess it’s probably for a 2 or 3 year old… So what do you think the age of the dress might be… early 1900’s? earlier?
Here are some details about it…
It is completely HAND SEWN… look at these perfectly even stitches…
It’s such a cute style and I bet it was absolutely stunning when it was first made and worn! I didn’t soak it in Biz or Oxy Clean because it’s definitely 100% cotton and I think ironing it would be a nightmare. It didn’t smell; just old and worn out so I left it alone.
The band at the waist has been torn and the trim off the sleeves is coming off. I sometimes wrap them up around the sleeve, but they eventually fall down again…
The lace around the hem is very pretty and I’m sure it was done by hand too… maybe not by the mama who made this, but it looks hand made to me.
The back closes with hooks and loops and the neckline has a casing with a narrow cord made from fabric that can be pulled and the necklline of the dress draws up.
The tucks are so pretty and are so even… it’s hard to imagine how much time was spent on this one little dress!
Well, that’s the story of the sweet dress in my sewing room. Now, wouldn’t it be wonderful if I somehow found a picture of the little girl “Wearing” the dress! That’d be something!
That’s it for me today! Hope you have a wonderful day!
Blessings, Jeanne
Well, last night I did my usual late-Sunday-night thing, and forgot to look at Monday’s blog! Sorry about that, and I’m sorry, too, Jeanne, that you ended up with such a terrible cut on your finger! I know those things take quite a while to heal, so don’t try to rush things. It doesn’t work!
Anne, I’m glad they are getting your meds adjusted; having those serious drops in you blood pressure and dizzy spells is Not fun!!
Those shoes are just darling, and I have sent you an email about which ones I want, if they are still available. We shall see.
Thank you for sharing the story of this precious little dress. Those hand stitched tucks are just wonderful–the hand stitching is perfectly even and straight!
I would say that it’s not lace at the bottom of the dress, but cutwork. It is, indeed, done by hand, and beautifully so! Cutwork is related to drawn thread work, but where the latter only removes threads in one direction (they are drawn out, one at a time…hence, “drawn thread work”), cutwork uses little holes (both warp and weft threads cut out) which are then bound with hand stitches, such as the buttonhole stitch. Cutwork is considered the precursor of lace. (Info from Wikipedia. For more info, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutwork )
I have not actually tried cutwork myself (although I do a lot of other embroidery) but received a pair of pillowcases with hand cutwork done by an elderly lady my dad used to call in when she lived in the “old people’s home” years ago (late 60s/early70s). The pillowcases were for my hope chest, and I think her vision had started to fail as the cutwork was probably not as well executed as she used to do. Thus, I have never used them, but kept them as a lovely reminder of that lady, who I probably only met a very few times, but who thought a lot of my dad!
Thak you Jeanne, for giving us the details and close-ups of that beautiful dress! I cannot imagine the time and expertise it must have taken to make this! Then too, sewn all by hand is something that is rarely, if ever, done today! When you think of all the modern day “helps” we have, like machine attachments, tracing paper, and things even I don’t know, about not being available at the time this dress was made, just makes it so much more valuable!
i love the way you have it dispalyed, and even with some of the trim falling off, it just looks so artistically perfect! After all it IS an old dress, so should look like it!
Thank you so much for showing this!