Dresses and Gowns and Dreams of Days Past - Sharing Fashion

Among the things I did yesterday was bring my dress form upstairs into my living room and photograph the six dresses I had from my mother's collection. She was a bit smaller than I am - 5 feet, 2 inches to my current 5'4". I set the dials to my current measurements to see if the dresses would be wearable (although I think I'll actually sell them as "Vintage Handmade Clothing" on Etsy instead of keeping them). I promised I would share, so here's a heavy photo blog for you on this very cold day. 

Starting with a plain, black sheath cocktail dress. 
I rather like this one - not very ornamental, but 
very functional and looking quite comfortable. 

A detail look at the bodice allows you to see the 
lace panels and the plain satin or silk (I think it's 
satin). It would be a lovely dress when worn. 

The green lace cocktail dress with sequins and 
beadwork at the bodice and on the attached 
scarf is a bit more elaborate. That's not a sleeve 
on the left, that's the bottom of the very long 
attached scarf that I wrapped around the neck and 
finally allowed to drape down. 

When this was first made, it must have sparkled 
brilliantly. The dull white sparkles are actually 
a clear, silver-lined bead. Like all S/L beads, it 
tarnishes over time and becomes more dull. 
It's a lovely dress, though and also has a separate 
shawl of the green lace. Prepared for any 
occasion with this gown. 

This cocktail dress is my favorite gown. 
It's a light colored satin completely 
covered by lace and the top then has 
velvet embellishments all around it. It's 
a stunning dress. 

Looking closer, you can see the leaf structure she 
designed for the bodice. Four leaves in the front, and 
another four leaves in the back. I'm looking forward 
to seeing how well this dress cleans up. 

The blue split front dress has a lightweight 
underskirt which is WAY too small for me. The 
dress itself, however, would fit fine. Since the 
underskirt joins in the back and would be 
totally invisible at that point, the waistband 
could be extended with bias tape to make the 
ensemble wearable by my size. Again, this 
is a cocktail length dress. 

The bodice on this gown has a small top split 
to mirror the larger bottom split. It's really well 
designed and well made. I think it will be 
stunning on the right person - someone who 
adores vintage clothing. 

This is the only dress in the collection that 
I've actually worn. This one doesn't have a 
zipper, instead it buttons completely up the 
front with fabric-covered buttons. I'm missing 
one button, which might be a problem, but 
there might be enough of a seam allowance 
in the interior to spare fabric for a replacement. 

Looking at the detail, you can see how it fastens. 
There is actually a zig/zag row of formed fabric 
extending from the bodice at the right, and 
attaching to each individual button on the left. 
This is a style of button and fastening that my 
Mom used on a lot of different outfits. It's a 
classy way to have a "button hole" since it's 
not a hole, but another design effect. 

This dress is a true gown, extending to ankle 
length. Perfect for the opera or theatre. It 
features a dropped shoulder and gentle 
V-neck on a three-tiered skirt. Lots of lace 
on this. I could easily see Mom in the 
audience watching La Boheme wearing 
this dress and holding on to her opera 
glasses. 

A closer look at the bodice and you can see it is 
all tulle and lacework. The top dropped sleep 
portion needs a bit of repair, but it's actually 
in pretty good shape. 

Taking a closer look at the bottom, you can see 
where there is some mildew at the lowest tier, 
and obviously there are a LOT of wrinkles, but 
this might be absolutely stunning after a proper 
press and clean. 

Apparently there is one more dress that DH set aside that has a lot of pearls and beads. I'll make him chase that up and add it to the collection when he does. I'll have to do a bit of research on vintage gowns. I suspect these are all from the 1950's - I'm pretty darned sure Mom didn't run away from Hitler to shelter in Britain with a suitcase of clothes of this vintage. When Mom moved to Denver, she and my aunt Vera set up a dress-makers business and were quite successful. Eventually they closed their doors and went into separate careers - Mom to teach piano and do custom sewing, Tante Vera to teach dance. 

So, it's darned cold outside and I have to get to the pool. I hope you enjoyed this small fashion show of dresses my Mom left for me. I'll get these cleaned up, research the pricing for vintage clothing, and get them up on Etsy. The gowns, although they fit me, won't really do me any good these days. I'm more of a jeans and a t-shirt kind of gal - LOL. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow (provided I don't freeze into a block of ice!).