sheer dresses

[ElizabethClark]

Re: sheer dresses

Probably not--sheers have been gaining in popularity for the last five years by my reckoning! But the new Past Patterns version will be fun to play with, I'm sure.

[Annette Bethke]

Re: sheer dresses

Yes, the pattern evidently will be up on the website later this week. It's very pretty and likely will be a popular style for many women around the country. Perhaps Miss Bethke is correct, the current popularity IS due to the PP new pattern.:D

Have you see it, then? So do you still want a scan of the pattern front?

[Drygoods]

Re: sheer dresses

Thank you Miss Bethke, but you needn't go ahead with the scan. Sandra sent me a scan of the sheer dress pattern and said that it goes up on the website this week.
Just so that you know, today I've just about finished another petticoat, like yours. It has eighteen, 1-inch pleats with a very similar eyelet edging round the bottom, very nice. Next I have that blue and brown wrapper to copy to wear over this dressy petticoat! Why I started another petticoat I'll never know, but I'm enjoying myself.:D:D:D

[Drygoods]

Re: sheer dresses

I thought that I'd share some ebay finds from this morning. First, a sheer dress with possibly darted bodice, second; a fully lined bodice, and third; somethin' pretty to put over that sheer dress.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Civil-War-Era-Sheer-Organdy-Training-Skirt-4-Study_W0QQitemZ300213567759QQihZ020QQcategoryZ48864QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sheer-Floral-Antique-Vintage-Victorian-1860s-Gown-Dress_W0QQitemZ270187731335QQihZ017QQcategoryZ48864QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pagoda-Sleeve-1860s-Black-Chantilly-Lace-Jacket_W0QQitemZ200214505026QQihZ010QQcategoryZ48864QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Mammyk]

Re: sheer dresses

:) Kay Krewer has some wonderful sheer dresses, one of which I recall is an extremely loose weave, wool, I think, with not a stitch of lining anywhere!!
Regards
Vivian Murphy

Hi Vivian-

One question came to mind after reading this. With such a fine textile, could time/age break the weave down? Something that was perhaps a tighter weave in 1860 now in 2008 be quite loose?

Regards-
Jill Kransel

[ElizabethClark]

Re: sheer dresses

Jill, I don't think that's the case.... quite a few tight-weave sheer fabrics have stood the test of time, as have loose-weave sheers and nearly-sheers. There'd be no reason for *some* of the same-fiber strands in the weave to evaporate, leaving others behind. :) I think we're just used to a far more limited scope of fabric weaves in the modern world--the variety of the past can seem odd to us.

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: sheer dresses

I agree with Liz on this. While from a different fashion era, Rosalie Calvert minces no words in describing the sheer dress of one individuals in the early 1800s. So sheer that the skin could be seen.

Take on again Rose O'Neal Greenhow's dress in her most famous image in the Old Capitol Prison and her arms are clearly visible through her sheer sleeves.

[Mammyk]

Re: sheer dresses

Hi Liz-
Would you agree that textiles can break down through the course of time? That was more the point I was trying to make. :) I have seen sheer drapes that having been hanging untouched for years fall apart the first time they were taken down for a cleaning. (Of course these were a blend of synthetics also)

[ElizabethClark]

Re: sheer dresses

Oh, absolutely~ but the loose weaves seen in some extant garments aren't generally loose due to deterioration, but rather that they were loose weaves originally, and are still loose and ever more fragile now.

[Drygoods]

Re: sheer dresses

Two things that I would say about fabrics that can age over time; first, consider the fabric, if it is a cotton, the main consideration is the length and spun tightness of the fiber, and if it was worn out in areas you can see where snags or pills have weakened the area of cloth. The second thing is the dyes, iron oxide dyes sometimes will eat away the cloth, in other words, some dark colors used in textile printing will completely vanish because the dye disintegrated the fabric.

I have one sheer dress in my own collection that has had a rough life. It started out being a rather fine dress(likely 1850-60s), but some time in the later 1870s was remade into a loose slip on wrapper. Odd I know, but it had been taken apart and all the border print was removed and used only for trim, pockets, and piped areas. Sorry to say that the person who made the dress had little skill with a needle, but you can still see the original marks (holes and former stitching lines) in the cloth of what it might have been originally. I think that it was redone for maternity or something of this kind because I can't imagine anyone wearing this dress out in public.

[Becky Morgan]

Re: sheer dresses

I think that it was redone for maternity or something of this kind because I can't imagine anyone wearing this dress out in public.

That dress has to have a story. Do you have any idea of where it had been?
I would think--
--given to a charityand remodeled by someone desperate
--worn by an older person (maybe the original owner) who could no longer wear it as originally constructed (or who thought she was too old to wear it but couldn't bear /afford to part with it)
--worn in some of the newly white-settled Trans-Mississippi, where there were so few women around that style might matter much less than decency and comfort (that is a guess and not supported by any document I currently have on hand; however, it does come from some knowledge of western supply problems and the less than rich life faced by most settlers.)
It might also have become worn, stained or otherwise rendered unusable in its original form. I've seen a lot of garments altered for a daughter or cut down into children's clothing. That's what makes me think of the West: since it was remade for an adult woman, maybe there was no one close enough in size in the area to wear it as it was.

[K. Krewer]

Re: sheer dresses

---the loose weaves seen in some extant garments aren't generally loose due to deterioration, but rather that they were loose weaves originally---

Haven't been on for a while, but glad I signed on tonight to see what's been going on.

It's not really that the weaves are loose, but the way in which they're woven. It's a gauze, or leno, weave, in which 2 warp threads are in the same space and twist back and forth, around bundles of weft fibers -- so that the fabrics are actually a very tight weave, but there's a lot of space left in between! And sometimes there are "skips" in the weft weaving, as well, to create even more space.

Many others are plain (tabby) woven, but the fibers are very, very fine.

But it's no defect -- they were woven to be that way, to be light and diaphanous.

[VMurphy]

Re: sheer dresses

Hi K

Thanks for writing in...I had in mind the green check you have which has no lining. And thanks for the explanation of the sheer weave. The technique makes such good sense,the textile is strong but lightweight :) It's a great dress, I probably have a photo of it somewhere ;(

Regards
Vivian Murphy
Star of the West Society
Athens '08
Marmaduke's Raid

[turfwriter]

Re: sheer dresses

Judith -- I meant to mention in my earlier post that not all of the sheer dress models on Robin Stokes' site are middle-aged; there are a couple of young girls (children to preteen), as well. At least one of these dresses is patterned directly after a young girl's sheer dress in Godey's.

Also, if anyone is interested, photos of the four colorways for Robin's new sheer fabrics have just been uploaded to her website.

[Drygoods]

Re: sheer dresses

I found another sheer dress with darted bodice for folks to enjoy.:D

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310002062977&indexURL=0&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting