Something Vintage

In the early days of my parents' adult lives, my mom was a Skinny Minnie. I have pictures! In fact, one of my favorite pics of my parents is a shot of them when they were either still engaged, or just married, with both sets of my Grandparents. It is sepia-tone and old-looking and wonderful. The dress my Mom is wearing in the picture is (I am sure) hand-made, either by her or by my Grandmother.

When my Mom passed away several years ago, my brothers and I helped my Dad go through some of the stuff in the closets. I had the pleasure of discovering a cache of her old dresses, including the one she was wearing in that picture. The dress, plus several others and a coat or two, are now mine, and sadly in storage.

I do not want to give them to someone who will cut them up for the fabric. I want them to go to someone who would actually wear them! I took some really bad photos of them, and I wanted to share them somewhere online, so why not here? It's not a card, but it is something near and dear to my heart, and this is MY blog, so there!

My Mom was a private person, so I have no plans to show the whole photo (no faces), but this is her wearing the dress I will show you in the following photos. The photo was taken around 1950, I think at a cousin's wedding. BTW, I measured the dress' waistline - 24".







This is the front of the dress. It has been on that hanger for over 50 years. It is in fantastic shape, considering. Square neckline, off-the-shoulder shoulders.

It is a deep blue, heavy-weight satin-y fabric. Luscious to the touch.







The back.
















The sleeves. Check out that detail! You will see some more of this in a sec.



The zipper is on the side of the dress, and runs from a few inches under the arm to the waist. I have two other dresses of hers with zippers in the same location.



Here is some more of that shirring. It is on both sides. You may have noticed it next to the top of the zipper in the above photo.



Pleats. OMG, the pleats! They run down both sides, front and back, from the waistline to the bottom of the dress. You may need to click on the pic to get a better look.



This is a pic taken with the flash, and it is too bright, but you can see the pleats better. Isn't that fabric beautiful?!

There is no belt, but there are belt loops, so you could wear pretty much any skinny belt you want to!

If I could wear this dress, I would. But I have not been this size since I was 12, so no can do.

I have had this dress for over 7 years, and it has been in storage the whole time. I took it out tonight, and I am again in love with the thing. Every time I think I can give it away or sell it, I have second thoughts, but if I can find someone who loves vintage-y clothing and might actually wear it, that would be perfect.

I have no idea if this is worth anything, but I know some people are really into period dresses. If you know any of them, please send them my way. Meanwhile, I'll troll the Internet looking for similar items so I can get an idea of its worth. Emotionally, it is priceless.

Thanks for letting me share this evening.