Nice 1930's Embroidered Dress

From the seller:

Absolutely beautiful Antique 1920's Peasant Dress. Sheer cotton cream/ivory gauze fabric w/ intricate french bobbin lace & embroidery throughout. Smocked; drop-waist line. Closes with metal snaps on side (all are present). Modest v-neckline.

Era: 1920's

Material: 100% Cotton (sheer gauze)

Condition: Excellent ready-to-wear condition. Considering this item's age, it only shows light signs of aging/wear/minor discoloration. Found a few scattered very tiny stains & a couple very small holes. stitching loose under one arm, but not torn.

Measurements

Bust= 20.5 inches across (x2)

Waist= 14 inches across (x2) with approx 1 inch of stretch due to smocking

Hips= 18 - 19 inches (x2)

Length= 47 inches from back of neck to hem of dress

From Me:

The sleeves give away the 1930's for the age of this dress. The waist line isn't dropped - it's actually normal. The blouse area is meant to be a bit puffy. I'd wear something similar today if it was warm enough, honestly.

Bustle Era Copper Dress

From the seller:

This is a brown silk bodice and skirt from the 1870's/1880's. The bodice is trimed with a lace collar and jet black buttons. This does have damage in the skirt and underarms, see photos. The waist of the skirt will need to be restored as its coming undone, also needs hook. Being sold as is no refunds.

33" bust
27" waist of bodice
20" shoulder seam to cuff
23" waist of skirt
38.5" length of skirt

From Me:

Probably the 1870's - right before Natural Form.

Late Teens Era Wedding Train

From the seller::

Featured for Auction we have an absolute Fabulous Circa 1910's to 1930's Handmade Antique Wedding Train. Whether your getting married or Collect Antique Textiles, this is one Gorgeous Piece !!!!!!!! We are not Experts on such pieces, but did consult with Lace Expert (Kate Henry) on this piece to its Authenticity. She believes it is certainly Worthy of having a gown made to match !!!!! She said young women coming of age toured Europe as part of their Education, and purchased fine laces for their Wedding. She could have worn the cap with a Veil but chose to wear a train. She imagined the gown was a slender column of silk, perhaps ornamented with just a bit of the Beading. The style of cap is more for 1770s to 1860s, but generally worn by older women of the late 1800s. The lace was still wonderful and respected, but the style a bit old for a bride, perhaps it was the "something old" worn previously by a Relative, all three pieces appearing to be Handmade.

This Beautiful piece measures 103" long by 32" at its widest point, 16.5" across at the its smallest. About 8 feet 6 inches long. All handmade on what we believe to be a medium cream silk or satin background. It is very soft and believe it to be silk.

Lets start at the beginning of this piece, it has a triangular bodice front piece of what looks to be darker handmade Belgian Antique Point de Gaz Needlelace that measures appr. 16" long on both sides and 8" across at its widest. We can find no damage to the piece of lace.

It then is accented with handsewn, what we believe to be mercury glass beadwork in gold and silver, pearls, and rhinestones, 18" across at its smallest width, 10" down in length, up to 21" across, at its widest.

You go down another 7" and there is another couple of pieces of darker handmade Belgian Point de Gaze lace again. The bodice front piece is 13" long, 6" at its widest, running down into the circular piece. The circular piece 16" in circumference, she called it lace cap with frill. You can see where they overlapped the lace in the center of the circle to make it a circular piece. The fold is because of the pouf of the cap back set in the center of the round lace. There is no damage to either piece other than a tiny darker spot (pictured).

You go down another 7 1/2" and the beading, pearls and rhinestones starts again. This part is 30" down in length to the bottom of the train.

Now to top all that off the entire piece has the mercury beading and pearls along all borders with what looks to be a ruching of a light cream organdy trim with picot edging, please see pics, it is very soft and kinda sheer, we took some closeups of this.

Then the back side is covered with the same ruching trim. Its in an unusual pattern, after looking at it closely, they used the trim to cover where the pieces of fabric were sewn together to make the entire train itself and possibly protect the underside from wear. We are wondering if it was ever used as we pulled several sticks pins out of the back in the trim areas where it had been handsewn on. It seems like every time we look at it we find another pin, think we got them all, be careful in case we didn't. Possibly they just missed them.

The entire piece has been well preserved in Excellent Condition, there are no holes, rips or tears, to the material, all still strong. We are not going to say it is perfect as you may find one or two minute pricks from the beadwork catching on the silk. You can also see some light spotting on the silk between the circular piece of lace and the last beadwork section, this looks to have been caused from where the pearls have darkened, and were touching the silk during storage, but it is very faint. We looked it over and saw 8 pearls missing on the entire piece, as the string where they were sewn onto is still there, of course we probably missed a few. Also, although all the rhinestone casings are all there we counted appr 19 of the rhinestones have fell out of their casing, which could be easily replaced with others. We have looked it over carefully and all the beading looks to be intact. The fabric itself is a little wrinkled in areas from storage. We were thinking this piece may have never been used, just because of the stick pin issue. But if you look at the back of it on the bottom beadwork section, which would have been the piece on the floor, and you look closely you can see faint spots where perhaps it may have lain on a floor during a wedding, it is very hard to tell, there or no pricks of the material though. See the last Picture. This piece does have a little weight to it weighing almost 2 pounds. For being a 100 years old or more, none of the above distracts from the Beauty of this piece and you have to look it over to closely to find most. If you wish for us to send you more pictures for a closer look, just ask.

From Me:

My guess is right after WWI.

Edwardian Bloomers and Corset Cover

From the seller:

From France... Lovely c.1900 fine cotton batiste bloomers and matching camisole. Great fancy late 19th century bloomers, petticoats and sets are getting harder to find! so this set consisting on a pair of bloomers and camisole, in such perfect condition, with its great quality and feminine design, is a real treasure found.

Lingerie from the Belle Époque is treasured by the collector for its romantic nostalgia. This was a period of extravagance in dress, and upper class under garments were often more elaborately detailed than street dress.

If you are a regular visitor to Time for Tea Antiques & Eccentricities, you know of my passion and high opinion of fine tailoring, embroidery, design and, of course, lace: all major art forms. I have a special affection for the pristine purity of whitework and beautiful laces. Without the enhancement of color, a whitework and lace design depends solely on creative combinations of texture.

These seductive bloomers and camisole occupy one end of a wide range of informal wear known as déshabillé ("undress"). Such exquisite garments were meant for an audience of one: the wearer's husband or most intimate friend.

What makes this set so appealing?

First, the alluring bloomers are finely made from fine white cotton batiste, have a beautiful shaped waistline, very wide and full legs, flared hem borders embellished of alternating fine Valenciennes lace at the botton hem and a lovely embroidered eyelet with broderie anglaise lace insert. Wide baby blue silk ribbons are threaded through the embroidered slits on the full legs, so they would be gathered in to form a most beautiful flounce. Tiny elaborate vertical pintucks (3 rows) back and front of the drawers over the lace band.

The bloomers cinch at centre back with two original tape ties and closes with 2 mother of pearl buttons at both sides of the waist.

1 slit center front to adjust with 1 button to the petticoat.

The condition is Excellent to Mint. Strong and Clean. Wonderful, crisp, ready to wear. The blue silk ribbons have replaced the original ones because they were fraying.

Measures: Waist: 36"; Leg width approx.: 16" (doubled, 30-32"); Length: 26".

The camisole is delicious as well. It is made from the same soft and comfortable white fine cotton, it is trimmed with delicate lace and a lovely eyelet with broderie anglaise. Blue silk ribbons are threaded through the embroidered slits. It has deep V-neckline and closes front with 2 fabric covered buttons.

Drawstring tapes to bring the waist in and a little peplum.
Elbow length sleeves trimmed at the edge with fancy Valenciennes lace for a sweet accent.

The condition is Excellent to Mint. Strong and Clean, Wonderful, crisp, ready to wear. The blue silk ribbons have replaced the original ones because they were fraying.

Measures: Shoulder to shoulder: 14 1/2"; Bust: 37 1/4"; Waist: 25 1/2"; Sleeve length: 12 1/2"; Lenght from shoulder seam to the bottom: 19"

This absolutely perfect and beautiful set would make any lady feel like a princess!

From Me:

....0_o?

These are hardly the creme de la creme of the underthings world - particularly from this era. The modern equivalent of these would be those boy short panties with a bit of lace at the cuff and a camisole with a bit of lace at the neckline so if your sweater is too low, no one will see anything immodest.

And these are most definitely NOT déshabillé. I really can't think of a way to stress that enough other than to say, would most people answer their door or have friends come in while sitting around in your bra and panties? The vast majority of people would at least put on a robe first. In the Edwardian era, they would do what their Victorian parents and grandparents did - ladies would receive visitors in a tea gown and men would receive visitors while wearing a smoking jacket. Besides that, déshabillé is a late 17th/early 18th C term for a particular type of fashion in France - not an early 20th c term.

Navy Blue Chiffon and White Lace Late Edwardian Shirtwaist

From the seller:

Turn heads

in this stunning blouse c. 1890

...navy silk chiffon...lace lining

...beautiful, delicate lace at collar & cuffs

* in overall great condition * silk chiffon & lace lining are strong & wearable

Apologies: It had 2 linings...I had to remove the shredding ivory silk one...but fortunately was left with the lace lining !

Some holes R. shoulder [ largely covered by collar ] and back of L. sleeve forearm...high neck netting needs to be cleaned

Measurements [lying flat]: underarm-underarm: 16" waist: 10 1/2"

Enjoy !

From Me:

....Yeah, no.

Not only would you have to be wanton of destruction by wearing this rather lovely piece, I doubt it would fit most people older than 12.

It's also from about 1908. By then, the pigeon front was on it's way out of fashion but the double sleeves were all the rage.

American Civil War Era Outer Wrap

From the seller:

Rare fanciful and probably a French creation dating to the mid 19thc, no labels but the family shopped on Rue de la Paix in the day as evidenced by labelled perfumes in the estate. Layers of ruffled sage colored silk trimmed in fine silk fringe with fly fringe accents and velvet ribbon. Rich colored brown silk cut velvet in romantic roses and interlocking design motifs . In good as found antique condition with some cracking to the ground silk of the cut velvet, couple of minor storage/age related spots, some separation to the interior net connecting the layers or ruffles, easy mend.

Measures 79" long and 22" at the widest point.

From Me:

A similar cut outer wrap to the extant one is in this 1865 fashion plate. There is evidence of some going back to 1862 - making something like this perfect to examine for all the ladies that do Civil War re-enactments.