The Dreamstress

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Hallelujah textiles: A 1930s Hawaiian playsuit

Do you collect vintage or historical textiles?

If you do, you know there are the things on your wish list that you search for, and save up for, and eventually manage to get. And then there are the things that are so rare, and amazing, and desirable that whenever they do show up for sale they are so ridiculously beyond your price range that it’s not possible. Or the things that just never show up, because they were SO rare in the first place.

I tend to collect more by chance than design. I don’t love shopping on the internet, which limits my options a lot, and I like the thrill of finding something unexpected at an op-shop or antique store. And I like the unexpected stories that develop out of a less-planned collection.

Still, there are some things that I desperately hope that one day I’ll get to love and care for and study. My holy grails. My ultimate wish list. Hallelujah textiles. I was lucky enough to be gifted an amazing quilted petticoat by the amazing Lynne: that was one. And one day I will cave and brave the internet and buy myself a 19th century kashmiri shawl. But I never, ever, in my wildest dreams, thought I’d become the owner of a 1930s Hawaiian playsuit.

Especially not one as AMAZING as this.

(hyperventilating with amazingness)

(1930s or possibly ’40s using an earlier pattern)

1930s playsuits are incredibly rare to start with. Unlike fancy ‘occasion’ clothes they tended to be worn over and over again. They were worn for doing things: walks, sports, outdoor chores, gardening. They were mostly the provenance of young people, and we tend to take less care of our clothes. And they were made from light cotton fabrics to start with. So they wore out. So there aren’t that many ’30s playsuits around compared to say, evening dresses.

And Hawaiian/Pacific/Exotic stuff is incredibly desirable at the moment, since everyone has decided they have to have their own collection of Shaheen’s and Aloha shirts, whether they have any connection to the islands or not (grrrr).

And ’30s Hawaiian & Pacific stuff is rarest of all, because Hawaiian tourism was just taking off, and the Pacific print & clothing industry was in its infancy, just beginning to move away from ready-made Japanese or American textiles, and into their own print development.

This particular playsuit isn’t actually Hawaiian, because it belonged to a Kiwi woman, the aunt of the woman I visited in Tauranga. The owner did have a connection to the islands though – she was born in Rarotonga, as her father was working there.

The playsuit was made in NZ, and the fabric could have been Hawaiian, or NZ, or Tahitian, or from somewhere else.

The print is quite amazing. It’s a bit Frank Macintosh, a bit Eric Gill, a bit Gauguin, a bit Eugene Francis Savage. It’s also so amazing and unlike anything I’ve seen before that I’d almost think it was much later, except that the provenance is so good, and the cut and construction of the playsuit is so spot-on 1930s/early ’40s (and so unlike the construction of the ’50s & ’60s garments I saw by the same seamstress).

Check out those buttons:

The top one actually buttons, and the others cover hooks and loop fastenings.

Hand-worked buttonhole:

And the back view:

Swoon!

It is in pretty poor condition (you can see all the age staining) and has been well worn and loved. At some point the back darts were much bigger and took in the waistband as well, and they have been let out, revealing the (more) original colours of the fabric.

I have to decide how much, if any, work I want to do to improve the aesthetic condition of the playsuit. I want it as a study piece (well, let’s be realistic: to look at and love and pet and coo over), so keeping it as safe and robust as possible is much more important than doing anything to improve the aesthetic which might weaken it in the long term.

Oh happiness!

Rate the Dress: a 16th century lady in pink

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week I showed you a 1920s dress in aqua and gold lace with velvet poppies trim, and you DID NOT LIKE IT. Ok, a rare few of you loved it, but most of you didn’t: you had trouble envisioning it as it would have been worn in the ’20s (yes, it would have had a slip, almost certainly in a slightly paler shade of aqua), you found the poppies too heavy and clashing, and didn’t like the transition from lace to satin. For general dislike, the dress came in at an extremely disappointing 4.7 out of 10.

This week to make it easy to visualise the whole picture, here is a whole picture:

Portrait of a Lady, Follower of Francesco Salviati del Rossi, 16th century

We don’t know who the artist of this portrait is, or who the subject is, but the portrait does give us all the details of her ivory and pink dress.

The dress features heavy ivory overskirts, lined in carnation pink, with border of brocaded patterned trim that extend up on to the bodice in stripes. The same fabric forms slashed shoulder wings

Portrait of a Lady, Follower of Francesco Salviati del Rossi, 16th century (detail)

The separate sleeves are probably made from the same heavy silk satin as the skirt, but with delicate pinked slashing, narrow gold braid, and fine blonde lace trim around the wrists.

Portrait of a Lady, Follower of Francesco Salviati del Rossi, 16th century (detail)

Around her waist she wears a gold belt. Further gold chains hang around her neck, and gold buttons fasten her under-bodice.

Portrait of a Lady, Follower of Francesco Salviati del Rossi, 16th century (detail)

She wears a string of baroque pearls around her neck, and her hair is drawn back simply from her face, with a fillet of pearls sitting high on the crown of her head.

Whoever the sitter was, she was clearly wealthy: her dress and jewellery would have been extremely expensive, and the portrait is quite the status piece.

What do you think of the unknown lady and her ensemble? Has she pulled of the perfect blondes in pink look?

Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10

The HSF/M: Favourites for Challenge #5: Practicality

Published by The Dreamstress

After a big drop in submissions between Challenge #3 & Challenge #4 (the HSM War & Peace challenge), submission numbers held steady for Challenge #5: Practicality. Perfectly steady in fact – there were exactly the same number of submissions for both challenge, which does please my sense of order (though I’d like it even more if there were more submissions!)

I was really excited about the entries for the Practicality challenge, because I think practicality is so often overlooked in historical costuming: we forget that people had to live and work in their clothing, and that most people actually worked really hard.

I made an item that didn’t seem that practical from a modern viewpoint – a white 1910s blouse, but which was actually a revolution in practicality (Separates! Washability! Ready-to-wear! Ease of fit!). And I road tested it’s practicality by wearing it to clean the house, 1910s style.

Obviously I love what I made, but I’ve also been delighted with the other entries – I’ve learned things, been inspired, been envious, been motivated to make my own!

For my favourites I select items that really represent the spirit of the challenge, by demonstrating knowledge, research, and a thorough exploration of the idea behind the challenge. I like things of all skill levels, as long as they tell a story and demonstrate the goals of the Historical Sew Fortnightly/Monthly as a whole; the quest to explore history, raise our skill levels and standard as creators and historians, stretch our comfort zones, and occasionally, just to get something finished.

Because I can never, ever show you all my favourite things, and this was one of the hardest challenges ever to pick items for* (The quality of submissions was SO high. I looked at almost every item in the FB challenge and went “Oooh, that one!”, and every item linked under the challenge page and went “Definitely that one!”) I do recommend you check out the comments under the blog post and the photos in the FB album (yep, you do have to be a member to see it, yep, if you ask to be a member we’re going to ask you some questions, and yep, it might take us a few days to answer, but if you are really interested in the HSF, as a participant or active cheerleader, we’d LOVE to have you) to see the rest of the amazing things that were made.

And now, favourites! Entries with photos link to FB, entries without link to the blog post of the maker.

Patricia’s 1370s gown A particularly practical garment, from an era when fashion was still hugely practical: garments were versatile and layer-able, there was almost no fabric waste. And all the pieces Tina wore with this were completed for other challenges, which hugely impresses me for practicality!
The Dreaded Seamstresses 1880s bustle-era wrapper: Just the thing to do a bit of housework in before ‘dressing’ for the day – as long as you can do housework in a bustle!
La Malle de Madame Mime’s 1660s basque jacket. You must go see the photoshoot that goes with this jacket – it’s phenomenal, and shows how perfectly the jacket fits the challenge!
Lina’s 1900s maid’s wash dress. Lots of great research, a well put together outfit, and all the accessories. Fantastic!
Wanda B’s padded helmet cap: I tend to think of practicality as working on farms and being a servant, but this cap is a great reminder that there are really practical aspects to knights clothes as well.
Tina’s 1770s shortgown. Although they weren’t worn everywhere, shortgowns are under-represented in historical recreations compared to how often they appear in visual records (especially considering that they weren’t the sort of pretty dresses that were documented in portraits and fashion plates) so I always love seeing them made up. And they are so practical!

(and a bonus mention to Mirelle’s swaddling cloths. They are actually my absolute favourites, but I try not to post photos of other people’s children on my blog unless I am certain they are OK with it, so you can only see them if you are in the FB group).

For the rest of the favourites posts see:

Favourites for Challenge #4: War & Peace

Favourites for Challenge #3: Stashbusting

Favourites for Challenge #2: Blue

Favourites for Challenge #1: Foundations

* So hard I couldn’t narrow it to 5!