I have been thinking of the presentation of a series of posts on some of the things to look out for when you vintage and antique clothing collection. The irreversible or costly to repair issues: it may include topics such as silk, shattering the clothes moth and other insect damage, colourings that eat dust devil, dust away … .and here I have a good example. Sun damage!
Vintage dyes are not as stable as modern ones that are based on petrochemicals. Many are of natural materials and fade or color change over the years. If you want (like me) ' 40s crepe dinner dresses you may have noticed how the blue ones purple patches can enable, or grey to Brown will turn. It is a natural process and seems to be accelerated by exposure to air or Sun.
I had my vintage clothing collection began in 1980 with the 1950s party, prom and cocktail dresses – by the age of 20, 50 or the beauties hanging from the rails photo in my bedroom. I shudder to remember now that I know better, but think that it was a good thing that I have often moved and the collection soon grew so none of them would have been very exposed to the sun hanging above it – and I lived in art deco apartments too, which tend to be too dark.
In modern times many of us our clothes on clothes rails also hang-die ene side exposes to the Sun, exposing or rather a sliver of one side to the Sun. It is a frequent problem, many older clothes have sun damage but this one takes the cake.
Here is a shot of the dress separately.
And a close up of the jacket.
It's a wonderful ensemble – or rather, was ever. Silk chiffon with beaded and sequinned appliques. Fully lined – 1930s. Generally In pretty good condition except that an antiquarian on the wall for a view put-and a few years later, the color had completely changed.
So sorry!
Now, what can we do with such a problem?
Firstly, what won't work: paints. To apply dye on a piece of clothing with fade usually will result in a colored garment with uneven color, because the dye not spots faded covers, it will color the same extent. A possible exception is if a black garment of natural fibre is dyed black, but in this case a professional treatment is recommended because it is still difficult to get a good result (I think black as the most difficult of all colors to paint, to a true black instead of a charcoal).
Another problem with paints is that not all materials can be the same: for example, the silk and cotton wool will dye well, but the rayon lining less so. If there is already any repairs in the modern era, a polyester thread are used that will not dye well either, so you with a few different shades (a tip will end for telling when a garment dyed has to).
When there are small areas of fade, you could cover them by extra fabric, trims or appliques to apply. As an alternative, you could also remove the affected areas if the tissue is full (for example, in a skirt is) and there is excess substance.
Another option is to wear your vintage clothing and her ombre shadow effect with pride! Many defects are less noticeable on a garment when it is worn, and especially for evening wear where the light is not likely to be strong. Many antique and vintage clothing have issues of one kind or another and depending on how bad the damage is, it may not significantly reduces its unique and historic beauty.
This particular ensemble is now available via the webshop.
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