Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Three Farm Dresses--1920s-30s



It is rare that I find vintage farm dresses in such good shape. . .
These three were gifted to me from a dear friend in Tennessee,
just across The River from us.
(That's the Mississippi River
for you not acquainted with this part of the country.)

I think they probably date back to the late 1920s or early 1930s. Although they are made from feed sack material, the seamstress has added details to make them more stylish, proving that even farm wives took the time to make their every day cotton wash dress a little bit special.


This one's my favorite. It may have been worn as a "Sunday dress."  There is so much attention to detail. . . Notice the double collar and cuffs and the red trimmed edging.





 The second one is much more practical
for working in the kitchen 
or cotton fields.

 It, too, is made from cotton feed sacks. . .


A tie in the back takes the dress up to size. . .


And lace trims the white cotton collar.
There are no zippers or buttons.


Notice the scalloped front and the gathers to the side.


I think the third dress is made from the same pattern 
as the second one but with variations.


A ruffle of organdy is accented with a row of pink buttons. .  .


More scallops at the dropped waist. . .
 but the skirt is gathered evenly all the way around.

One day soon I want to take the time to cut patterns from these dresses and try my hand at making a couple of them for myself. I'd like to use feed sacking, too, but I don't have enough of the same designs to make a dress. So, I'll have to resort to my stash of reproduction vintage fabrics, aging them with several washings and ironings to get that worn look.

And of course, they'll have to be stitched 
using the old treadle sewing machine, won't they?

Thanks, Bill, for rescuing what the owner considered "rags"!

5 comments:

Old Time Cindy said...

I like the look of 'old' dresses. Don't know why. It must bring visions of the country life and living simply (which is actually hard work).

Beth said...

oh! feed sack dressess! these are so cute and ver 20s or 30s. i love the frilly collar and also the delicate little sleaves on the first one.

Joyce @ WP said...

Just found these... love 'em! What an amazing gift.

Unknown said...

I love those!!!

alice saga said...

SO LOVE THIS:))) wish they were mine:))) love alice

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