Repairing antique clothing, help needed!

[darkshines]

I recently purchased two Victorian dresses from The Rep, both of which are in need of some repair. I have done minor repair work before but these two are gorgeous dresses and I really don't want to mess this up! My main issue for both dresses is that the top and skirt have been sewn together. I don't know if seperating them, especially for the velvet one, would be better in the long run, or if they are supposed to be sewn together? Bearing in mind they were used as theatrical costumes, so there may have been a practical reason for this.....

The first is made of a light shimmery material with a two tone quality, possibly silk or taffeta? Its a lilacy/dusky pink colour, with cream lace detail and inserts. The main damge on this is structural, around the arm openings/shoulder straps. This is the dress I am most concerned about repairing as the material is very light. I am terified I am going to pluck the material when I sew it! This is the dress in its entirity (sorry for the terrible photos!)


Top half


Armpit


Hem


Shoulder strap


Waist


Marks on skirt


The other dress is EXTREMLY heavy, thick black velvet, and is suffering the most round the waist, mainly because the top and skirt have been stitched together, and I don't think its going to be feasible, a seperate top and skirt might be better!

Waist



Hem


Waist at back



Eyelets on back

[PockyNightmare]

wow you got some awesome dresses there!

well, i think you should seperate top and skirt from the black one in any case, even if you sew it together i think it wont hold the weight of the skirt :/

[darkshines]

Yeah I'm thinking that too, I might bone the bodice of the black one as well as its losing its shape especially at the (I don't know the technical term) the point at the front?

Any recomendations for needles, stitch styles, how to fix that lovely lilac one?

[Miss Romwell]

I agree about separating the top/skirt on the black one, the weight of the fabric won't do the top any good in the long run, though you'll have to very carefully steam out the marks that the stitching will leave. Hold the effected area close to a boiling kettle (probably best patch test it first on a discreet bit), the, brush the pile with an old soft toothbrush. Brush it again once it's dry, and the marks should be gone.

That paler dress...ohhh, it's got some problems, that's for sure...
From the pic of the underarm damage I'd say it probably is silk. Sweat rots old silk in a really alarming way, and ballgowns/theatrical costumes seem especially prone to it, as people get really sticky in them and they're hard to clean regularly. Also, some old silk just goes crumbly, it dries and cracks. Taffeta seems to really be cursed by it, and I've not found any way of dealing with it that works anything more than temporarily. I had a lovely old black and white regency stripe gown that completely disintegrated (it literally turned to dust, though it was well on the way before I owned it) because of this, all I have left of it is a few yards of the most amazing Victorian hand knotted ball fringing.
That shoulder damage, is it an actual tear, or has the stitching just given up on a seam?
TBH, the best thing with that one is keep running emergency repairs on it but resign yourself to it being in a genteel state of terminal decay. Just seems to be the fate of a (thankfully small) number of old silk gowns.

[darkshines]

It looks like a tear thats been allowed to fray. I was thinking of bodging it by doing some well needed stitching, and then just adding something to the shoulders to hide it, some lace puffs or a collar and shoulder piece to cover it. The purple one only cost me a tenner, so I won't be crying myself to sleep if it can't be saved!

[Miss Romwell]

Sounds like a plan.
It's fully lined, yes? If the fabric has deteriorated, then reinforcing the torn areas from behind with some calico patches or similar would probably be best, and stitch them to the lining fabric, then you could gently bring together the edges of the tear in the outer fabric without putting any stress on it. If your going to cover the repaired/damaged areas anyway, then a few stitches along either edge of the tear might help to keep it all neat and together. Not sure what to do with the hem, unless it's long enough for you to take it up a little. I might even leave the worn edges as they are if there isn't, and work with the gowns age-related faults to make them a feature. I  like your idea of adding lace, especially if you could find some old handmade stuff that had similarly seem better days, it would give the gown a really cool Miss Haversham feel, like you'd never left a dusty old ballroom, even though the party had been over for a very long time.

[darkshines]

I managed to get two suitable pieces of cream Victorian lace (£13 for both!), one is a collar and the other is a length. I manged to seperate the top and bottom of the lilac dress, and I attahced the underskirt ot the overskirt (they were just roughly stitch together before). I fixed the shoulder straps ont eh top half, my next mission is to patch those underarms. Theres quite a bit of spare material inside, so I am thinking of cutting some out to patch the underarms, then adding the collar over the top, and trimming the shoulder with the length of lace. The seller I got the lace from also had a pair of lace sleeves, I would have bought those too but they just fit my upper arms, they would be better for a dress that already had short sleeves that needed extending.

I can't do anymore work on the purple one until I have bought some lilac thread, so I kight start tackling the black one