Jersey Fabric?

[VargasGirl]

Hello again ladies! I was just browsing Forever21.com for vintage style dresses that fit my budjet, and I am notcing a trend. A lot of them come in synthetic jersey fabric. I'm OK with that as long as a looks good on me, but it got me to thinking. How common was jersey in the 40's? Prior to this I mainly did Civil War reenacting, so when I see synthetic materials my brain screams "no!". I know sythentic is appropriate for this era, and I'm not attemptin to be 100% authentic or anything, as this is for daily use and not a WWII event, but I'm still curious. Googling turned up a definition of jersey, but no dates as to it's use. Personally, when I see jersey, it conjures up images of the 70's.

 

[Tourbillion]

Jersey was underwear fabric until Coco Chanel.

People mostly wore wool jersey, I have photos of my family in stripey t-shirts during summer. I've seen ladies in wool jersey halter tops too.

There was probably plenty of cotton jersey too, mostly underwear once again.

I made up vogue 2787 in wool jersey, which is one of the recommended fabrics.

As long as the fabric isn't shiny Quiana or something, it might be appropriate for 40's looks.

 

[VargasGirl]

Looking at the dresses I have saved in my Forever21 wish list, the jersey ones consist of poly/rayon/spandex blends, something called modal, and one skirt that is cotton/spandex. Again, not really a biggie since this is vintage-inspired and intended to be cheap, but it's still worth knowing.

 

[jitterbugdoll]

I have a number of silk and rayon jersey (and jersey-trimmed) day dresses that date to the 1940s--I love this fabric as it is soft and comfortable. However, the vintage material is not as thin as the material that F21 uses, and so it has a different drape to it.