Old & Vintage Fabric Help?

[epr25]

I purchased a dress off of shop goodwill that I thought looked old. They had really terrible photos so no one else bid. It was only $3.00. It arrived today and turned out to be a fabulous drop waist 20's dress with matching slip and belt. The slip I would imagine is silk satin? and the dress is the very sheer scarf like material that was so popular in the time. No there are no holes stress tears or rips that are so common in these. But I pulled on the fabric in the hem to test the strength and I fell that I could not wear this now. Is there a way to help strengthen the fabric? Or is ti to far gone? I know there are some clothing restoration people on here or ladies that have more experience with this age of clothing so any help would be appreciated.

 

[Lady Day]

Aside from making it suitable for show, there isnt much one can do one the integrity of the fabric is gone to make it strong enough for causal wear, Ive learned the hard way

You could have it copied and a pattern made...

LD

 

[Mojito]

Sounds like a divine dress - I'd love to see photos! The slip could indeed be silk satin, or perhaps the newly fashionable "Artificial Silks/Art Silk" - rayon...hard to tell without seeing and feeling it, or doing a burn test. The dress sounds like one of those dreamy, floaty silk chiffons.

I think it's wise to follow the "if in doubt - don't" rule when it comes to wearing something like that - although the silk chiffons of that period can be so very light they all seem fragile, even the wearable ones. Lady Day is right about the irreversibility of the breaking down of textiles. You can conserve them to prevent further damage if you follow conservation practices, and if there were one or two areas of limited damage (say, a tear) you might be able to back it, but if the overall fabric is weak, there's not much to be done about making it wearable.