Playing 'fabric detective'

My latest project is making another Style 1271, this time using the true vintage cotton fabric which I bought at the Festival of Vintage earlier in the year. I wrote at the time that the length should be enough for a late 50s/early 60s sheath dress and it is, just.

The print is a curious mix of yellow and pink 'jewels' in turquoise frames, plus turquoise 'blobs' and small coloured circles, on a dark mottled background.

The fabric, with a 6" ruler for scale

A closer look shows that there are draped ropes and tassels on the background as well. Also, the fabric has a slight but definite sheen to it.

Close-up

The cloth is in very good condition, but I was curious about just how old it is. It is only 36"/90cm wide, but then, so were quite a few fabrics when I started dressmaking in the 1970s. There is no information on the selvedges, the print goes right to the edges. The only method I could think of to date the design was to look at fabric advertisements in my copies of Vogue Pattern Book. I didn’t find the exact print, but the rich colours, 'brush stroke' effect and semi-abstract design all suggested the early 1960s.

Pattern Book feature on 'Dark shades'

Advertisement for Epatra fabrics

Advertisement for Ferguson's fabrics

The sheen to the fabric also helps to date it. In the summer 1962 issue, Helen Scarsdale provided a chart of the different cotton finishes available, what they were for, and how to launder them.

Useful information on caring for the finished dress

According to advertisements, both 'Everglaze' and 'Calpreta Permanent Sheen' were available on fabrics from a range of manufacturers, so I assume that they were either processes or a substance which was applied to the printed cloth. Either way, it seems probable that my fabric has one of these finishes.

Loganberry cottons used 'Everglaze'

While Marshall Fabrics favoured 'Calpreta'

This motif print is similar to my cotton

Style 1271 is, as far as I can tell, from the mid 1960s. So a fictional dressmaker would have had this length of cotton in her stash for a couple of years before getting round to making it up - which sounds about right for me!