Clues for Dating Vintage Clothing

With celebrities such as Barbara Streisand, Sarah Jessica Parker, Winona Ryder, Sharon Stone, Drew Barrymore and Michael Richards flaunting their trendy wardrobes vintage fashions have become very popular. Whether you want to establish a collection of clothes from bygone eras or you would just like a few unique pieces to add oomph to your wardrobe, it is interesting to know the history of your piece.

How do you know if the 1930’s silk charmuese nightgown advertised on Ebay is really from the 1930’s era? Now if you absolutely love the colour or style well maybe the age does not matter. If you do not want to pay a premium for something that is not as advertised, it is important to learn a few pointers.

There are numerous ways to date garments. You can shop with confidence when you know what clues to watch for.

For instance - How are the seams finished? Are they pinked, Frenched or serged? Sergers and overlock machines have been around since the 1950’s, but were not in homes until around 1964. Inspecting the seams of custom-made items may not tell you for sure when it was made, but it can let you know for sure when it wasn’t made.

Examination of the seams on store bought, mass produced clothing of the 1950’s, shows that most were pinked. Overcast seams, welted seams or Frenched seams were usually only found on very expensive garments. Overlock seams did start showing up in lingerie during the 1950’s. By the early 1960’s all lingerie had overlocked seams, and the use of the overlock stitch was beginning to appear in other garments made of fabric that would frey easily.

A 1965 catalogue ad mentions that a garment featured overlocked seams, while another ad boasts overlock seams in 1960’s lingerie. The term is not a selling point in fashions of today as most attire has overlocked or serged seams.

Another indication of age is the use of the zipper. Patented in 1893 the first zipper was called a clasp locker. These zippers were not practical. Although a zipper was developed in 1913 with interlocking teeth, it was slow to catch on.

Zippers were first put in children’s clothing in the 1930’s and replaced the button fly in men’s trousers around 1937. There were a few zippers in womens clothing of the 1940’s, but most garments still possessed button fasteners, until the 1950’s when they finally became popular.

Catalogues from the mid 1960’s boast about the wonders of nylon zippers. Nylon zippers were thought to be less bulky, easier to hide and more comfortable than the old metal zippers.

Keep in mind that the presence or absence of a zipper and the type of zipper provides clues to the age of the garment but that other factors still need consideration. As zippers can be replaced, metal zippers are not a guarantee that the item was manufactured before 1960. Similarly, a vintage garment may have had a broken zipper replaced by a nylon one.

A Solution To Zippers That Do Not Work

You have just purchased an item of clothing and find that after a short time that the zipper either sticks, slips or the teeth do not connect. Before deciding that you will change the zipper over to a new one - look at the following for a solution.

Sticking zippers can easily be fixed providing that the zipper is metal, use a lead pencil and run the pencil along the teeth on either side several times. Pull the metal tag up and down the zipper until it glides smoothly, however if you have a plastic zipper this will not work.

Metal or plastic zippers can be repaired aligning both sides together and by slipping each tooth into the other using a flat head screw driver, once the start of the zipper is aligned, the housing can be moved the rest of the way to close and open the zipper.

Once you are able to work the zipper, do not slide to the very end because it may disconnect from its path. Sew several stitches across the path of the teeth to create a new stop at the bottom of the zipper.

Do not use a candle or wax paper, to try and get the zipper to glide smoothly, the candle will only cause a blockage between the teeth spaces and it will be harder for the zipper housing to glide up and down.

If the cause of the problem is the fold of material along the path of the zipper and it gets caught every time the zipper is moved along the teeth, then sew a stitch into the fold of the material away from the zipper path.

Is the material connecting one side of the zipper frayed? Strike a match and carefully burn the frayed ends, leave to cool off for a split second, smooth out with your fingers as the burning will cause the material to bubble at the edge, then align both sides of the teeth and feed into the zipper housing, once the housing is attached and able to be moved up and down, then it should glide without getting stuck again. This applies to both metal and plastic zippers.

For zippers that do not remain closed in trousers, this is for metal or plastic zippers, insert a key ring into the metal tag and use this extended ring to hook up to the button at the top of the trousers or hook it up into the belt tongue and close both the belt and button, the zipper will remain closed and will not open on its own accord.

If the metal pulling tag is broken, use a suitable size key ring, safety pin, paper clip or strong fishing line which can be fed into the main housing on the zipper to replace the tag. Loop and knot the end of the fishing line and ensure that the length is short enough to remain hidden from view.

Zippers - History And Facts

The zipper is found everywhere in the modern day world, and is used in myriad applications. But the common zipper was not so common not so long ago:

• Elias Howe, one of the pioneer inventors of the sewing machine, patented an early type of zipper in 1851 called The Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure. His sewing machine took up most of his time, and he abandoned his early type of fastener.
• The next person in the line of zipper evolution was named Whitcomb Judson. A tinkerer and experimenter, Judson invented many labor saving devices, including a type of fastener he patented called The Clasp Locker in 1893. Some of these fasteners were used by 1905 in the garment industry, but proved to be impractical.
• The next step in zipper evolution led to the zipper as it is known today. An employee of Judson’s named Gideon Sundback first patented his Hookless Fastener in 1913, and with further improvements patented the new and improved version as the Separable Fastener in 1917. One of the first large customers for this fastener was the U.S. Army and the fastener was used in apparel and gear for U.S soldiers in World War One.
• How did the fastener get the name ‘zipper’? The B.F.Goodrich company opted to use the new fasteners on its rubber galoshes. An executive trying out a prototype of the galoshes by sliding the fastener up and down, and said, “Zip’er up!”, emulating the sound made by the fastener. Thus the name zipper came into being. The story sounds apocryphal, but B.F. Goodrich registered the name as a trademark for overshoes with fasteners, Zipper Boots, in 1925. Other items began using the fastener, and the name ‘zipper’ stuck. B.F. Goodrich sued to protect its trademark, but was only allowed to retain its rights for ‘Zipper Boots’ and not for the name of the fastener.
• For the first twenty years of the zipper’s existence it was used almost exclusively for boots and tobacco pouches.
• In the 1930’s sales campaigns for children’s clothing that were equipped with zippers stressed the independence the fastener would give children to dress themselves. When French fashion designer in 1937 raved about the zipper being used in men’s pants, the zipper replaced buttons for fastening the fly of men’s trousers.
• Clothing with zippers was seen as inappropriate for women because the clothing could be taken off quickly. Many religious leaders frowned on the use of zippers for this reason, and zippers were found mostly in men’s and children’s apparel for a number of years.
• Zippers today are made not only from metal, but nylon and other materials. They are available in many different colors, lengths and styles.