The Del-ish Project: Entry 2 - The Before Photos and burn test results

Sep 17, 2009 12:29

Yesterday I let the robe hang all day, and when I got home I removed the the rusty safety pins and one loose pin from where it had been hemmed at the bottom. (The huge hem was put in it by someone other than who made the garment so it can be opened back up.)

The garment is fully lined, and I managed to find a place where a seam had come frayed apart and used some loose fibers from the outer layer for a burn test. It had the following characteristics:
  • It kept a flame,
  • left a soft grey ash that nearly
  • There was no crispiness whatsoever to the ash and it completely disappeared when mushed.
  • It smelled more like paper than hair when burning.
These are the results for Cellulose based fibers: Linen/cotton/rayon. And as it's so shiny and slinky, we can conclude that it's rayon.

And now for the pictures:

FIRST: let me apologize, these were taken in one of my darker rooms, I really need to hang a hook or two up in my brighter rooms, I had it in there because I had to get so far back to get the long shots. Once I steam it out I'll take more and better lit pictures.

Here is a long shot of the Front and a long shot of the back:




Close up of the top Back:




And this is the only label: Made in Japan.



betsyhoneyvenom and I were talking on the phone last night (during a HUGE rainstorm) and we are thinking this was made sometime in the 60's or 70's, which falls in line with the types of exports Japan was doing at the time, and the time period of the other contents of the auctioned off storage unit that this dress came from.

As you can see from these pictures, there is a LOT missing from these dragons. My goal is to find some similar outfits on EBAY or some such, and see if this was mass produced, and if there are any similar styled items in better condition that I can gleam some information from.

So comments and suggestions are welcome.
My next step is to steam the garment out and take better pics. (I'll avoid the areas immediately around the embroidery, I just want to get a better idea of the lay of the garment.

I will also need drmrsgal to come over and try it on to see how the fit is.

embroidery, del-ish project

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