A Vintage Beauty

 I was paying for my sad little purchase at the VOA on Saturday when I glanced past the clerk and spotted this vintage beauty on a rack that had just been brought out.  Hold the phone!

 As Mike and Frank say, the time to buy it is when you see it.

 And how often do you find a vintage Edwardian lawn dress, complete with jacket at the VOA?  Well, one time, if you count me.

 You can click the pictures bigger to see the exquisite handwork and detail and, yes, decades of yellowed dust and stains.  I had no trouble seeing her for what she once was and had no choice but to rescue her.

After 24 hours of wash, rinse, repeat, this is what I ended up with.  I also learned why women didn't work outside the home in Victorian times.  It took them endless hours to make a dress like this, endless patience to hand-wash something so delicate and then endless hours to IRON it.  Oh.MyGosh.  This was so hard to iron!
Can you imagine a wasp-waisted young woman playing croquet on the lawn?  I cannot help but wonder if it was the same young woman who made the beautiful millinery bouquet and hair wreath I found in the same store last week.  What I find hard to imagine is that no one in the family wanted these treasures.  I am happy to rescue them. 
I don't have a dress form to display this, nor the waist to wear it so this will be headed over to my Etsy for someone else to love.