△ Block Print Fabric △ Hippie Skirts △ Festival Style ► Summer in the South ◄
Winter ▻ Spring 2017: The hunt for gauze skirts.
To begin with, I honestly had very little vocabulary for search terms. I formerly (practically another life) had a devastating collection of skirts. I had geeta, I had paper thin block print, I had tiered peasant, I had 90s and 70s alike.
I just had no idea that's how to describe them. I also no longer had the clothes: bagged up, tossed out, and traded in for some insulting mid-2000s nightmare.
Fast forwarding to 2017:
We had an extremely, worryingly, mild winter. The only "winter" we had was a week in January proceeded by a fluke snowstorm.
If you're a southerner-via transfer or birth-you know that means an unbearable, unliveable holy god, hotter than hell, summer. Spring, fleeting as it always is, has seen April highs in the 90s.
Hold on to your fanny, sister. Your power bill is going to reach for the moon.
So, I went forth into this cruel world in search of skirts of yore. I wanted thin, doesn't touch my body, wind can blow through it, hippy at a festival skirts.
I started on ebay. I love eBay! My experience is this: you can find it easier on etsy and cheaper on eBay. There's higher risk in an eBay purchase, but you are much more likely to hit your personal jackpot for under $20. The first skirt I found was around $10, and hit all the main points. It was light, free sized, and sheer. It had a beautiful, almost patchwork floral design. PIC*
As with all things, I'm an extremist. I started out with one skirt, and quickly decided I could do with around 3. I could wear them every other day during the summer. Three turned into 7, and the rest is history. I set up searches to follow, I learned how to spot hallmarks in the fabric i was looking for, I spent hours endlessly pouring through pictures.
I've done this all and now I pass on the shorthand.
Indian block print fabric is typically cotton/rayon. The cotton, in my experience, is the cream. It's has the lightest, sheerest, papery quality. It should feel slippery, smooth to the touch and be sheer. You do not want back lighting in these skirts. Or maybe you do.
You can spot the real thing in a picture pretty easily. It should be only mostly opaque, and most importantly, the printing should not be exact or symmetrical.
A true block print will have a bit of feathering around the edges (where the ink bleeds slightly) and it will have slight irregularities in the lines.
If it's perfectly symmetrical it was made by a machine and your fabric won't be the same quality.
Machine printed:
You can search for specific brands: phool, patchouly, anokhi, starina, adini.
There are some major price differences with these vintage brands. Adini and anokhi are the highest priced I've seen. Some of their dresses and skirts are priced over $1000.00. They're beautiful, rare, and I would love to own one (but only if I find it at a thrift store).
You can search for 90s era or 70s era. There are some really nice skirts out there from the 90s. Grunge and hippie ran together during that decade, and you have your 90s Dead kids to thank for the leftover clothing.
You can find skirts, tunics, dresses, tapestries. Seriously, the options are endless.
To begin with, I honestly had very little vocabulary for search terms. I formerly (practically another life) had a devastating collection of skirts. I had geeta, I had paper thin block print, I had tiered peasant, I had 90s and 70s alike.
I just had no idea that's how to describe them. I also no longer had the clothes: bagged up, tossed out, and traded in for some insulting mid-2000s nightmare.
Fast forwarding to 2017:
We had an extremely, worryingly, mild winter. The only "winter" we had was a week in January proceeded by a fluke snowstorm.
If you're a southerner-via transfer or birth-you know that means an unbearable, unliveable holy god, hotter than hell, summer. Spring, fleeting as it always is, has seen April highs in the 90s.
Hold on to your fanny, sister. Your power bill is going to reach for the moon.
So, I went forth into this cruel world in search of skirts of yore. I wanted thin, doesn't touch my body, wind can blow through it, hippy at a festival skirts.
I started on ebay. I love eBay! My experience is this: you can find it easier on etsy and cheaper on eBay. There's higher risk in an eBay purchase, but you are much more likely to hit your personal jackpot for under $20. The first skirt I found was around $10, and hit all the main points. It was light, free sized, and sheer. It had a beautiful, almost patchwork floral design. PIC*
As with all things, I'm an extremist. I started out with one skirt, and quickly decided I could do with around 3. I could wear them every other day during the summer. Three turned into 7, and the rest is history. I set up searches to follow, I learned how to spot hallmarks in the fabric i was looking for, I spent hours endlessly pouring through pictures.
I've done this all and now I pass on the shorthand.
Indian block print fabric is typically cotton/rayon. The cotton, in my experience, is the cream. It's has the lightest, sheerest, papery quality. It should feel slippery, smooth to the touch and be sheer. You do not want back lighting in these skirts. Or maybe you do.
You can spot the real thing in a picture pretty easily. It should be only mostly opaque, and most importantly, the printing should not be exact or symmetrical.
A true block print will have a bit of feathering around the edges (where the ink bleeds slightly) and it will have slight irregularities in the lines.
If it's perfectly symmetrical it was made by a machine and your fabric won't be the same quality.
Machine printed:
You can search for specific brands: phool, patchouly, anokhi, starina, adini.
There are some major price differences with these vintage brands. Adini and anokhi are the highest priced I've seen. Some of their dresses and skirts are priced over $1000.00. They're beautiful, rare, and I would love to own one (but only if I find it at a thrift store).
You can search for 90s era or 70s era. There are some really nice skirts out there from the 90s. Grunge and hippie ran together during that decade, and you have your 90s Dead kids to thank for the leftover clothing.
You can find skirts, tunics, dresses, tapestries. Seriously, the options are endless.
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