Let's talk about the cleaning & mending of vintage that we do behind the scenes here at The Getup, starting with one of my favorite pieces that has come in lately. We purchased this set from a young woman who worked at a theater costume department at a local university and received it as a gift from said department.
We LOVE a good feed sack / advertising print. A little bit about the history of the feedsack: by necessity during the Great Depression in the 1930s, resourceful housewives repurposed grain sacks into clothing for their families. Companies responded by capitalizing on the trend, printing colorful patterns with washable logos.
This set was made much later, in the 1970s. Feedsack prints, especially bold ones that actually advertised the product offered, experienced a small resurgence around this time (as they are having an equal renaissance today). We believe this piece to be handmade with no labels attached; but made by a very skilled seamstress with serged seams throughout and great construction of the garment; a nice heavy duty zipper used.
Anyway, onto how we cleaned & restored this 1970s feedsack coat:
🧼 Spot treat with pink Zote Soap bar
🛀 2 soaks in Oxyclean
🪡 Restitch threads that popped in the armpits
This being such a heavy duty cotton we felt confident about using Oxyclean, but if your garment is more fragile (or you are worried the colors will run) we recommend starting with a lighter, more gentle detergent such as Retroclean. Always start as gently as possible; you can always work up from there if stains don't lift.
The matching purse has a Morris Moskowitz label; we think the feedsack fabric was added on top of an existing purse or done as a custom job / used as a base, as this purse maker didn't make any other purses with this fabric on it (or even any that appeared remotely similar in vibe). She didn't quite clean up as well, despite an additional soak. To dry, we rolled towels inside for it to hold its shape.
⏰ Time spent: about 4 hours. Worth it to restore an amazing print like this one!
