This Fabric of the week has the option of using either side as its face. When I find crepe-back satin used for a vintage garment, that item most often has dated from the 1920s or 1930s. It is a wonderfully substantial and fine fabric.
Crepe-back satin
Lustrous on one side and with a crepe texture on the other, this light to medium weight fabric is called crepe-back satin when its glossy side is its face, and satin-back crepe when the dull side is the face. It can be called crepe satin or satin crepe as well. Sometimes the contrasting sides of the fabric are both used on the outside of a garment. Characteristically silk, it can be made of rayon or manufactured fibers.
Uses: Blouses, dresses, evening gowns, lining
See also: Charmeuse
Crepe-back satin - Face and reverse shown, with selvage down the middle ©Vintage Fashion Guild - Text by Margaret Wilds/denisebrain, photo by Hoyt Carter
In my Etsy store I have a silk crepe-back satin dress dating from the 1920s. This dress doesn’t show the crepe side on the face anywhere, but I have run across dresses (one from the 1930s comes to mind first) that used both sides to great advantage.
