Period-correct compensation for arthritic shoulders?

[Becky Morgan]

As I slowly assemble the pieces of what I hope will be my 150th years' clothing, starting from the inside out, one part concerns me most: I have arthritic shoulders. I know older lower-class women in the period faced this problem and made some accommodation that would allow them to dress and undress themselves. The patterns I have don't seem to allow for anything but youth and agility, judging by the fit when I make a muslin; so far, getting into a fitted bodice requires someone else to hold it up for me.

A wrapper might solve the problem, but it doesn't seem to be the proper dress for what I have in mind, namely a less conspicuous way to do kabuki duty. I'm after the kind of dull brown or dark gray thing a hapless middle-aged civilian woman of reduced circumstances might be wearing to approach the picket line long enough to hand over whatever it is that needs taken into or out of camp, then get shooed off back into the woods, down the path or whatever it takes to get out of sight.

I've looked over a lot of period dresses (none of which contemplated anything the size of me, I'm afraid), but have no clear preference and would welcome any suggestions.

[Spinster]

Re: Period-correct compensation for arthritic shoulders?

Sacque and Petticoat, belted, with button off sleeves and two petticoats, one short for heavy work, one long for more presentable usesage.

Hook and eye up the front with decorative buttons or none, or functioning buttons.

Heidi Marsh's pattern for such ( drawn from an 1858 magazine illustration) Ladies Working Dress PHM1 has the best working button on sleeves, but the pattern itself pretty well stinks on sizing--back when I was an off the rack 18, I knew enough to cut out the 22---and then ended up adding 3 big gussets at the hips anyway.

As a working outfit though, it rocks--especially with supported pockets and a hefty leather belt for additional back support. Soft bonnet pattern comes in the package too. Win-Win

I'd sell you the dull brown version I made for In The Van--but after a week of full time wear in the woods, yeah, its toast......I'd mend it, if I could ever get enough of the truck unloaded to get to it.....

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Period-correct compensation for arthritic shoulders?

You know, I was thinking along those lines with the one you had up for sale, but wasn't sure it would be proper. I've been sewing for a good many years and generally have access to a lot of decently colored cotton free or really cheap, so it might not be a bad bet. I always have to alter the heck out of patterns anyhow, so that doesn't worry me.

So far the most aggravating thing I've made from a redrafted old pattern was my tear dress for modern pow-wows. If I cut it full enough to get my shoulders twisted around into the sleeves, it's baggy; take it in, and somebody else has to dress me. The original was from 1849, and all I can say is the woman who wore that to work in had to be young and flexible. I finally put an extra couple of buttons on it, on the theory that it doesn't need to be period correct, so the front would open more.

[Spinster]

Re: Period-correct compensation for arthritic shoulders?

While a sacque can be worn unbelted at home, here is a properly belted sacque, with the short petticoat for working and the long one for town.




The original magazine article calls for it to be made out of wool, which would be ideal for your joints, but we've made it up in a light but sturdy linen tow, and trimmed the button on sleeves out a bit with tucking.

Being too lazy to 'make a muslin' when I can make a whole dress with little more effort, we've also made it up several times out of cheap cotton and used that 'fitting dress' for a wash dress, prior to making it up in a lightweight wool. At colder events, that short version of the petticoat simply stays on for warmth.

The article also calls for knitted gaiters over the shoes and lower legs. The soft bonnet as shown is exceptionally close fitting, and frames the face without obstructing vision, and protects the hair.

There is a whole school of thought on the dressing of support staff and how you go about doing these necessary tasks without being disruptive to an event. Combined with being using proper cover for any modern items you must transport, this is certainly one way.

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Period-correct compensation for arthritic shoulders?

I agree... this "working woman's" sacque/basque style is a good option. Mrs L, does the neckline and balance on the Heidi Marsh pattern balance well, width-issues aside? I know the Past Patterns sacque has some troubles with a poorly-balanced neckline that causes the whole garment to hang "back" at the neckline, which gets chokey if it's not fixed at a muslin point.

Another option is to use a more generously-fitted, pleated-to-fit bodice style, perhaps in a yoked style with a comfortably-fitted waistband (just enough to not look potato-sack, but not constricting--possibly even with some narrow draw-tape channels built in, so the whole front band is adjustable a few inches). With a deeper placket into the skirt, it's a little easier to don one arm at a time, with the other helping lift a bit. I'm not arthritic yet, but I'm notoriously inflexible, and somewhat stout, and find that shrugging into a bodice without that one-at-a-time process Just Doesn't Work Well. :)

My short stump on support staff: it's great if they can use as many period options as possible (recognizing that there are some elements where it may *not* be possible!), and I'm with Mrs L on making sure they can do their jobs in health and safety--huge bonus points for "period-unobtrusive". :)

[Spinster]

Re: Period-correct compensation for arthritic shoulders?

The Marsh Pattern does not have the unbalanced at the neck problems evident in the Past Patterns version. Past Patterns also does not offer the actual pattern pieces for the button on sleeves--just shows the picture and says 'you can do this'. For me, this is the equivalent of the period knitting pattern I found years ago with a 150 lines of precise directions for a lace stocking, that ended with 'proceed in pattern, turn heel, finish stocking":confused_

Disconcerting for those who subscribe to the 'all clothing follows the rules' school of thought is the collar on the Marsh sacque--this is NOT a white collar. Its a fabric collar matching the dress.

We have chosen to construe a bit on implementing the useage of the sacque with the self-fabric collar, by using a thin linen kerchief (often put on sopping wet) inside the neckline during warm months, and a silk kerchief during cold weather.

In solving the actual problems with the Marsh pattern--everything fits in proportion from the waist up, in all sizes utilized, unless allowing for more than a D cup. If a properly gauged petticoat is used with working skirt support of any magnitude (corded, double starched, horsehair or woolen), the bottom of the garment does not have enough fullness to hang without an akward gape in front and simply unable to cover ample ground in the back.

We used a couple of mechanisms to compensate. At the waist, under the arms, a box or gauged pleat is installed behind the seam, allowing flare at the hipline. This helps, but is often not enough for a woman in childbearing years. A similar pleat, installed in a center back split with a reinforcing tab at the split at the waist line was one solution. I'm not saying its authentic, I'm saying it fit.

The next time we made it, we looked to an earlier clothing style that was still extant in rural Alabama--the old french cut maneteau du lit, with its interior box pleat that starts at the back neckline, but is sewn closed until it is released and flares out at the waist.

One could also choose to utilize the multiple V shaped gussets of the Past Patterns Sacque to solve this hip problem. I just found them bunglesome the two times I made up that pattern, and a pain to lengthen so that it could be belted gracefully. While much easier to sew than the Marsh pattern, the Past Patterns outfit pretty well looks like a cotton bale with a rope around it if we try to put a belt on it.

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Period-correct compensation for arthritic shoulders?

The gaiters may be entertaining to make. I've been knitting modern wool socks and my hands look sandpapered. That's another reason I'm leaning toward cotton and away from wool where possible. Odds are if I do get to make a supply run or suchlike it won't be a long one, so fortunately, warmth won't be too big a concern (that not being able to be away from home overnight again.) It's a little nerve-racking to start over; I have dresses for three different past centuries, and they're all so far off that I wouldn't go out in any of them!

As for hiding things that have to be smuggled in, poke sacks and a correct basket work wonders for most items. Brown paper and string will handle some bigger ones. Anything too large to be plausible as something a woman might happen to carry might have to depend on the Men In Black (or camo, as the case may be.) I don't even know how often my services might be required, but I want to cover the bases just in case there's a chance.

Thank you both for the ideas and advice, all of which has me pointed in a much better and less vague direction.

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Period-correct compensation for arthritic shoulders?

Oooh, I just love the "make in the usual manner" directions. :)

The collar could reasonably be left off entirely, and a neckerchief used instead.

It sounds like the split and added pleat at the back is a very plausible period solution, actually. That reinforcement at the back waist/top of split makes all the difference in stability.

Getting any sort of basque to fit well over the bulk of the skirts requires either muslin-stage tinkering, or construction-stage pieced-in bits; myself, I prefer the period solution of piecing in sections to pleat versus having to set gussets, but other actually *like* gussets. More power to 'em. :)

Becky, if you go with plain, full petticoats for skirt support, and either a sacque/skirt or *really* working class gathered/pleated-to-fit dress, plus apron, shawl, sunbonnet/hood, etc, you could be very reasonably, accurately fitted out, in my opinion, and be able to take on a wide range of at-event work.

[Spinster]

Re: Period-correct compensation for arthritic shoulders?

Well, while we are at it.......

Let's talk skirt lifters.

Putting those twill tape sections in at each seam line, right at the top of the leg, and again at the knee, letting them dangle inside the skirting until needed. Then when the weather is wet, or the trail rough, or the brush deep, reach under there and tie up the lifters at each seam line--or just in the front ones. Get those skirts up and out of your way when you have to cover ground quickly

Positioning can be a little fussy if you are also putting in supported pockets on those same seams--yet another thing I believe in--pockets deep enough and sturdy enough to carry 3 or 4 sweet potatoes, some lighter pine, a little flask and a horned toad.

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Period-correct compensation for arthritic shoulders?

I won't get into the number of times I've gone off on modern clothing made without pockets. Our relatives were smarter than that!
THANK YOU for the reminder about the skirt lifters. I had forgotten about setting those in to begin with. If you put them on top of the seam later, they tend to wear loose and eventually pull off, usually just about when it's least convenient.

That stocking pattern looks about like the directions for husband's Hawken rifle kit years back. It had pages of agonizingly specific detail about how to sand and finish the stock, followed by "Assemble firing mechanism and barrel and shoot it." That's why I don't worry too much about adding gathers or pleats or gussets; if a reasonable housewife used to making her own clothes would think of it now, odds are she'd have thought of it back then, because people came in all kinds of shapes back then, too. This doesn't excuse making something comkpletely off the wall, but it does mean that to me, the ordinary things a tailor, seamstress or home sewer would do are acceptable.

I'm always frustrated because the examples in museums are often ballgowns or wedding dresses. What we hasve left of ordinary work clothes are too often bits in quilts, because we wore the regular clothes to shreds. (I imagine this was especially true in the South after the war.) The 1849-early 1850s model for the tear dress survived in Winona Day's grandmother's trunk under a bunch of other stuff. Now I'm wondering whether her grandmother put it away because it didn't fit and she was too young to know how to fix it.

Hmm about the draw tape waistband; that could very well solve my present-day problem as well as the 1860s one without being too obvious about either.