Thoughts about Modest Dressing (from an 18 yr old!)

 I'm so happy that my young friend agreed to do a post for me to talk about modest dressing! She is the 18 yr old homeschooler I was mentioning in this post.

I asked her to talk about what she understands about modest dressing and if there are any struggles being a teenager who chooses to dress modestly. She speaks honestly about how her dressing seems to cause her to be less noticed. Many teenagers these days have no concept of "shame" with regards to exposing themselves (for attention from the opposite sex.) Teens dress very provocatively these days!

But I believe that her shyness regarding showing off too much skin is grounded in a whole ton of teaching concerning the matter of protecting one's modesty. Ultimately, it is a choice that she is making to protect her modesty despite the trend of her peers, and I am glad for young people like her who dare to be different for the Lord.

I love the spirit in which she tackles challenges like when a dress she loves is not up to standard, she will alter it to make it good. May the Lord bless her for her diligence to do what is right! She has even sold her sewing projects! Isn't that great!

What an example she is to me! :) For years, I had been feeling so defeated about finding modest clothes at the department stores. I would just throw my hands in the air and give up on shopping and go home sulking and blame the world for selling clothes like that. Well, no more. Now that I have picked up sewing, I'm going to alter clothes to bring them up to standard! The other day, I was at Metro and my mind was racing thinking of all the possiblities that are now opened up to me now that I can sew and alter clothes. hahahah.... I'm soooo excited! :D

Well, here's her post.... be blessed! :)

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"A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman, and loose enough to prove you're a lady."

This is one of my favourite quotes. To me, it succintly summarizes the essence of modesty: being feminine, without being provocative.

Ever since I can remember, the primary consideration when choosing clothing was the modesty, or lack thereof. Throughout my life, I have worn skirts, dresses, and culottes almost exclusively. Not that pants are forbidden entirely. Rather, skirts and dresses are perceived as more feminine, and therefore more appropriate. And honestly, I feel prettier in a dress than in culottes!

Challenges....

I am not unaware that certain styles of dress (or undress?) attract more attention from guys. When I compare my figure or clothing to that of other girls, I start feeling jealous that they don't seem to feel half-dressed (as I would, if I were to wear a similar outfit), and that they do seem to be noticed more than I. But the fact is that there shall always be girls willing to reveal more than I am willing to. Even if I were to abandon my guiding standards in order to "compete" with their immodesty, I still would not win! Instead, I choose to protect my modesty.

Skills in Sewing

One of my hobbies is sewing my own clothes. Since I was thirteen, I have sewn a coat, a petticoat, five shirts, six swimsuits, ten dresses, thirteen skirts, and seventeen pairs of culottes. Most of those projects began by designing/altering the basic pattern, and experimenting from there. Granted, quite a few of these turned out unwearable for various reasons....the first t-shirt I designed, I did not know about "wearing ease", so I made the pattern to my exact measurements. Needless to say, I never wore it! Until I learned to visualize the length of a skirt when the pattern says "25 inches from waist", several of my skirts were on the short side of wearable. On a couple other shirts I made, due to the fact that I used vintage patterns which were too large, I over-adjusted for the size difference, and they turned out rather snug. Multiple pairs of culottes did not fit properly. In fact, until I drafted my own pattern for them, they barely fit at all! But I can't remember any project that was an absolute fiasco...I always learned something!

I especially enjoy designing and sewing a modest-fied version of clothes I see girls and women around me wearing.  Several times, I have been able to "redeem" clothing, such as this skirt, which was above knee-length, by adding a contrasting band of fabric along the hem.

And also this dress, which was both too short and too low-cut. I found a t-shirt at Salvation Army which exactly matched the colour and drape of the fabric...'tis nearly impossible to tell it was altered!

I have designed & sewn three swimsuits for myself, and three which I sold to friends.

My most recent project was this dress.

I fell in love with the detailing on the bodice, and the embroidery around the hem. Unfortunately, it had spaghetti straps, which I do not wear, and was too low-cut as well. The solution? Wide grosgrain ribbon sewn along both sides of the straps, and across the neck.

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More thoughts about Christian Dressing Standards.

 

 

Comments

[Serene]

Wow!!! Ok - I am definitely going to consider her when I need more modest clothing for my girls! How available is she to do this as a project? And how fast is her turn around time?

Are you able to ask her about her charges for the swimsuit? I am interested for my oldest.

Thanks!

[Michelle]

Us too! I think i'd like a little more material for arms, maybe, but I would love to be put in contact with her.

[Suwei]

Hi serene and Michelle,

That's great! That young lady is worthy of hire! She custom designs the swim suits so sleeves are not a problem at all! I'll email u privately her contact details. :D

Suwei

[His maiden]

Please don't take offense, but some of these clothes are not modest. Anything (even though they are simplistic) that drawas attention to body parts (third picture) is not Biblical modesty. The dress is not loose, draws attention to the upper body, waist, and legs. None of our dresses/skirts should draw attention to our legs--no matter how young or old the professing Christian female is.

The second blouse is cute, but worldly, pagan women wear those and they draw attention to the breasts because of the "V."

Not a crticism, but I wonder if any professiong Christians are getting preaching according to God's word on this matter OR are we deciding for ourselves what modest clothing/dressing is and/or is not?

We tend to pick and choose. Thank you.