Women's jumpers: YEAH or NAY

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laudamus_te said:
I think this priest was wrong to speak in this way. This equation of Modesty=Frumpy is very narrowminded, IMO. What does it really matter, anyway? Humility is something that we should be aiming for. One cannot be humble and at the same time concerned with worldly things, and looking attractive is a difficult worldly thing to get beyond. Don’t misinterpret this to mean that one should pay no attention to their appearance, but they need to be paying attention to looking clean and modest, not cutting-edge fashionable. Any husband worth his salt will see the true beauty in a modestly-dressed wife.
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I’d with hold judgements on humility unless you’ve met the man. No modesty does not equal frumpy nor was that the point of the sermon at all. The point was you don’t need to wear sac cloth and ashes (thats not a comment on jumpers!) to be holy specially if your a married woman.
laudamus_te said:
I can’t understand how one can draw a distinction between how one dresses to go to church and how one dresses for the mall. Being a traditional Catholic is not a part-time thing. For me, modesty is part of my belief, and I can’t live that belief some times and not live it other times. Someone asked why elbow-length sleeves are necessary - what was wrong with shorter sleeves? "
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No being Catholic is not an off and on thing. We are called to dress to our station in life. I would not wear the same quality of clothes to the Mass as I would to the Mall I just don’t. Mass is the single most important part of the week I dress accordingly.
laudamus_te said:
Once you begin dressing modestly, including longer-length sleeves, you feel almost undressed in shorter sleeves. Sleeveless is downright naked feeling. I agree with the poster who said that arms should be covered at least to the elbow, and the “2-finger” rule for necklines is good. It is a lack of understanding and a sign of attachment to worldliness that causes people to react to this with disdain, and throw around words like “burkha” and "frumpy.
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This statement seems rather judgemental and uncalled for. You seem to imply people that don’t dress to your standards are immodest.

Again I would encourage you to find out just how much of an attachment to worldliness people have before tossing around judgements.
 
LJN21 said:
I’d with hold judgements on humility unless you’ve met the man. No modesty does not equal frumpy nor was that the point of the sermon at all. The point was you don’t need to wear sac cloth and ashes (thats not a comment on jumpers!) to be holy specially if your a married woman.
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It was not a judgment of this priest, but my opinion on his sermon as posted: “One of those I’m kidding, but not really type of things.” It doesn’t help the cause of modesty to have priests putting it down in that way, and making a joke about it. I had a priest once who did the same thing regarding Communion on the tongue. He made a little joke about it, to the general delight of the congregation. It was obvious that he was not a fan of Communion on the tongue, and it only made me feel self-conscious when I went to Communion after that.
LJN21 said:
No being Catholic is not an off and on thing. We are called to dress to our station in life. I would not wear the same quality of clothes to the Mass as I would to the Mall I just don’t. Mass is the single most important part of the week I dress accordingly.
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I was not talking about quality of clothes, but modesty in general. Some people seem to think that it’s ok to dress immodestly outside of church, and I was trying to convey the idea that modesty is not just for church, but for life.
LJN21 said:
You seem to imply people that don’t dress to your standards are immodest.
Again I would encourage you to find out just how much of an attachment to worldliness people have before tossing around judgements.
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Where did I imply such a thing? On the contrary, there are posts here on this thread which label very unfavorably people who uphold high standards of modesty.

I am speaking from experience. When I first began attending the TLM, I noticed women who dressed in a way very foreign to me: long skirts, blouses buttoned up to the neckline, cardigans, and not everything matched. I thought at the time that they were “frumpy” and unusual. I was wearing my most modest clothing at the time, which in retrospect was not very modest, but my concern was more about style than anything. I have since come to really understand the value of not placing so much importance on the stylishness of my clothes. It’s still a battle sometimes. I look at the young ladies at my chapel now who dress very modestly and simply with great admiration, and wish I had known what they know when I was that age. What I’m saying is that one’s eye changes with practice. I find the simply, un-fashionably dressed girls to be so much more beautiful than those who still harbor the desire for stylishness. I think humility is very attractive, but I would not have thought this a few years ago.
 
As long as it’s clean, modest and presentable, you know? Not everyone needs to be into the lateset fashions. Some ladies like those prairie jumpers. That’s ok, too.
Pax Christi,
Ann
 
I personally don’t love the looks of a lot of jumpers, but I would BY FAR choose to err on the side of frump than the side of immodesty. Given the fact that I’ve been nursing for almost 6 years in succesion jumpers aren’t the most practical for me though! I do have some cute maternity ones though.
 
Some of the lovely patterns I have found, and am in the process of adding to my wardrobe:

simplicity.com/index.cfm?all=Y&cat=1&type=1&sec=1&startrow=1
mccallpattern.com/item/M5314.htm?tab=dresses&page=1
mccallpattern.com/item/M5042.htm?tab=dresses&page=2
mccallpattern.com/item/M5053.htm?tab=skirts_pants&page=2
mccallpattern.com/item/M4783.htm?tab=skirts_pants&page=3
mccallpattern.com/item/M4384.htm?tab=tops_vests&page=4
butterick.com/web/shop.cgi?s.item.B4849=x&TI=10002&page=2
butterick.com/web/shop.cgi?s.item.B4443=x&TI=10002&page=6
butterick.com/web/shop.cgi?s.item.B4993=x&TI=10005&page=1
butterick.com/web/shop.cgi?s.item.B4686=x&TI=10005&page=2
butterick.com/web/shop.cgi?s.item.B3134=x&TI=10005&page=6
butterick.com/web/shop.cgi?s.item.B4738=x&TI=10004&page=3

And to answer someone’s previous question:
I think knee length is the preferred minimum skirt length because it allows a woman to sit without over exposing her upper leg (ie: thigh) and the length is enough that walking up the stairs doesn’t give an inappropriate view to those below you.
 
LittleMother said:
I personally don’t love the looks of a lot of jumpers, but I would BY FAR choose to err on the side of frump than the side of immodesty. Given the fact that I’ve been nursing for almost 6 years in succesion jumpers aren’t the most practical for me though! I do have some cute maternity ones though.
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You can’t get anything more modest (for nursing), than a jumper; the kind that come down way low under the arms? No one ever guessed I was nursing. I picked that up four years ago and it* was *really cute. Denim. They aren’t selling them this season–I checked.
Pax Christi,
Ann
 
lepanto said:
I put Catholic women who dress modestly on pedestals. :bowdown:

But, surely, there must be a better alternative than jumpers! Can’t women dress modestly without looking like they just got back from the little house on the prairie?

Are jumpers the defacto uniform of traditional Catholic women? Are modesty and stylishness mutually exclusive? :confused:

finitesite.com/vesselsofmercy/dressesjumper.html

😉
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What the heck is a jumper??? Sounds like something from the 1950’s.
 
paramedicgirl said:
What the heck is a jumper??? Sounds like something from the 1950’s.
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It is a loosely fitted garment, but it can be more fitted, and it usually looks like a sleeveless, long dress. Usually the neckline is low and the armholes are huge. Then the lady wears a shirt underneath it. Often the jumper is a color that will go with several different color shirts, so you can mix and match. This way you can wear the jumper for quite awhile before needing to launder. Just the shirts need to be laundered.

I have a nice one made of linen. Mine perhaps is better named as just a sleeveless dress, but I am uncomfortable with that, so I pretend it is a jumper.
 
TraditionalCath said:
nay. women should be wearing dresses or skirts that go below the mid calf. and also, women should have their head covered, and sleeves down to the elbow and high necklines.
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Even pre VII I never seen a woman dressed like this; except for a hat or scarf/mantilla; which I do agree with. But I very rarely see jumpers anyway. I didn’t know that catholic women wore jumpers specifically. I’ve never noticed it. I always just thought it was a particular style that some ladies like. I’ve even been known to have a couple of them myself but not because I’m catholic. I can find plenty of modest clothes off the rack…
 
I think jumpers are cute and I’ve been known to have a couple myself. But it’s the style that attracts me; I never wore them because I am Catholic or out of modesty. I can find plenty of modest clothes off the rack. And I don’t think modesty has to include buttoned up blouses up to the neck or skirts to the floor or mid-calf. If you like to dress like that it’s great. But I don’t see anything wrong with nice slacks and blouse or a skirt that hits the middle of the knee. And long sleeves? I wear them in the winter, and see nothing immodest about short sleeves.
 
PatienceAndLove said:
Some of the lovely patterns I have found, and am in the process of adding to my wardrobe:

simplicity.com/index.cfm?all=Y&cat=1&type=1&sec=1&startrow=1
mccallpattern.com/item/M5314.htm?tab=dresses&page=1
mccallpattern.com/item/M5042.htm?tab=dresses&page=2
mccallpattern.com/item/M5053.htm?tab=skirts_pants&page=2
mccallpattern.com/item/M4783.htm?tab=skirts_pants&page=3
mccallpattern.com/item/M4384.htm?tab=tops_vests&page=4
butterick.com/web/shop.cgi?s.item.B4849=x&TI=10002&page=2
butterick.com/web/shop.cgi?s.item.B4443=x&TI=10002&page=6
butterick.com/web/shop.cgi?s.item.B4993=x&TI=10005&page=1
butterick.com/web/shop.cgi?s.item.B4686=x&TI=10005&page=2
butterick.com/web/shop.cgi?s.item.B3134=x&TI=10005&page=6
butterick.com/web/shop.cgi?s.item.B4738=x&TI=10004&page=3

And to answer someone’s previous question:
I think knee length is the preferred minimum skirt length because it allows a woman to sit without over exposing her upper leg (ie: thigh) and the length is enough that walking up the stairs doesn’t give an inappropriate view to those below you.
Click to expand...
Patience: Wow. You must be good with the sewing machine. I’m currently trying to learn to make clothes. I can machine quilt, but dress making is much harder. In the fall, I 'm planning on taking a sewing class.
Pax Christi,
Ann
 
laudamus_te said:
I think this priest was wrong to speak in this way. This equation of Modesty=Frumpy is very narrowminded, IMO. What does it really matter, anyway? Humility is something that we should be aiming for. One cannot be humble and at the same time concerned with worldly things, and looking attractive is a difficult worldly thing to get beyond. Don’t misinterpret this to mean that one should pay no attention to their appearance, but they need to be paying attention to looking clean and modest, not cutting-edge fashionable. Any husband worth his salt will see the true beauty in a modestly-dressed wife.

I can’t understand how one can draw a distinction between how one dresses to go to church and how one dresses for the mall. Being a traditional Catholic is not a part-time thing. For me, modesty is part of my belief, and I can’t live that belief some times and not live it other times. Someone asked why elbow-length sleeves are necessary - what was wrong with shorter sleeves? Once you begin dressing modestly, including longer-length sleeves, you feel almost undressed in shorter sleeves. Sleeveless is downright naked feeling. I agree with the poster who said that arms should be covered at least to the elbow, and the “2-finger” rule for necklines is good. It is a lack of understanding and a sign of attachment to worldliness that causes people to react to this with disdain, and throw around words like “burkha” and “frumpy.”
Click to expand...
mmmm correct me if I’m wrong but I was raised in the Traditional church and I don’t ever remember rules such as these for modest dressing.
 
Jacafamala said:
Patience: Wow. You must be good with the sewing machine. I’m currently trying to learn to make clothes. I can machine quilt, but dress making is much harder. In the fall, I 'm planning on taking a sewing class.
Pax Christi,
Ann
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Actually, no. I am friends with a seamstress, and she has offered to make me a new wardrobe, for a modest fee. I am quite happy.
 
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