Amish Stitching Post: AMISH 101

Friday, August 21, 2009

AMISH 101

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AMISH 101

Amish Lifestyle

All aspects of Amish life are dictated by a list of written or oral rules, known as the Ordnung, which outline the basics of the Amish faith and help to define what it means to be Amish. For an Amish person, the Ordnung may dictate almost every aspect of one's lifestyle, from dress and hair length to buggy style and farming techniques. The Ordnung varies from community to community and order to order, which explains why you will see some Amish riding in automobiles, while others don't even accept the use of battery-powered lights.

Amish Dress

Amish clothing styles encourage humility and separation from the world and are a practical expression of their faith. The Amish fashion styles are simple and meant to be functional. Clothing is made at home of plain fabrics and is primarily dark in color, including shades of purple, blue, wine, brown, grey and black. Lighter colors are used for younger children and summer shirts and dresses for adults in some groups.

Amish women typically wear solid-color dresses with long sleeves and a full skirt, covered with a cape on the bodice. Some less conservative groups allow the women to wear short sleeved dresses but never sleeveless. Clothing is fastened with straight pins or snaps, stockings are black cotton and shoes are also black. Amish women are not permitted to wear patterned clothing or jewelry. The Ordnung or Book of Order of a specific Amish order may dictate matters of dress as explicit as the length of a skirt or the width of a seam.

Lavenders, purples, darker greens, mint greens, mauves, pinks, some yellows, white, black and beige are all colors that could be used in everyday dresses. Depending on the conservative nature of the Amish community, some colors acceptable in one community aren't acceptable in another. Sunday dresses are typically black with a white apron. Most of the dresses are polyester for ease of cleaning and faster drying. This fabric also requires little ironing. Some dresses are made of polyester and rayon blends but they tend to shrink in the laundry of a typical Amish household.

Amish men wear straight-cut suits and coats without collars, lapels or pockets. During the summer they'll shed the coat and wear a vest to church. Their trousers never have creases or cuffs and are worn with suspenders. Belts are forbidden, as are sweaters and neckties. Men's shirts fasten with traditional buttons in most orders, while suit coats and vests fasten with hooks and eyes. Their pants are made with a flap in the front held closed by buttons to avoid the use of a zipper.

For everyday most men and boys wear pants made of a fabric called Triblend Denim. It was used at one time by Sears to make Toughskin pants. It's high in polyester and nylon making the pants made with that fabric highly durable. The more conservative groups use a dress triblend that is a darker navy than a regular denim pant. Other groups use the medium blue triblend that is more like the typical jeans.

Amish Stitching Post

Friday, August 21, 2009

AMISH 101

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AMISH 101

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