Jewish Halachic Guidelines for Slips

When the dress or skirt is translucent (see through), here are a few solutions to make it opaque:

1. Line the dress or skirt with a material that makes it opaque
2. Wear a suitable slip (full length for dress, and half length for skirt)

The length of the slip should be a couple of inches shorter than the garment, and not shorter, otherwise a sudden movement that lifts up the garment will expose the knees, either indirectly via sunlight through the outer garment, or directly.

The slip should not be exposed from the outer garment, therefore wrap skirts or skirts with slits are not kosher to wear.

Source: Modesty, An Adornment for Life

Modest Swim Dress for Girls and Women

Baruch Hashem, I finally hand made my swim dresses for my girls. The pattern I use is a combination of a loose-fit top and an addition of a gathered skirt piece.  I customize the top with a mock neck band. The gathered skirt piece is just a rectangle whose width is twice the width of the bottom opening of the top (since my Serger gathers at 2:1) and whose length varies according to the height of my girls.

The entire dress is lined except for the neckband.  I purchased my fabrics from Fabric.com.  Search for the keyword phrase "nylon lycra swimwear" and you'll find a selection of swimwear fabrics.  For the lining, search for "nylon lycra tricot lining."  The pattern for the girls' top that I used is Kwik Sew 3476.  You can search for the keywords "Kwik Sew 3476" as well.  The length of the top goes down to the hips and you can adjust its length to suit your fancy if you want it shorter.  For women's sizes, you can choose "Kwik Sew 2900" or "Kwik Sew 3463."

Kwik Sew 3476

Kwik Sew 2900

Kwik Sew 3463

So, here are my final products -- they are extremely modest, skirt piece does not float in the water, they dry quickly and they are worn with Yisras Shamayim.

Swim Dress/Skirt, short or long?

In the process of making of modest swim dresses, I had to do an experiment. I needed to know which lengths of swim skirts will be modest -- short or long?  In the experiment I conducted with plastic dolls, dressed with swim fabric in different length skirts, I have found that the longer the skirt, the less it will float up, and so, it will be more modest.

Two little buddies in pool, one with short skirt, one with longer

Oops, the shorter the skirt, the more it "floats" up in the water

Beware of short swim skirts 

The longer skirt is more modest and does not float up in water

Be modest, even under water.

Jewish Halachic Guidelines for Modest Skirts

The following are guidelines according to Halacha based on the book "Modesty, An Adornment for Life." I personally find them wonderful in order to create modest clothing for my family.

Halacha

• All Jewish women and girls, married or unmarried, must cover all parts of their main body (torso) plus parts of their arms and legs when in public or in the presence of individuals outside their immediate family.   
• Skirts must cover the knees completely.  
• The upper sections of the legs must be covered in such a way that the limbs are totally disguised and the shape of the thigh and upper sections of the legs cannot be seen.

ב מַה-יָּפוּ פְעָמַיִךְ בַּנְּעָלִים בַּת-נָדִיב חַמּוּקֵי יְרֵכַיִךְ

How beautiful are your shoe-clad footsteps O daughter of (Avraham Avinu) the nobleman; (how refined is your dress in that) your thigh is hidden and obscured. -- Shir Hashirim 7:2

Length

Skirts must guarantee cover of knees at all times. Length of skirt should extend at least 4 inches below the knees. 

If the girl is tall and has long lengs, it is only obvious that the length of skirts for tall girls should be longer than 4 inches below the knee. The skirt should cover a girl's legs when sitting down, getting onto a bus, running, sitting on a swing, etc. Standard skirt lengths based on standard sizes do not apply to all girls and women. It is best to customize a skirt based on individual measurements.

Money Saving Tips:

•  When you make a skirt for a growing girl, it is best to make it with a deep hem at the bottom, so that you can let the hem down gradually as she grows

Styles

The upper sections of the legs must be covered in such a way that the limbs are totally disguised and the shape of the thigh and upper sections of the legs cannot be seen. The garment should have at least 3-4 inches more material on the widest part of the thigh area (approximately 7 inches down from the waist) than the measurement of the body itself.

Kosher styles - fully pleated skirts, flared skirts (that have plenty of cloth and hang graciously and loosely), straight skirts if they are loose fitting, A-line skirts (which broaden gradually as they descend)

Non Kosher styles - tight-fitting skirts, close-fitting skirts, straight narrow skirts (pencil skirts), V-line skirts (which gradually become narrower as they descend, also known as tapered skirts), wrap around skirts

Fabric

Clingy Fabric


Fabric should not cling to the body as it rubs against a nylon slip or the body, because when this happens, the shape of the leg is evident. This "static electricity" problem occurs when synthethic fabrics rub against other synthetics or skin. Skirts made from wool, linen, cotton and viscose do not pose a problem.  There are 3 solutions to remedy this problem.

1. Add fabric conditioner to the final rinse of the garment
2. Spray the garment with an "anti-static" spray
3. Wear a cotton slip underneath skirt

Translucent Fabric

Fabric should not be translucent such as crepe, chiffon, or other lightweight fabrics. I have personally noticed that many lightweight fabric sold in stores today are semi-sheer. So, be careful, especially when you purchase fabric online when you can't see and feel the fabric. Because of the softness of some fabric, a strong wind will force the fabric against the body thus revealing the wearer's shape. Solutions to remedy this problem include:

1. Wear a cotton slip underneath skirt
2. Gather or pleat your skirt to add extra weight to it
3. Wear a overcoat outdoors
4. Add a deep hem to the skirt for extra weight

Stretchy Fabric

Stretch fabric is popular among knit fabric and has its place when using it to make neckbands, headbands, waistbands, elastic bands etc. However, they are not suitable for making clothing out of them if the final garment will cling to the body, showing its silhouette. Stretch fabrics when worn on expectant mothers are not modest. However, there are solutions to remedy this when using stretch fabrics. Here are some of mine, based on my experience.

1. Use a low stretch fabric (less than 20%) instead of a high stretch fabric.
2. Make the skirt loose hanging with gathers.
3. For blouses and tops, use a straight pattern instead of one with curves along the bodice and add lots of ease (extra fabric).
4. Wear a cotton slip underneath skirt.

Decorations

1. Absolutely no slits in skirt whatsoever, even if you are wearing a slip underneath skirt
2. Skirts with laces on the bottom -- depends on the community and impression it makes.  If the lace appears to the onlookers like the inner slip is showing, then it is assur (forbidden), but if the  lace does not appear as thought the inner slip is showing, then it's perfectly fine!
3. A skirt may be decorated with embroidery, however, it is unrefined to place the decoration (embroidery, buttons, appliques, ribbons, stitches, etc.) in the center of the upper front of the skirt, because this draws attention to the part of the person that is private.

Belts and Waistband

Refined, decorative belts may be worn if they are neither highly ornamental nor eye-catching.  Eye-catching belts include those with 

• accessories hanging from them
• bright beads and stones embedded in them
• heavy individual pieces of gold attached around them giving luster to the belt
• names of manufacturers in large imprinted or embedded on the belt
• very heavy gold chain with golden hearts dangling from the chain at intervals

Chazal brings a verse in  Yeshaya 3:24 warning sinners 

"Where the highly decorative belts, called צלצול, were worn, the flesh shall become cancerous and develop holes!"

The Maharsha quotes the Gemara in Sotah 8b where a zonah (prostitute) would gird herslef with a belt called a צלצול to attract the attention of man to herself.

Excessively wide belts are not recommended if won like a sash and binds the dress or skirt much lower down than usual and has the effect of pronouncing the thigh area, or binds the dress or blouse above the waistline to pronounce the chest area.

wide sash belt accentuate
the body on an already
tight-fitting (swim) dress

Sew Your Own Modest and Kosher Clothing According to Halacha

I am not sure if sewing is offered as a subject in the Jewish curriculum of a Hebrew day school, but it sure is an important skill to acquire, especially among Jewish families. Hashem has blessed me with daughters, and I used to sew matching Mommy and daughter skirts when they were younger. I didn’t live in a community where affordable, modest Jewish clothing for girls could be easily found. So, my solution was to sew for my girls. It’s much easier to shop for modest skirts for women than for girls.

With the popularity of e-commerce in the past ten years, it has been much easier to shop for modest wardrobe for women and girls online, but the prices for these clothing have been horrific for my family budget. So, sewing remains an important resource to my family. Depending on the whims of the ongoing fashion trends, I was able to get modest long-sleeved shirts with fairly high necklines in the fall for me and my daughters. But as fashions change, so does the availability of modest apparel in the secular market. It’s good to know how to sew modest clothing. PERIOD.

I never knew there was easy accessibility to a set of clear, halachic standards for modest clothing until I stumbled upon a PDF booklet that one can download. This booklet, “Dress In Accordance to Halachah”, is well-written and illustrated, in my humble opinion, and easy to follow.  I am so grateful that I am able to find the reasons for why Jewish women need to cover up only certain areas of the body.  For more details about the halachos, continue reading my subsequent posts.

Neck above the collarbone
needs to be covered

Neck above uppermost spine bone
 needs to be covered

Our Sages have defined where the halachic neck ends and where the torso begins. Besides the collar bone on the front, the bone on the top vertebrae on the spine also needs to be covered, which explains to me, why most charedim choose shirts with collars over jewel (round) necklines. I suppose a tight mock neck will also satisfy the requirement.

Other considerations include choosing loose-fitting tops and skirts over tight-fitting ones that reveal the silhouette of your body. Hence, shirts, both woven and knit, with bust darts, pencil skirts and other long tight-skirts are out, even if they are without slits.

One of the advantages of being able to sew your own clothing is you can meet these halachic requirements based on an individual’s measurements. Most store-bought clothing, no matter, how modest, meet standard-sized clothing measurements. After surveying many modest clothings in Israel and USA, I have found that one has to be particularly careful about the details of the clothing. Jewel necklines on stretchy knits are a problem as they stretch after multiple wearing and laundering. If you have a sewing machine, you can add a mock neckband to it. If you don’t sew, you can purchase alterations from ModestAnytime.com for a moderate fee. You can save money by adding extra length to your daughter’s skirts and tops instead of buying a new wardrobe. If you have large shirts from parents and grandparents that are headed towards recycling, you can reuse the fabric to make smaller shirts for your babies, toddlers and older children.

Tight fitting skirt

Loose Fitting Skirt

Besides sewing regular clothing for your family, you can save a lot by making modest swimwear for your girls. Material for swimwear is easily available and can be bought online. You can customize the fit to individual measurements. A swim dress pretty much looks like a dress, except that it is made with swimsuit material. Swimsuit material tends to be very stretchy, so if you are using it to make a dress, you will have to make sure it meets the halachic standards. I have seen Jewish swim dresses that look tight on the model (see left image).  I have also seen swim dresses that can be made looser fitting like the image on the right. After Tisha B'Av, iy"H, if Moshiach hasn't come yet, I hope to make a modest swim dress that meets Halachic standards and post my project here.

Knowing the basics of mending clothing is important as well, such as adding buttons, replacing zippers, and mending seams. However, sewing is not a trade relegated to the uneducated. First of all, you need to be able to read well, follow instructions, and understand many, many sewing concepts and terminology. You definitely need to have adequate mathematics skills in order to draft a pattern, amend standard patterns, purchase and cut the right amount of fabric, run a sewing business, etc. If you are talented at drawing, you can design clothing. You need to have some technical skills in order to operate and troubleshoot your sewing machine or serger. You need to acquire good research skills in order to find help online. There are tons of free tips and tricks offered by amateur sewers through blogs and videos. There are sewing classes offered at your local fabric and craft stores as well as online. There are also local and national sewing organizations that you can join. Women of all types form sewing communities online who support one another beautifully.

Sewing is a good skill to acquire in a Jewish family and a great investment!