Dressing Tips for Elder Care
It is important to remember that your wardrobe should keep pace with your perpetually changing lifestyle and needs. Let's face it we all have to cope with issues of dressing twice daily, 365 days a year. Why not make this a pleasant and effortless task. Here are just a few helpful hints to make your life that much more enjoyable.
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Fabric Content
Throw away that iron! With the growing demands of our daily routines who has the time, energy or money to spend on ironing and dry cleaning.Choose fabrics with a high level of washability. These are fabrics that resist shrinkage in everyday washing such as polyester or a combination of polyester. When choosing a cotton garment make sure that it is 50% polyester / 50% cotton or 65% polyester / 35% cotton blend. The garment will then not require ironing and will have a low shrinkage factor.
Fabrics should contain less than a 30% rayon, silk, linen or wool content.
Arthritic Dressing
Why struggle with your clothing when there are pain free solutions?
- Velcro/Easy Touch closures on pants, skirts and blouses make dressing a dream.
- Long front zip fastenings help with lowered hand dexterity i.e. zip-front dresses.
- Choose clothing with larger openings which enable the person to easily put the garment over their head in a seated position or effortlessly step into the garment opening with minimal struggle.
Lowered Mobility Dressing
If you or someone you know find weight bearing a struggle, there are a number of useful tips to make dressing an effortless task.
- Full Back Opening garments with a
Dome Snap closure or a Velrco/Easy Touch closure at each shoulder should allow an individual to comfortably dress while remaining seated. Most importantly the closure is placed in such a way as to ensure the individual is not resting on the closure, there are not many pressure points on the shoulder. In addition, placing the closure on each shoulder allows for a generous overlap of material across the back for discretion and comfort. This type of garment is terrfiic for both upper and lowered levels of mobility.
- Half Open Back garments allow for the same easy style of dressing as the Full Open Back garment, but do not require any form of closure such as the Dome Snap or Velcro/Easy Touch closures. A convenient 1/2 back overlay from the yoke down allows the individual to put the garment over their head and the yolk overlap falls into place affording comfort and discretion.
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Fabric Elasticity
Fabric which easily expands and stretches for ease of dressing, yet retains it's shape is the best. The elasticity of a fabric is determined by both the weave and blend of the material. It is important to choose fabrics that are woven into a knit or interlock.
100% polyester and 100% acrylic not only lend elasticity to a fabric, but reduce the amount of permanent shrinkage after initial washing.
Key words to look for when purchasing garments with high levels of elasticity are:
- Polyester
- Polyester Interlock
- Polyester Gabardine
- Cotton Polyester
- Acrylic Knit
Styling
Conventional Dressing: Everyday dressing can be a breeze when styling of a garment is taken into consideration.
- Front openings to below the waist, which either allows the individual to remain seated while sliding the garment over their head or step into the garment with ease.
- Non-waisted garments with detachable belts allow the belt to be placed where the individual finds it most comfortable or not at all.
- Loose full fitting garments with gathering which allows freedom of movement.