The winner of the auction wanted a simple black and gold bag that people would recognize as being custom.
The base and top of the bag are real leather as are the gold straps (which were covered with a black strap as the gold looked a little gaudy by itself).
The bag zips shut at the top. The inside of the bag has lots of pockets and is made with Ripstop nylon which is easy to wipe clean.
I've been designing clothes for my mom as she has progressed through different stages of ALS. I won't be using pictures of my mom out of respect for her privacy and dignity.
As my mom's left arm weakened to the point of immobility, she was unable to dress herself. Unfortunately, her husband, her primary caregiver, has Essential Tremors, and therefore had a lot of difficulty with snaps, buttons, zippers... He is also pretty oblivious to comfort and fit (I remember once he'd accidentally fastened my mother's bra so that the bottom band crossed directly over her breasts. Unfortunately, since she cannot speak, and has less sensitivity on affected parts of her body when I came by in the afternoon, it had been like that all day! Ouch!)
Back opening dress
When mom was still using a walker, I made wrap dresses and purchased front-closing bras so that she could be dressed while sitting on the bed. When she switched to the wheelchair full time, we tried switching her tops to back openings with velcro or snaps on the shoulders so that she wouldn't have to lift her arms as much or try to fit things over her neck brace (she was still trying to wear t-shirts - which had to go over her arm brace and her neck brace.). This way the shirt could be pulled up over her arms, and then fastened in back. Here's a link to how this works.
Tulip shirt back
My mom had lost so much weight that I was able to cut her knit shirts open and overlap them enough in the back for her husband to make it work.
Sewing
If you're fairly comfortable at adapting a pattern, then you could easily make something like this yourself by extending the pattern's shoulder on one side so that it would create a facing (I'd interface it) and add snaps or velcro to it.
This freeTulip top pattern is designed to be sewn with the tulip hem on either the back or the front. It could probably be easily converted to being able to open it completely (instead of secured at the neckline) and use snaps or velcro at the shoulders.
Once my mom got to the point where she needed to be in a wheelchair all the time to prevent falls. We quickly started discovering issues with using the bathroom.
First of all, the wheelchair didn't fit in the tiny little potty room, so someone had to help Mom rise from her wheelchair, then help her balance until she could hold onto a grab bar mounted on the wall. She then shuffled until she was in front of the toilet. We had a second grab bar installed there, and she held on to that for balance. Her ALS had progressed to the point that she only had the use of one hand, and that hand was holding the grab bar, which meant someone else had to drop her pants for her (and help pull them back up when she was done). There was very little dignity to be found in this situation!
Suddenly we needed "open bottom" pants for my mom.
As she became less able to support her own weight, we quickly discovered that she needed a lift (including a lift in her spirits!). The problem with lifts is that they lift you out of the wheelchair in a sling and then lower you onto the potty - which is great, except when/how do you lower your pants?! The sling has a circular opening where your bottom "hangs out." A quick bout of research (found an awesome site called Silvert's with some "open bottom options") and we quickly discovered this meant you had to go "commando" so your clothes had to discreetly cover you everywhere, except your bottom.
That left mom with 2 options.
One, a tulip-backed dress with a cut-out for the bottom. The person looks fully clothed when you're looking down from above. The sides of the skirt are tucked under the person's legs and the back of the dress goes to the chair seat and stops. We still had to add access to the PEG tube for feeding (see this post for details).
.Option two was pants, capris, shorts. This was mom's preference, and with the purchase of a pair of Silvert's open-bottom pants and this video which showed me how they worked, I thought we were in business! She tried out the pants for a couple of days before I made more, and I'm so glad we waited.
Step one, while still in a seated
position pull pants up over legs.
Secure adjustable waistband.
"Flap" will cover hips, but the bottom is exposed when in
seated position.
In theory, these are awesome! In everyday use? Not so much. The crotch seam was sewed so far toward the back that you couldn't easily access the front parts of the body that need "wiping." That seam had to be opened up to allow the slit to come further toward the waist.
In theory, the generous amount of fabric in these loose-fitting pants, and the fact that my mom never sits with her knees spread apart, keeps them from gaping open enough to show the opening.
The worst part? To secure the snaps in the back - already difficult for her caregiver with Essential Tremors, Mom had to lean forward in her chair - which inhibited her breathing. Not wheelchair-friendly at all!
Original design
Shifted to side closure instead of center back.
So I opened up the left side of the back "flap" and added some velcro strips (could use a separating zipper as well). That way the flap could be slipped behind the person and then secured on the side (much easier than trying to secure it behind their back).
This worked much better so I altered a pair of her loose-fitting (she's lost about 70lbs on her liquid diet), elastic waistband, knit shorts. Instead of Velcro, I used magnetic purse snaps (my new favorite closure!). It's pretty easy to alter the shorts (although it helped to have matching color fabric for the new flaps needed for the side closure), but I've also drafted a pattern so I can make new ones in any colors I wish.
I can add more details if anyone is interested in doing any of these projects themselves.
Here's my updated tutorial post about altering pants to be open bottom pants.
I've been designing clothes for my mom as she has progressed through different stages of ALS. I won't be using pictures of my mom out of respect for her privacy and dignity.
First, she got a feeding tube, also known as a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). This meant she needed access to the port and the carrier for the tube which is kind of like a fanny pack. Clothing couldn't be tight across the area, and she didn't want to just lift her shirt, because that left her stomach exposed (or worse if she wanted to wear a dress), not to mention that the fabric had to be secured out of the way.
I immediately thought of some of the things I'd made for myself when I was nursing.
Fabric overlaps and secures with Velcro
Stretchy fabric is pulled out of
the way for easy access.
A similar concept with a knit fabric. No need for Velcro because the fabric was overlapped more since it was stretchy.
If not sitting up straight, the shirt gapes open but the fabric overlap prevents skin from showing.
I also began purchasing "arthritis bras" and altering her bras to make them open in the front.
She was actually fairly happy with t-shirts on a daily basis but wanted some nicer dresses for church. She'd also begun having issues with the use of her left hand so needed clothing that was easy to put on and take off (no awkward back zippers!).
Voila! The wrap dress!
{pattern Butterick B5101}
Next problem - if you untie a wrap dress, it drapes open like a bathrobe and once again shows everything. To fix this, instead of the under panel being secured only at the waist, I extended the under panel to cover the upper portion of the body as well.
The under panel was secured to the upper shoulder with Velcro to prevent it from sagging and gaping. A long slit in the under panel to accommodate the PEG/ feeding tube and we were done!
The wrap part of the dress had a little Velcro to make sure that it stayed in place and covered the feeding tube slit. The wrap dress pattern called for a tie at the waist but this was difficult for both my mother and her caretaker to tie and in her wheelchair, she didn't need it.
Magnetic Purse Snaps
Later, we started using magnetic purse snaps for closures instead of Velcro. It made things much easier to open and close without worrying that the Velcro wasn't securely caught or was twisted/forcing the material to lay crookedly.
We used the heavy half rivet closures because that was all I could find but now it looks like they have lighter-weight sew-on options.
Until the next issue - Being dressed by caretakers and making accommodations for being in a wheelchair!
As she became less able to support her own weight, we quickly discovered that she needed a lift (including a lift in her spirits!). The problem with lifts is that they lift you out of the wheelchair in a sling and then lower you onto the potty - which is great, except when/how do you lower your pants?! The sling has a circular opening where your bottom "hangs out." A quick bout of research (found an awesome site called Silvert's with some "open bottom options") and we quickly discovered this meant you had to go "commando" so your clothes had to discreetly cover you everywhere, except your bottom.
First, she got a feeding tube, also known as a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). This meant she needed access to the port and the carrier for the tube which is kind of like a fanny pack. Clothing couldn't be tight across the area, and she didn't want to just lift her shirt, because that left her stomach exposed (or worse if she wanted to wear a dress), not to mention that the fabric had to be secured out of the way.
A similar concept with a knit fabric. No need for Velcro because the fabric was overlapped more since it was stretchy.
