cwillie Asked July 2017
Any tips on altering pants to make them open-backed for use with lifts and wheelchairs?
Follow
Share
I have a dozen pairs of pants for mom that the NH won't use because they insist on open backed wheelchair pants. We have ordered 1 pair ($55) but they haven't arrived yet. Do I bite the bullet and order more, or is it possible to alter her now useless regular pants? I've searched online but haven't found anything helpful.
This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
12 Answers
This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
Popular Questions
Ask a Question
Have you tried consulting with tailor or seamstress? I would see if they could alter the pants. I know its very expensive to buy all new pants. I too hate to see thing go to waste.
I have a sewing machine, I even made a few items of clothing a hundred years ago or so (lol) but I just don't have the patience for any major projects anymore. I could just open the back seam and add a velcro waistband, but I'm not willing to fool around with it if it isn't going to suit their requirements. I was hoping somebody out there had actually tried this??
I don't want to sound uppity about it, but *really*? I didn't even know such garments existed.
And what happens to ladies who've never worn anything but skirts and dresses all their lives? Do they have to switch over to aprons, or something?
I can see the practicality, obviously. I just think it's a bit dam' high-handed of the NH to be that prescriptive about clothing. They're looking after residents, not inmates.
Mind you, they struggle to get round everybody's care as it is, I suppose. So it'd be absolutely pointless expecting them to take time for regular clothing.
Cwillie you also had time to do all the rolling required and I assume Mom was co-operative which many people are not especially if it is uncomfortable to be rolled. So you already know your answer, alter Mom's old pants or buy more adapted ones. Maybe a wrap skirt put on backwards would also work?
I used to make all my own clothes except underwear and sweatsuits, although I didn't enjoy making a coat; it was complicated and tedious and hard to work with so much fabric when the lining was attached.
You could start with Veronica's suggestion to open the back seam, but the pants I saw online had "flaps" and closed like wrap-around skirts that were popular decades ago. You could do this: split open the center back seam and sew a "flap over" piece to either seam; these pieces would overlap and could be secured by Velcro strips attached vertically to each side that would overlap. Does this make sense?
What I haven't figured out is how the seam junctions of the leg portions are treated. I'm trying to visualize this - once the upper back of the slacks is opened, it seems that would leave the lower back and section that segues into the upper legs loose and not connected. The crotch seam would still be there but not attached to the back of the pants. So I'm wondering if the pant legs wouldn't slip down...???
I'm beginning to think I may as well resign myself to joining the 21st century and doing some online shopping.
As for switching to dresses or skirts, I can just picture mom wearing one with her now dingy white socks, sensible black shoes and pale skinny legs splayed wide apart....(shudder)
What you might try is the DME stores; they might have a pair that you can see in person, or buy, then reverse engineer. That way you can see in person how the pants are configured. That kind of inability to see construction and details is one of the reasons I won't shop online for something that needs to be seen and examined. Books, maybe - there's not much variation, but clothes, no.
I think women tend toward slacks as they age; their legs get colder and dresses don't keep them warm...and as you write, it's not the same as when we had young legs.
It might be helpful to look at the photos in the Buck and Buck online catalog. They sell adaptive clothing, including side-zip soft pants, and back-flap pants. They seem less expensive than the price you mentioned, but could also give you ideas for converting her pants into a "flapped" style. It seems like you have to find a compromise between the NH requirements, the preferences of your mom, the actual physical requirements at this time, and ability to modify garments already owned. (The side-zip seems less extreme to me than the flaps, but the staff may prefer one thing over another).
The pants we ordered have finally arrived and this is what I have discovered...
The opening in the back does not go all the way to the side seams, so this is what keeps the upper leg from gaping open at the sides. As I have observed how mom is being dressed I see that they aren't even bothering to close the pants in back, so I don't think adding fabric there would be necessary. So: open the back seam not quite to the crotch, cut a small U shaped opening no larger than her bum and finish the cut edges with bias tape. Removing the elastic at the waist and adding a closure is discretional.
It occurred to me that someone, somewhere, must be creating patterns for adaptive clothing, and that there might even be some by the major pattern manufacturers. That's a good excuse to spend some time at Jo Ann Fabrics thumbing through the pattern books.