Asked by Eileen from OH
Q: Why do the women use straight pins to keep their dresses on instead of buttons or snaps?
A: Hi Eileen–Why do some sects use straight pins and not snaps or buttons? I have no idea. I’ve tried to find out. I’ve asked some Amish women, but the answer so far has been “that’s just the way it’s always been.” I suppose extra fancy buttons could conceivably be considered decorative, but I’ve never figured out why they have to use straight pins instead of safety pins! I did get one answer from an Amish friend that I’ve chuckled over. She likes to tease me about the Englisch habit of hugging–how we sometimes hug people we don’t even know all that well. Hugging is uncommon to the Amish culture. When I asked her why they used straight pins, she grinned and said the pins were to keep their Englisch friends from hugging them!
Thanks for the question Eileen!
Kimberly Gardner Starcher
May 29, 2020 @ 10:52 pm
I have family that still live in Sugarcreek and I grew up in and around Sugarcreek and it’s neighbouring towns all my life. My father grew up around Sugarcreek most of his long life, he passed last July at 93 years. My cousin was married to an Amish man who had gone high which means they take on a more modern lifestyle called Mennonites. Anyway to get on to why some Amish wear straight pins instead of buttons on their clothing is because (now this is from what I was told) buttons would be too fancy. The Amish lead a very simple kind of life. A wonderful life I believe.
David Stear
December 12, 2021 @ 1:36 pm
Straight pins are inefficient, they really don’t hold anything in place as far as wearing clothing is concerned. I should think at least some of the more permissive/liberal Amish congregations could permit something as simple and convenient as safety pins; perhaps others more conservative in Ordnung interpretation might follow suit. They have so many kids, I can’t imagine using just straight pins to keep diapers in place unless they use disposables which I assume is very unlikely among all Amish–I imagine some Amish women might even make their own cloth diapers.
Karen
August 6, 2022 @ 7:02 pm
Never seen any of them sagging. I see them and everything is in place and nothing is sagging like our so called style today
Brian a
April 4, 2022 @ 6:56 am
Weird that they can’t use zippers or buttons