Her dress hiked up

[Bassim]

I am not sure if my sentence sounds natural. Would you please correct my mistakes?

1.Her dress hiked up to her thighs, the woman waded across the river.

I am wondering if my sentence is correct as it is or maybe it needs the preposition "with" like this?

2. With her dress hiked up to her thighs, the woman waded across the river.

 

[emsr2d2]

I prefer sentence 2.

 

[Bassim]

Sometimes I see sentences like my first one, and I am wondering if that form is correct.
For example:
Her hands shaking, Anna opened the letter.
Or should it be?
With her hands shaking, Anna opened the letter.

 

[emsr2d2]

They're both acceptable. I can't quite put my finger on why I prefer the version with "with" in post #1 yet I find the version without "with" OK in post #3.

 

[Bassim]

emsr,
Thank you again.
Could it be that "Her hands shaking, Anna opened the letter" is OK because it is about parts of her body, while "Her dress hiked up" is not.

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't think so, no. I've tried changing the word order to see if they feel any different if the word order is changed, but they don't; they both need "with".

She crossed the river with her dress hiked up to her thighs.
She opened the letter with [her] shaking hands.