Tuesday, 31 May 2011

A Pair of Hose

The fabrics I ordered arrived a weak ago, and I’ve since made a pair of separate hose for Tobias.


I first made a toile using plain cotton, and when that looked good, I used it as a pattern for the hose. They are cut on the bias, of course, to be as tight as possible without being restraining. The seams running up the back of the leg are sewn with unbleached linen thread, split and sewn down, with the same thread.

Though they don’t look that tight, I’ve had to make the seams extra strong a few centimetres' above the ankles, as they have both been split when trying them on while being sewn, so I really can’t make them any tighter, or the feet won't go in.

The upper of the foot part is also sewn on with linen thread, but I was running out of it, and wanting something left for the cotehardie, I decided to use wool from here. I split the seam as before, but used wool yarn to tack the seams down instead.

The sole was sewn using another kind of seam. Wanting this seam to be as flat and unnoticeable as possible, I simply overlapped the fabric pieces about one centimetre, and then sewn it on, using hemming stitches on both fabric edges. This makes a double seam, which is flat (and hopefully comfortable if the hose shift to the side, and the seam ends up under the foot), secure and neat. We’ll see how it works out.

I’ll have to redo both the soles though. When he tried the hose on today, we discovered I’d sewn them on the wrong way, so he has a right leg hose with a left foot sole and vice versa. You can see it in the first picture. How. Annoying. Is. That? I can’t imagine how I could have made a mistake like that. There’s nothing for it, but to unpick the stitches and do it all over again. Bleeh……

The top of the hose was again finished with wool. I used a finishing technique used in some of the Herjolfsnes finds. The hem is folded over once, and a strand (or more?) of wool yarn is laid on top of it and secured with the hemming stitches, also done in wool. This is a technique I’ve wanted to try for some time, and now I had a good opportunity. I don’t know if this technique was used at the top of hose, but it works and looks good (not that anyone will see it after all the clothes is put on).

The eyelets for the cord attaching the hose to a belt are made in the same wool yarn, and I had sewn a piece of linen fabric to the inside, to reinforce the eyelets. It’s only secured by the hemming and the eyelets; the bottom of it is unattached. The cord is made from the same wool yarn as I used for the sewing, and is made using the simplest finger looping imaginable. Nothing elegant at all at this point, but made just to be functional.

Tobias decided that using a belt for securing the hose was more comfortable than attaching them to the braies, and after seeing how they tugged at the braies-string, I can see his point. I never wore this kind of hose (prefering women's clothes ;) ), so I never knew, or thought about that. Now it seems the obvious choise as far as comfort is concerned. It looks pretty good, I think.

This picture is also the one that is most true to the real colour of the hose.

1 comment:

  1. These are beautifully done with such attention to detail! Gorgeous!
    Sabine

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