Where Thy Hose At?

I'm a man on a mission. In my obsessive quest to be period perfect, I've decided to phase out knit stockings from my wardrobe.

The sort of knit stockings that are readily available and in vogue amongst reenactors from many periods are, in short, inauthentic for England in the latter half of the 16th century and some time after that. Knit stockings were known but less common, and were a very different animal in that they were woolen or silk and constructed with a seam down the back and possibly gores at the sides. The typical "reenactor stocking" is cotton* and elastic, and although wool is available, just using the correct fabrics or materials does not make a garment correct. Fortunately, while period knit stockings are likely available somewhere at astronomical prices, stockings or hose made of tailored cloth cut on the bias are much more documentable and much cheaper.

Cut Cloth Hose could be made of wool, silk, or linen as these natural materials all have a stretch to them. They would be as well tailored as possible- and you can get them pretty damn well fitted, but a little bit of bagging at the ankles and/or knee is perfectly acceptable.

For the English common man, wool is the best choice. There is some contention over whether or not they wore linen hose alone or just as a garment to keep more expensive hose clean (as linen can be more readily washed. The same concept applies to shirts and doublets)and/or to serve as a decorative element beneath boots ("boothose"). I'm of the latter camp, but that's for another day. Varieties of wool twill and modern wool flannel are amongst the best choices and they could be quite colorful. I found what appeared to be a nice yellow ochre flannel online, but is in reality a sort of odd jaundice-y tan, so though I'll have to dye it yellower later it'll do for now. This color choice was more or less inspired by a funny song from the period fittingly called Give Me My Yellow Hose Again
Check it out! Music here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mX__7_-WOs
Lyrics here-
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiGIVEHOSE.html

Some of the distinguishing features of cut cloth hose (and important elements in fitting them to the leg) are a seam up the back of the leg and triangular gores on either side of the ankle. We see them in period artwork a good amount, though for their ubiquity (based on cross referencing written sources, extant garments, and so on) it seems that artists probably left out the features that so distinguished them from time to time. Here are a few multi-national examples in which these features are clear...








For fun, here's a surviving example of a knit silk sock from the 1540's-1560's from the Museum of London...




*Cotton was known in Elizabethan England, but it was typically relegated to serving as the weft in the fabric fustian (with a warp of linen or wool) and in the raw fiber-y form as stuffing or padding. Cotton fabric was starting to show up in England towards the end of the period, but was usually expensive and was a tiny minority compared to linen fabric. The word cotton does pop up in primary documents an awful lot, but it refers to a process of finishing sheep's wool. Cottoned wool was loosely woven, soft, and warm.