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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Landsknecht Hosen

My latest recycling project.  I've been planning on making hosen for my Landsknecht outfit and until recently haven't been sure how I would do it.  I was thinking about bias cut linen, but they always sag and look funny.  I like the look of knit hose, but I'm not proficient enough to knit hose in the time I have for this project.  Solution... Thrift Store Junkie hits the road.  I came across the following two women's shirts at Salvation Army.  Made of 100% cotton and a similar pattern knit.  I planned on slicing these into strips and assembling them into the hose.  To see how they would look/feel I took the sleeve of one shirt and slipped it onto my calf.  Not the way most people try on a shirt at the store I'm sure.  I get a lot of strange looks from the women in the department wondering why I am even IN their area.  Oh well.  These looked pretty good so I got them.



Started by slicing them into even strips.  Slow going process.  Used small scissors to slice right along the knit line.  Since these were both similar knit I was able to simply count the number of rows and follow that row all the way down.  Each strip is about one inch wide.


Still nervous about spending a lot of time on something that may not work I stiched and stretched to see how it would look.  After three strips attached I liked the look enough to charge ahead.  Using a series of back stitches to ensure that the seam would hold, but still stretch a little vertically.  Works pretty well.


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Assembled 10 strips together  but before the final closure I pinned the opening closed to get an idea of the fit.  The following pics are of the inside.  I pinned them with the seam on the outside so it looks a little rough.  Was just looking for a rough idea of the number of strips.  Looks like 5 black and 5 green will do the trick.  Wanted it tight enough around the calf but not too baggy at the ankle.  I will have garters to hold the hose up as well.  I will perhaps come back in and tighten the seam up a little bit around the ankle when these are done.  Even if I don't the tightness around the ankle seems OK.