The Chalice Stockings

Although Philip Stubbes' scathing denunciation of the incredible cost of hose was specifically referring to men's nether hose, his comments are equally applicable to the ornate hose worn by upper class ladies in the time of Queen Elizabeth.  During the Middle Ages, hose served the utilitarian task of covering the feet and legs of the wearer for warmth and comfort.  However, over the course of the 16^th century ordinary hose underwent a transformation into an elaborately decorated and embellished status symbol.  While men's nether hose were clearly exposed by the various pants styles of the time (confusingly, also called hose), women's hose were never seen in any style of contemporary dress.  Thus the ornamentation and decoration of women's hose represent significant luxury--a display of wealth and ostentation known only to the wearer, and perhaps her servants.  As a prosperous townswoman of the 1570s, I felt that my persona would aspire to own a pair of decorative hose suitable to her station.

The surviving wardrobe lists of Queen Elizabeth list many pairs of hose embroidered with silk and metal threads both on cloth hose and the newly popular knit silk hose (which would become Elizabeth's exclusive favorite by the end of her reign).  Typical entries in the rolls for the queen's silkman was "for workinge of two peire of Jersey hose at the toppes and clockes [ankles] with silke" and "for workinge of a payer of strawe colour silk hose in the toppes and clockes with Venice silver."  (Arnold, QEWU 208)  Of particular interest is a pair of Italian linen hose with cuffs heavily worked in silks and metal thread, with lace trim (Arnold, QEWU, 208).

            Woven cloth hose are cut on the bias of the fabric to allow for maximum stretch and tight fitting, although woven hose cannot achieve as tight a fit as knit hose since the wearer must be able to slide the foot and ankle out of the hose.  The pattern is based on 16^th century hose finds from an excavation at Groningen, the Netherlands (Zimmerman). The hose have a slit in either side of the leg piece over the ankle bones (Figure 6).  This slit accommodates a triangular gusset to fit the foot. The recovered gusset pieces were a variety of shapes, to accommodate the vagaries of the wearers’ feet. In the original Italian example referenced above, the comparable lengths of the leg piece on both sides of the gusset opening suggest that the seam edge of the leg of the hose actually extended underneath the foot.  This would produce a seam underneath the heel with a separate sole piece only about half the length of a modern sole.  Some of the excavated examples from Groningen also show extensions of the leg pieces onto the sole, however other excavated hose have a single-piece sole with no seams under the weight bearing portions of the leg.  I chose to recreate this style to avoid the potentially uncomfortable seam under the heel. The seams are handsewn with 40/2 linen thread (Bockens Linen, Van Sciver Bobbin Lace, Ithaca NY) in backstitch, then finished in a flat-fell style as is seen on a contemporary 16th century shirt (Mikhaila, 17).

            The ornamentation on the cuffs is a Holbein stitch pattern from the Ein New Modelbuch, published by Johan Schonsperger in Zwichau in 1526 and republished for modern workers by Salazar (100).  I chose to work the pattern in DMC black tatting thread due to both cost and ease of laundering; however in retrospect I would have preferred to use 100/3 silk instead.

            Existing records of the time regarding garters are somewhat limited.  The records of Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe discuss "garters of taphata" and the existing garters of the knit stockings of Eleanor of Toledo consist of woven silk ribbon (Arnold, Patterns of Fashion, 41). Based on this, I decided to make garters of silk satin ribbon using tablet weaving techniques.  Tablet weaving had been commonly practiced for over a thousand years, and one of the earliest textile arts pattern books in existence is Anna Neuper's Modelbuch, a book of brocaded tablet weaving patterns handwritten in 1517 (Spies 2). I chose to reconstruct the 15^th century Museum of London braid number 423 presented in Textiles & Clothing  (Crowfoot 134) using 20 cards threaded with 30/2 silk (Halcyon Yarn, Bath, MN) in a color consistent with indigo dyes.  The extant example is a fragment of girdle preserved in a strap end measuring 1.5cm in width with 22 picks per centimeter, with alternating S and Z threading.  The cards are turned alternately in two packs continuously forward.  Although it is difficult to tell the composition of the borders in the extant example due to degradation, I chose to turn the border cards continuously forward on every weft throw to build a sturdy edge.  This continuous alternately threaded border edge is common and demonstrated on MoL braids 142 and 450.  Any pattern with continuous forward turning of the pack eventually accumulates considerable twist in the threads.  This was corrected by loosening the warp slightly and manually advancing this twist.  When advancement could no longer provide enough working room, the direction of turning was reversed and the packs were turned backwards; a contemporary example of reversal in this manner is found in MoL braid 449 (Crowfoot 137).  The completed garters are narrower with slightly lower thread count than the original example (20 picks/cm instead of 22; total width 1cm).  Two pack reversals were completed in one garter while the other had three.

            Bibliography

 Arnold, Janet.  Patterns of Fashion:  The Cut & Construction of Clothes for Men and Women c1560-1620.  New York:  Drama Book Publishers, 1985.

 ---. Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd.  Leeds: W. S. Maney & Son Ltd, 1988.

Crowfoot, Elisabeth, Frances Pritchard, and Kay Staniland.  Textiles and Clothing 1150-1450. Great Britain: Boydell Press, 2002. 

Mikhaila, Ninya and Jane Malcolm-Davies.  The Tudor Tailor: Techniques for Making Historically Accurate Period Clothing. Hollywood: Costume & Fashion Press, 2006.

Salazar, Kim Brody.  The New Carolingian Modelbook: Counted Embroidery Patterns from Before 1600.  Albequerque: Outlaw Press, 1995.

Spies, Nancy.  Anna Neuper's Modelbuch: Early Sixteenth Century Patterns for Weaving Brocaded Bands. St Paul, MN: Sexton Printing, 2003.

Zimmerman, H. "Sixteenth Century Hose and Their Manufacture." NESAT VII. Lodz: 2004.

           For Further Reading

De Brescia, Katerina.  Keeping Yer Legges Warme. Accessed 14 September 2006. 

            Directions on fitting an alternate style of women's hose.

Priest, Carolyn.  Three Recipes for Fourteenth and Fifteenth Century Tablet Weaving.  28 February 1997.  Accessed 1 February 2004. 

            An interpretation of the technical information for 3 braids in Crowfoot et al.

Schuessler, Melanie (as Melisant St Clair).  Hose in the 16^th Century.  Accessed 1 August 2006. 

Also published in the Oak Issue 19, this is an excellent overview of the wide variety of fabrics and embellishments of 16^th century hose with notes on constructing your own.  Also discusses documentary evidence for hose.

Thursfield, Sarah.  The Medieval Tailor's Assistant: Making Common Garments 1200-1500. New York: Costume & Fashion Press, 2001.

            A nice discussion of draping hose, intended for the 12^th to 15^th centuries.