Juin 13, 2004

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Since they are meant for an outdoor event and it may be raining, I've decided to add a little height to the back of the foot. The wooden piece also makes it more durable than just plain leather. It's clumped between the leather layers.

Since these were made for a child, I've cheated a bit. I've secured the roll of the braies with a running stitch just to make sure that they don't un-roll and he ends-up losing them in the river while swimming! Here's a close-up, sorry again for the blurry picture :-/

A boy's short braies and hosen

I've seen exemples of these tying to on the side of the leg to the braies and others, as the exemple above, that ties on the front of the leg to the braies. I also believe that it's possible to have the seam at the back of the leg or on the inside. So I've made some layouts that shows little variations in "How to cut-out your pattern" in order to create the desired style. Note that it's better to cut the leg-piece on the bias as it was done in period for a better stretchability. I would also suggest that you cut-out the piece a little bigger and that you adjust it directly to the leg of the wearer. However, make sure that the foot will pass through the ankle's measure prior to cutting the extra fabric.

Hose with a back-seam and front-ties

Hose with a back-seam and side-ties

With an inside-leg-seam and front-ties

With an inside-leg-seam and side-ties

So I've made my son 2 pairs of this type of hose, one with a soft sole and an inside-leg-seam and another pair with a leather sole and a back-leg-seam. However, I've decided to tie both pair on the side as a front-tie seemed uncomfortable to my eye somehow.

Those with the soft sole have to be worn with shoes, as they are like socs. Here's what they look like on my son ;

That's a blurry close-up of the inside of the foot. You can still vaguely make-out the seams.

And this is the pair that I've made with a rigid sole. They are meant to be worn without shoes. These have the seam in the back of the leg. Note that I didn't have enough of that red wool left to cut these on the bias so that's why they are so baggy and fit pretty poorly to his legs ;

The braies are made of a simple linen rectangle. The total width of the top + bottom should equal the waist size or a little more. The lenght  of the rectangle can vary quite a bit depending on the amount of rolls you want at the waist and how much you want it to puff down the crotch. You then stitch the rectangle nicely all around.

Then place the rectangle on the body with the cord near the top-end, tie the cord tightly and roll down on itself 'til it reaches the waistline as shown here ;