Hand knit men's tights

[Hausfrau Monica]

As a newbie, I am wondering if it would be more H/A to knit tights or would they have been cut from a pattern and stitched.  Would a raw wool be appropriate or hemp?

With thanks,

[sealion]

My understanding is that they would have been cut on the bias from wool and stitched. Exactly what type of wool I don't know.

[gem]

Another option is linen, bias cut.  I know there are several online tutorials for sewn period stockings.

However by the 1580s-'90s, stockings were being knitted by machine.  The fact that they were making *machine*-knit stockings (of wool or silk) tells me they must have had hand-knit ones previously, because it doesn't make sense that they'd invent an entire machine to do something (knit a stocking) no one had ever done before.

[redkimba]

based on conversation in Historic Knit yahoo group, knitting stockings takes really tiny thread.  edit - I'm not discouraging you from knitting them; it's just an observation. 

If  you are interested, PM me and I will post the link.  The group centers on pre-1601 knitting.