Historical Sew Monthly 2018 Challenge 1 - mend, remake, refashion

The challenge was:

January: Mend, Reshape, Refashion: Mend or re-shape one of your previously made historical clothing items, or refashion a new one out of something not originally intended as sewing fabric.

Since it was clearly said that one shouldn't just use a big piece of fabric, like an old curtain or tablecloth, I had problems coming up with what to do for this challenge. I figured I would come up with something.

I have spent most of January looking at 16th Century portraits, and one that I have really gotten fond of is this.

It's of Katarina von Bora, who was to marry Martin Luther. I found other portraits of women of upper middle class, or lower upper class, and even upper class, and they all are wearing that kind of hairnet. I looked up hairnets and realised that most available hairnets are crocheted and made of too thick yarns, and it seemed to complicated to bind a net from scratch. Well then it hit me, fishnet stockings!

On sale I found a pair of fishnet socks, and decided to see if I could turn them into a hairnet. Can someone explain to me why you would like a pair of fishnet socks? Not leggings or tights, just a sock. I guess it's not strange that they were on sale. 

I started with cutting them up, but saving the elastics on the top. Then I sewed them both together.

I cut out a long piece of fabric, some kind of red cotton brocade I had in my stash, and folded it to make a ribbon. I sandwiched the elastics of the socks between the edges of the ribbon.

Then I sewed the loose sides of the fishnet parts to each other to create a bag.

It's tight, but the fishnet is elastic enough to make it fit over my head. The ribbon is so tight that it stays on without any other ribbons or fastenings.

Tada, finished. Now if I did it again I would probably use a set of fishnet leggings, but it works for now.


The Challenge: 1 - mend, remake, refashion

Material: One pair of fishnet socks, a piece of scrap fabric

Pattern: none

Year: 1520s

Notions: thread

How historically accurate is it? It looks right, but the materials are all wrong, so 15%

Hours to complete: 2

First worn: Tried it out tonight.

Total cost: $2