From period paintings the impression is a lot of medieval people wear extremely formfitting hoses. Even with modern fabrics and manufacturing, tights are kind hard to pattern, and for the wearer to squeeze into. What was the process of tailoring one back then like? And the common/proper way to put one on?
There are two things that get you skin tight hose in the "medieval period" (really, we are talking 14th-16th century) and they are:
wool. Wool is sproingy (technical term) and has a lot of stretch to it.
bias. Bias is the diagonal of a woven fabric and has considerable stretch.
seams. Though it's hard to tell if you look at paintings, medieval hose were made up of several pieces sewn together. The more pieces in a pattern, the closer the fit to the body.
Combine these three things are you can achieve hose that looks like it's sprayed on the body.
Normally I would prefer to show extant examples but this time I'm just going to show what cleaned up pattern laid out on the fabric looks like because it will make more sense that way. This pattern is for knee-high leggings that a lady would have worn, but it's the same concept. This is a line drawing of a pair of 15th century hose that shows the seamlines and how the codpiece was attached to cover the bits.
Generally, the bias-cut wool would have enough stretch to allow you to achieve a tight fit and still be able to get in and out of the hose without having to be stitched in. That said, there is evidence that they did stitch or lace certain parts of the hose closed after it was on the body, such as at the ankles, allowing for a much tighter fit to the lower leg and foot and reducing unsightly bagginess in the ankle area.
As a follow on, did they cover the goodies and the bum, or were they like garters? When you see images of doublets and hose, it seems as if they cover everything, but I'd hate to swaddle my bits in woolen hose.
