Jacobite era kilt hose - knitted or sewn ?

[Distaff]

My understanding is that while knitting is old in the Middle East, it only came to Europe in the 1300's. Richard Rutt's History of Hand Knitting would probably be the best printed resource to check. Been meaning to order the book for years - should probably just DO that!

Nalbinding can look like knitting, but isn't. It uses one needle, something like a large sewing needle. Never practiced it, so can't elaborate. I have read that museums have had to correct the descriptions on some items as they had been labeled as knits, in error.

From my casual research, woven hose (cut on the bias? well, that is what seems to be shown in the paintings - de-facto argyle?) sewn up the back were very common. Knitting is not only time consuming, but uses more wool yarn than would be in a woven item. Raw wool is time consuming to prepare and spin. It would have been more economical to make hose from wool cloth that had been damaged in places. Putting various colors in yarn, makes the fabric bulky. You can weave in the ends (time consuming), or carry the yarn across the back, but you will have extra bulk. I agree with the previous poster - I think it is unlikely that the hose in the paintings were knitted.

People in the past also commonly wrapped their legs in long lengths of woven cloth. Seems odd to me, for footwear, but narrow cloth, down to "tapes" of 1/4 inch were used extensively as belts, trim, and fasteners in the past, and even poor people wove a lot of those. Those looms are easy to make and transport. (I'll end here, before getting further off topic...)