Day 37 - tights

Tights have been evolving for a long time and have been nearly mastered to the point of perfection. So why on earth would I want to make my own? I remember my mom once telling me about a time in her youth in Japan when she would repair her silk stockings by hand with a needle and silk thread. Though this is a romantic notion of handiwork, let's be honest - tights are not necessarily something that can be improved upon by making them by hand. The design could be improved, certainly. There is the dreaded downward crotch-drag and the uncomfortable toe-seam issue that has yet to be solved after decades of dedicated research. But the material itself, tightly machine-knit to stretchy perfection - nothing I make by hand will ever compete with that. After making my first pair of tights yesterday, they have proven to be one of the clothing items that makes me question why I am doing this project at all. Having said that though, everyday I do discover simple things that I have taken for granted up until now. So I guess that's a partial answer to my own question.