Abstract: Hosiery that includes a legwear portion and a waistband secured to the legwear portion. The waistband is made of an elastic material having an unfinished upper edge. The waistband also has an unfinished lower edge that is secured to the legwear portion at a seam that allows the hosiery to lay substantially flat against a wearer's body. The unfinished upper edge of the waistband can provide the wearer with greater comfort relative to conventional hosiery having finished upper edges, which often results in visible and uncomfortable restriction. This hybrid construction also allows the waistband to have varying width around its circumference to compensate for shortcomings of a legwear portion made using conventional tube-construction techniques and/or, when the waistband has a lower stretchability than the legwear portion, to compensate for this lower stretchability.

Abstract: A method of making a garment that includes forming a patterned precursor in a lace web. Depending on the nature of the garment, the patterned precursor can be a partial patterned precursor or a fully patterned precursor. When the garment includes a non-lace portion, the partial patterned precursor is joined with one or more non-lace components. When the garment is all lace, portions of the fully patterned precursor can be joined with one another to form the entire garment. A lace web containing multiple patterned precursors can be produced using a programmable lace-making machine that is programmed to create the patterned precursors in the lace web.