>Mid-19th century is different than 18thC. From what I >can tell, >stockings cut from knit yardgoods were only in use for a >short time. >If you have infrmation about this for 19thC, I am >very .curious! From >what I can tell, cut and sewn was not at all common for >the 19thC.
From The employments of women: a cyclopaedia of woman's work./ By Virginia Penny. Penny, Virginia, b. 1826.Penny, Virginia, How women can make money. Boston: Walker, Wise, & Company1863. Hosiers: A knitting machine has been invented in Seneca, N. Y., that is said to knit a perfect stocking in less than five minutes. Aikens's knitting machines are very popular. We have thought ladies would do well to try them, and devote themselves to making up hosiery. We' doubt not but it would pay very well. - The cloth is knit in a straight piece, and another lady cuts it into shape and sews into the articles wanted. Work done by steam power is not so neat; the selvages are not well made, and the goods must be cut and sewed in seams. Many women are employed in hosiery manufactures where steam is used. From: The new American cyclopaedia: a popular dictionary of general knowledge. Ed. by George Ripley and Charles A. Dana ... Ripley, George, ed. Dana, Charles A. ed. (Charles AndersonNew York [etc]: D. Appleton and company1859-1863. Stocking: The shaping of the web to fit the foot is matter of no little ingenuity. The flat web is either knit in long strips of sufficient width to make when turned over several stockings which are cut out from the web. From: The Hosiery Resource Centre Full-fashioned stockings are knitted flat, than fashioned, or shaped, by hand manipulation and hand seamed up the back. Knitting is back and forth across the fabric (weft knitting) on a straight-bar machine invented by William Cotton in 1864. The stocking is started at the top with the welt, an extra-thick section for gartering. The fabric is shaped by reducing the number of needles at the ankle, then adding needles at the heel, and again reducing the number through the foot. Seamless stockings are knitted on circular machines, brought out in the mid-19th century. For many years such stockings were a straight, knitted tube that did not fit as well as the full-fashioned, because stitches cannot be added or dropped in circular knitting by machine. (I've seen reference to these as "leg-bags", obviously not a compliment in an age which prized a trim ankle!) I agree that modern knit fabric is stretchier than that found in earlier periods, based on the originals I have been able to examine. However, with this method I am able to mimic the technique used in the period with 100% natural materials and end up with a product that fits and is closer to period stockings than anything currently being offered by vendors - it works for me Kelly Dorman Backward Glances www.backwardglances.net _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
