Carol wrote:
>Ok, I'm convinced the cut-from-yardgoods stockings existed.
>Come to think of it, there is a stocking I looked at from around 1880
>that fit the category - one of the fancy knit fabrics that probably
>could not have been done any other way.
> However, I thought you said the cut & sewn were the most common
>for mid-19th century. I have not seen that in extant stockings in
>museum collections. There are certainly hand-knit stockings, and
>those that are knit to shape.
I never said they were the most common, I said they were the best available
option; documented period technique using period appropriate fibers.
What dating criteria have you been using in your examinations? As you
previously stated this was not a period technique, perhaps you misinterpreted
what you were examining. Also, we are all aware that the items in museums tend
to be representative of those fine, expensive items of the upper classes as
opposed to the common everyday items of the middle or lower classes, which were
usually used and reused until nothing was left.
The employments of women also states that one single factory was employing 700
women to sew stockings, unfortunately it does not state how many per day they
could complete, but that's a very large workforce for the time period - there
most have been a demand for the product.
>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.
> Is this an advertisement for ladies to buy this machine and use
>it at home? It's a bit confusing considering they mention steam
>power. Having to cut the yardgoods to shape does not seem like
>knitting the perfect stocking.
The Aiken's machine was hand-cranked and focused towards home manufacture.
Steam power was used in the factories. There were issues with converting
machinery originally intended for hand power to steam power. The steam power
was so powerful (if not properly regulated) that the older equipment frequently
did not function optimally - it simply couldn't keep up. I suspect in knitted
goods, it led to imperfect knitting, obviously especially along the selvedges
> I heard that someone was knitting stockings on some sort of
>machine for Civil War reenactment use. But then he stopped for some
>reason?
I believe Mickey Childs (not sure I'm remembering the name correctly) was
making men's socks and there was some controversy on the heel construction. I'm
not aware of anyone ever making correct machine knit ladies stockings.
I personally don't knit and am not in a position to pay some a reasonable fee
for the time and energy it would take for them to handknit a pair of stockings
(pet peeve of mine - too many people doing intricate handwork price their items
too low, they don't place a respectable value on their time, talent, knowledge,
etc.). So again, I feel comfortable reproducing a period technique with the
best available approximation of a period textile.
Kelly Dorman
Backward Glances
www.backwardglances.net
Making them from knit yardgoods is a good way to get something
better, short of handknitting. Since the original question was about
18th century, it may or may not be perfectly authentic - depends on
the decade being reproduced.
-Carol
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