The record-union., 1895-09-02
HISTORY OF HOSIERY.
Not So Very Long Ago That Women
Went StockingIess.
Queen Elizabeth Set the Fashion for
SiA< Stockings i'll England-Evolu-
tion of the Knit Stocking.

Fancy lady of the present time going
about well dressed, but stockingless
The very idea seems an aggravated case of
absurdity; and yet, hundreds OF years
ago, it was thought very proper for a
lady to go about without stockings, since
the long trousered garment that was then
the rage covered the leg to the ankle and
answered every purpose.
Copies of statues in the Louvre repre-
sent the ladies of Gaul in ancient days
arrayed in long garment, with the
lower half fashioned like breeches, very
long and baggy at the ankles, met by
shoes of leather. When people spoke of
hose in these days the word had differ
ent meaning from the one we nowadays
ordinarily give 20 1t. 1t referred to the
breeches or chasses then SO much in
vogue, and the term stocking for hose
was used when, as a separate article,
stockings were appended to the large
breeches.
AS early as the twelfth century we
heard of them as being worn beneath the
long gowns then usually adopted by both
sexes; but they were very expensive,
and sometimes one stocking cost as much
aS 20 shillings, says writer III the Bos-
ton Herald. When the French fashions
were introduced at the Engiis court, III
the fourteenth century, stockings were
made OF very rich materials, and were
parti- -colored, one leg differing from the
other, making the common term of a pair
inadnIissible. Cbaucer speaks OF ladies'
hose in "A Wife OF Bath" when he says:
Hire hosen weren of fine skarlet redde."
The lower classes wore hose cut out of
ND thOSa nj q H.
siye material, these were seWed up by
hand, but they were perfectly PLAIN,
without embellishment. At this time
Henry Ill, so it is recorded, ordered
three pairs for his sister Isabella, to be
embroidered in gold. 1t was i'll the
eighteenth century that they were deslg-
mated as stockings OF hose; that is, added
combinations to the trunk hose or
breeches oil that period. They were also
called neither stocks, and were often made
of velvet and satin embroidered il gold.
Prior TO the middle of this century
stockings of silk were unknown. and
pair OF long Spanish silk hose at that
period was considered donation worthy
the acceptance of d monarch. Descrip-
tions are still intast OF hose OF black
silk woven with gold; hose of purple silk
and Venice gold. woven like unto caul,
lined with blue silk sarsinet, edged with
passsmain of purple silk and gold
wrought at Milan"
Queen Elizabeth set the fashion for
silk stockings in England when she had
been upon the throne about three years.
1t was very ingenious policy, too, for
by her example she was enabled to en-
courage this species of home manufacture
in that country. Her silk woman, Mis-
tress Montague by name, presented
Elizabeth with pair OF black SILK knit
stockings which she herself made, and
which so pleased her majesty that she
never atterward wore cloth stockings.
And so by degrees came the evolution
of the knit stocking, and from this time
on there began the gradual disappearance
OF the cloth stocking, cut into shape and
sewed up by hand. Stocking knitting be-
came in England domestic Industry,
and great many women supported
themselves at the trade. There is extanI
a description of them in 1888: Their
stockings are Of silk, Jarnsey, wOrsted,
cruel, fine yarn, thread OF cloth, of
changeable color. as green. red, White,
russet, cuuningly knit, and curiously in
dented in every point with qulrks, cloths
and other seams"
IN 1853 William Lee applied for and
was refused patent for knitting frame
that he had successfully invented. The
story goes that be was very much in love
with knitting woman, who rejected his
suit and in order to be revenged he tried
to depreciaLe her employment by getting
out patent for his invention. There was
a storm of Indignation among the knit
ters, and he was obliged to leave Eng
land and go to France, where he estab-
lished factory in Rouen. The machine
was introduced into the United States
shortly after the Revolution, and was
modified and adapted to power by limo
thy Bailey OF Albany, III 1881, and
stocking factory was established at Co.
hoes in 1882.
In the early days of the stocking frame
there was but little shape in the hosiery.
There was no means provided for Shap-
ing the ankle. and so the stocking was
put on q board and cut narrow at the
ankle, and was sewed up in shape by
hand. The art of knitting, it is claimed,
was originated in Scotland i'll the fifteenth
century, and from that country knitted
stockings found their way TO France, and
led to the tablishment OF guild OF
stocking knitters, who chose for their pa
tron St. Flacre of Scotland.
OF course William Lee's machine un-
derwent a great many improvements.
The first of marked importance was the
ribbing apparatus invented by Jedidah
Strut, in I75S This consisted in adding
a second series of needles, with an ar
rangement for working them, TO Lees
machine, which could only make plain
web. and not ribbed one. Early in this
cular knitting frame. which produced
tubular web. 1t was considered a very
meritorious machine, but did not come
much into use until improved upon,
twenty-eight years after, by Claussen of
Brussels. In 1917 it was so modified IA 10
be widely adopted, and from time 10 time
since has received various improvements.
Since then hosiery machines have become
plentiful, and every stitch OF the work
that appears nowadays upon all the fancy
hose, of no matter how many cOlors or Of
how intricate a design, is done by ma
chine.
The styles have varied in color and de-
sign from time TO time, but at present
the outlook is that fast black stockings
will be worn by women of this country
from now on to the end OF time.
Thirty years ago nothing was worn but
white stockings, either pure white or the
balDriggan hose, aud stocking counter
of shop in those days would present
box after box of white stockings, both
for women and children. After few
years the manufacturers began tc employ
designers, and stripes and figures ap-
peared upon the white ground. There
were stripes circling the stockings, ana
stripes going up and down the stockings.
After time other colors were substitu-
ted for q background, and colored stock
ings were in vogue. Pretty soon the
solid color was in demand, and red was
the popular tone. Blacks were at that
time in demand by 81 few, but they did
not become popular on account OF the
poor dyestuffs that caused an itching and
burning o. the feet At last Herms-
dorff, a German, discovered a perfectly
fast black dye that would not crock, and
Immediately black stockings came into
vogue.
In 1880 the approximate wealth OF the
country was SIS. .642. 100000, an average OF
$50 to each individual.