Evening star., 1935-09-24
Modern Manufacture
Described by Former
Stocking Mill Worker
Costly Machines Have Risen From the Ashes
of William Lees Original Hand :.
Knitting Frame.

- l. Ct411Ss
ing the progress of silk from leaf to
limb, as it were!
Stockings Of Today.
THE stockings with which Queen
Elizabeth was so pleased were very
different from the ones that you SO
casually draw on your foot in this day
of marvels. Even after the Rev.
Lee invented his manufacturing frame
the process of making a few spools
of silk into coverings of gossamer
sheerness had not been thought of.
These frames were operated by
hand, even as the whole operation OF
unraveling a cocoon into a spool Of
silk was done by hand, too.
william Lees wife used to knit
stockings just as you, today. knit .
skirt. Each stitch was made one after
another until a whole row had been
completed, and then another was
started above it. Today stockings are
knit by having series OF needles. all
of which together make complete
row of loops. 1t takes As minutes
to knit leg now, instead of weeks,
and they are knitted on machines that
make "a at time These machines
are all run exactly alike, SO that no
stocking deviates from pattern unless
the style is changed. They (the ma
chines) cost $4,000 apiece.
X y X Y
IT WASN'T always that a stocking
fitted the leg as it does now. For
merly they looked much like a silk
gunny-sack when they were put on,
but the introduction of that marvellous
machine that shapes the stocking so
that it clings to the ankle changed
all of that. Each stocking is knitted
from the top down, and the number
of loops is reduced gradually so that
it is smaller around the ankle.
The foot is knitted separately. Of
Isle thread, on a machine that takes
only 20 minutes to knit two dozen
at time.
When stockings are taken of the
knitting machine they are loose, puck
cred, dirty and generally shapeless.
Securing, dyeing, shaping and press
ing serve to improve their appearance.
After the stockings have been knit
| they are sent to the looping depart
ment, where the two parts are joined
together both inside and out From
there they go to another department,
where they are scanned together. The
machines that perform this look much
like sewing machines, but they are
entirely different in construction and
designed with special attachments
that produce a variable seam. First
the foot is scanned. and then up the
back of the leg to the top.
WHEN silk stockings first came into
w general use the only color in
which they could be obtained was
black. After many efforts dye was
finally invented that would hold its
color. Then silk stockings came into
their own. The sheen and beauty
of silk is best brought out by the
use of dyes that display not only the
silk, but the leg to its best advantage.
Today dyes are made that are fast
to sunlight. washing and perspiration
These dyes are given exotic new names
each season.
After stocking is dyed it Is sent
to the boarding room, where it is
boarded. Here it is shaped while still
moist on forming boards made of
wood about half an inch thick
They are carefully stretched over the
form and then placed in a heated
chamber to dry. They assume the
shape of the form. and will aways
hold it if well done.
When they come from the boarding
room they are paired, inspected half
a dozen times for flaws in the weav-
ing or dyeing, and finally sent on to
your store, where you may walk in.
ask for a pair Of stockings, "Malibu
brown" or some such shade, and cas-
ually draw them on, little thinking
of the cycle which starts with the
Japanese girls who pick the mulberry
leaves to feed the worms that spin
cocoons, that furnish the thread, that
make the stockings that dazzle your
man.
II you wish advice on your individ-
ual household problems. write to Betsy
Caswell in care Of The Star, inclosing
stamped, self-addreSsed envelope for
reply.