I always wondered how seamed stockings came about, and tonight I finally did some reading and found an answer.

The seam was not just a fashion element, it was a necessity to hold the stockings together. Before the invention of a circular knitting machine, they had to knit stockings together as a flat piece that was then sewn together.

These stockings were called fully fashioned because they were made to size, much like other items of clothing come in sizes. They were not stretchy like the one-size fits-all stockings you find these days.

When the circular knitting machine came about, the seam at the back of stockings disappeared. Of course it’s made a comeback in modern stockings, but is no longer a necessary element in the contruction of the hosiery.

Neat eh?