Fully Fashioned Stockings in the Us

With a line upward the dorsum of each leg equally ubiquitous to 1940s and 1950s style as the cinched waist and perfectly-coiffed hair-do, it tin seem similar stocking seams were simply a pop tendency. Merely the truth is that almost allhosiery was seamed back so – that was just how it was made.

Gio Cuban Heel Fully Fashioned Stockings

This style is what we now know equally the fully-fashioned stocking (FFS), and today it'southward considered the height of hosiery luxury. For one thing, fully-fashioned stockings actually are 'nylons' in the traditional sense, being knitted from 100% nylon yarn. Stocking aficionados volition tell you information technology's a completely different feel to wearing modern stretch hosiery, with a much smoother feel against the peel.

Notwithstanding, there are different types of pure-nylon stockings, and they're not all fully-fashioned. What really makes this mode unique is the manufacturing process. All fully-fashioned stockings are made on vintage Reading machines, which went out of production in the early on 60s. Today, there are fewer than five worldwide which are still in use!

French Fully Fashioned Stockings

It'southward not just the scarcity of the equipment that makes fully-fashioned stockings so exclusive either. There'due south also the fact these cumbersome machines (each about 30ft long and with fifteen,000-18,000 needles) can put out only around 30 pairs per hour, at maximum speed, and as many every bit xl% of those will snag and end up as imperfect 'seconds'.

So just how are fully-fashioned stockings made?

Mod stockings are made on a circular knitting machine, which knits them directly into a tube shape. Fully-fashioned stockings on the other hand are first fabricated flat – hence the need for a seam to hold them together.

As fully-fashioned stockings are being knit, the thread type changes, with thicker yarn beingness used for the welt, heel and undersole of the foot to reinforce those areas. The heel reinforcement can have dissimilar shapes, nearly normally a French point or a flat-topped Cuban finish.

Not just rectangles of material, each stocking is knit into a shape that will ensure the non-stretch garment closely follows the natural curves of the calf and thigh. Once done, they are removed from the car, ironed, and then a skilled seamstress sews the seam.

Gio Cuban Heel Fully Fashioned Stockings

Things aren't over notwithstanding though, considering all fully-fashioned stockings are knit from a obviously, 'greige' coloured nylon. They still need to be dyed – a dye-resistant thread will accept been used for the seam if it'due south going to be in a contrasting colour.

They besides then demand to exist steamed on a metal leg form, both to eliminate creases and to 'tighten' the knit and better define the leg shape. Oh, and in that location's still one final step. The sometime Reading machines are non massively precise, meaning two 'mediums' can vary in length by equally much as two inches. Then the finished stockings will be advisedly matched upward, to ensure that the pair you receive in your parcel are equally alpine.

How to recognise a fully-fashioned stocking

There are a few tell-tale signs to wait for to ensure you are buying a true fully-fashioned stocking, and not but a Reinforced Heel-and-Toe (RHT) pattern with a decorative seam.

Gerbe Carnation Fully Fashioned Stockings

The seam

If the seam is printed on, then it'south definitely not a fully-fashioned stocking. Some circular-knit stockings practice have seams sewn onto them to better mimic the real thing though, and then bank check that the seam runs all the way under the foot to the toe. But of class, there'south an even more obvious inkling…

The finishing loop

Besides called a keyhole, the finishing loop is an unmistakable circular gap in the peak seam over the welt. During seaming, the seamstress folds the welt over on itself, to make this office actress-robust. Not intentionally decorative (though many people dear how it looks!), this 'hole' allows the sewing needle to be withdrawn in one case the welt has been secured in identify.

The picot lines

If you look very closely at seam of a fully-fashioned stocking, yous will see faint rows of dots on either side in certain areas. Also known equally compression stitches or fashioning marks, these are acquired as the auto adjusts the width of the flat stocking piece.

Gio Point Heel Fully Fashioned FFS Stockings

Why wear fully-fashioned stockings?

I promise this article has illustrated why fully-fashioned stockings cost more than many other styles. From the labour-intensive process to the fact that only a limited number can exist made per year, there'south simply no fashion to produce accurate fully-fashioned stockings on the cheap.

But they are worth paying out for! For 1 thing, you're helping this decades-erstwhile (and now very tiny) industry to stay live. And at a personal level, fully-fashioned stockings offering both glamorous style and a luxury feel. If you want to experience hosiery the way women wore it in the 40s and 50s, fully-fashioned is the but way to get!

Click here to see all of the fully-fashioned stockings currently available at Mayfair Stockings.

by Estelle Puleston

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