Full-fashioned hose are produced by means of complicated and expensive knitting frames, which automatically drop the requisite number of stitches at the ankle so as gradually to narrow the web down and give the stocking the natural shape of the leg. The toe is produced in the same way, and the shaping of heel and gusset is brought about in like manner. Hence, the goods are called full-fashioned, because so fashioned as to conform to the proportions of the leg and foot. Hose and underwear made by this method are knit in flat strips and then seamed either by hand or machine. Generally special machines are used, which take up and complete the selvedges, thus avoiding objectionable seams with raw edges.
The knitting frames used for making full-fashioned goods are large, intricate, expensive, and slow in operation; they are difficult to keep in order and require skilful operators. The largest ones knit from fourteen to eighteen stockings at once, using as many as four threads of different colors in the production of patterns. The first operation consists in knitting the leg down to the foot; then the legs are transferred by expert workmen to another frame which knits the foot. Next they go to another department where, with the aid of a special looping machine, the heels and toes are stitched together. Then the stockings or socks are handed over to expert women operators, who seam up the legs on a machine especially adapted for the purpose. After being sorted they are taken to be dyed, boarded, stitched, dried, and finally subjected to heat and pressure to give them a finished appearance. It usually requires two weeks from the time the manufacturing operations begin, for a stocking to emerge from the factory in a finished form. Full-fashioned hose are made in all shades and grades of silk and cotton, in lisle thread, and in all kinds of cashmere, merino, and woolen goods. They are likewise knitted plain, ribbed, and with fancy stripes and embroidery effects. In the United States there are numerous important plants engaged in the production of full-fashioned goods, while large quantities are annually imported from Germany and France.
Finishing Process. When socks and stockings are taken off of the knitting machines they present an unfinished appearance, being loose, puckered, dirty, and generally shapeless. Scouring, dyeing, shaping, and pressing serve to improve their looks, and these finishing operations constitute a distinct branch of the industry. While still in a moist state the hose are shaped. This is effected by the use of forming-boards made of wood and about one-half of an inch in thickness. The sock or stocking is carefully stretched over the “form” while damp, and then placed in a heated chamber and allowed to dry. The goods assume the shape of the wooden “form,” and will always hold it if the work has been carefully and thoroughly done. After they have been taken from the drying chamber and the boards removed the hose are pressed between heavy metal plates or rollers, looked over for defects, and when boxed or bundled are ready for market.
CHAPTER XIII
LACE
Lace. Lace is the name applied to an ornamental open work of threads of flax, cotton, silk, gold, or silver, and occasionally of mohair or aloe fiber. The latter are used by the peasants of Italy and Spain.
Lace consists of two parts, the ground and the flower. The threads may be looped, plaited, or twisted in one of three ways. First, with a needle, when the work is known as “needlepoint lace.” Second, when bobbins, pins, and a pillow or cushion are used; this is called “pillow lace.” Third, by machinery, when imitations of both point and pillow lace patterns are produced.
Special patterns for these laces date from the beginning of the sixteenth century. The early productions of the art had some analogy to weaving; the patterns were stiff and geometrical, sometimes cut out of linen or separately sewed and applied to the meshed surface, but more frequently they were darned in, the stitches being counted in, as in tapestry. This kind was known as darned netting. With the development of the renaissance of art, free flowing patterns and figure subjects were introduced and worked in.