Stockings were an important part of a wardrobe in the 19th century. They were made either silk or cotton. There was often an embroidery along them, too. Male stockings were mainly white.
I made stockings for Jane and Edward from a thin white knit t-shirt. I decided not to do any embroidery as I don’t believe Jane was rich enough to afford silk stockings with embroidery! Here is one of the examples of silk stockings from the V&A Museum (dated 1800-1829).
I simplified the stockings to avoid bulk. If I manage to find nice thin knit fabric (silk will probably have to be substituted with spandex) I will make new stockings using an original pattern. But for the moment that’s what I’ve made.
I wrapped both dolls’ legs with a masking tape to work out the pattern.
I cut it out of my cotton knit fabric without the seam allowance and even then I had to cut off about 1 cm (3/8 inch) more to make sure the stockings fitted well.
The top of the stockings was stitched first. Then I stitched them along the seam.
The tip of the stockings was sewed like this:
And here is the result.
And a small bonus…
Лена, спасибо!
Здорово!!!
Хорошие чулочки. А клин очень грубо смотрелся? Тоненький шелковистый трикотаж из вискозы бывает. Обрати внимание на бельё 🙂
Марина, спасибо. Клин на такой ткани я даже не пыталась сделать. Я нашла у себя в закромах футболку, которую никогда не носила, т.к. она оказалась 100% полиэстром. Тоненькая, на вид шелковистая. Вот ее на чулки и пущу. И сделаю их выше колена.
ah ha, so that’s how you do stockings, good idea, thank you for the pictures because it helps. I want to make better socks for my American girls and sewing a tube just does not look good to me. The usual Simplicity etc. patterns are very bad. So you wrap with painters tape, cut down back in middle from top to toe and fold pattern, right? I will try that tomorrow. Thank you Olga.
Yes, Meg! Just remember to wrap legs with cling wrap first, otherwise the masking tape will stick to them. (I actually have to re-do stockings for Jane from a different knit and make them longer, but can’t get around to it).