Victorian Stockings With Replaceable Soles

Unlike today, clothing in the past was made to last. So I was intrigued when I found a pattern for knit stockings with replaceable soles from the 1910s! 😀 There are some patterns for socks with replaceable toes and heels. But I couldn’t find a modern knit pattern for socks where the toe, heel and sole are replaceable. So I was eager to try making the historical wool knit stockings with replaceable soles.

Related: 50 Tips On How To Darn & Mend Your Clothes – Historical Sewing

‘The heel, sole and toe of a stocking always wear out before the instep. The Italians and Greeks economise time and material and facilitate the renewal of those parts that wear out, by knitting the upper part of the foot in two pieces. […] In this manner, when one part wears out, you have only to unpick these side-seams and re-sole or re-heel the stocking as the case may be.’ (Encyclopedia of Needlework, 1886)

Antique Stocking Patterns

My stockings are a combination of the 1897 “Puritan Stockings” from the book “Fancy And Practical Knitting” and the 1919 “Socks With Replaceable Foot Sections” from “Needlework Economies” by Flora Klickmann.

Related: Save Old, Holey Tights & Stockings – Refashion Tutorial

The shape of my Victorian stockings with replaceable soles is also similar to 18th century clocked stockings, these antique striped knit stockings at the MET museum and these 1860s machine-knitted stockings with seams at the soles.

1897 “Puritan Stockings”

The 1897 Puritan stockings pattern is the best antique wool knit stockings pattern I’ve found so far because you can easily adapt it if you want to use a different weight of yarn.

‘This plain stocking is perfect in shape, and, if preferred may be ornamented with fancy knitting or embroidery or ribbed work, as the knitter may choose. The same directions may be used for all kinds of full or three-quarter length hose by adapting the number of stitches to the size of yarn and needles used in knitting. The mode of shaping remains the same, whether bicycle, golf or fine silk hose are knitted. […]

To find the number of stitches necessary to be used with coarser yarn: cast on stitches and knit plain about six or seven times across. Count the number of stitches in an inch. In these directions there were 13 stitches in an inch of knitting. A full-sized stocking should be 12″ inches around the top. […] [and] 13 inches long for a full length and 6 inches long for a three-quarter […] length of stocking.’ (Fancy And Practical Knitting, 1897, p. 156)

Replaceable Soles

I think it’s brilliant that the soles of socks and stockings were made easily replaceable in the past because the soles, heels and toes always wear out first while the rest of stockings is still like new. I hate when you have to throw away store-bought socks, stockings and tights when the soles, heels or toes get holes but the leg part is still perfect. And it’s not worth the time to darn today’s store-bought socks: As soon as you darn a hole, there’s a new hole next to the darned hole because the quality of modern clothing is so poor. It would be great if all modern socks and stocking had replaceable soles! 😉

‘This method of knitting hose renders it an easy matter to repair the heel and toe when these parts become worn. By simply undoing the end stitch of a row of crochet chain stitches, the sole, heel, or toe part can be almost instantly removed by pulling the thread and undoing the crochet. The chain stitches are used to join the different parts, which are worked separately and then joined together.

When the worn part is removed, a piece exactly the same size is knitted and joined to the remainder of the sock with the row of chain stitches. In this way the leg and instep portions, which seldom wear out, may be made to serve for two or three renewals of the parts exposed to wear.

It is just as easy to knit a sock or stocking in the new way as in the old, and the saving effected by the new way is great, especially now, when woollen thread is both scarce and expensive. The same may be said about cotton thread.’ (Needlework Economies, 1919, p. 30)

Reinforced Soles, Heels & Toes

I also reinforced the sole, heel and toe with cotton thread which was also a popular way in the past to make stockings and socks last longer. So I knitted the replaceable soles with one strand of wool yarn and one strand of cotton yarn together.

Soles Knit Flat On 2 Needles

Instead of traditional knitted heels and toes, I knitted the replaceable soles flat on two needles. It’s the first time I tried this genius method and it’s so easy – I love it! 😀

Top Down Wool Stockings

The Victorian knit stockings are knitted top down. I used off-white and navy wool yarn left over from an Edwardian knit sweater. And I used white cotton yarn to reinforce the replaceable soles.

Victorian Chevron Lace Stocking Tops

Victorian and Edwardian stockings often had fancy tops. For the tops of my Victorian knit stockings I used a Victorian chevron lace knitting pattern. The pattern is also from the 1897 book “Fancy And Practical Knitting”.

Seam Stitch

The seam stitch ‘is used in knitting patterns, and for marking horizontal lines in smooth surfaces, such as the seam of a stocking, for instance.’ (Encyclopedia of Needlework, 1886)

Historical knit stockings usually have a seam stitch down the back. I’m not sure why most stockings still had this seam stitch on the back. Some older machine-knit stockings were knitted flat and sewn together with a seam at the back. So I wonder if the seam stitch on hand-knit stockings was made to mimic the look of machine-knit stockings. Or was the seam stitch a remnant of earlier times when stockings and hose were cut and sewn?

Related: Medieval Sewn Stockings

Or was the seam stitch on the back used to keep track where to make the increases and decreases on the stockings? However, in the Edwardian era marker thread was already used between stitches. So I don’t know the exact purpose of the seam stitch. But since most antique hand-knit stocking patterns mentioned a seam stitch at the back, I also added a seam stitch.

What Is The Victorian Seam Stitch?

So what exactly is the “seam stitch” in Victorian and Edwardian knitting patterns? Sometimes, the terms “to seam” and “to purl” were used interchangeably. So, “seam stitch”, “purl stitch”, “pearl stitch” and “back stitch” meant the same thing in historical knitting patterns.

‘A seam-stitch means that you must purl the same stitch in every row, instead of knitting it.’ (Friendly Leaves, 1882)

However, this is not always the case. In some historical knitting patterns, seam stitch means that you should use a stitch that looks different than the rest of the knitting pattern. So, for example, if you only knit purl stitches, then the seam stitch should be knitted plain.

And then there are other historical knitting patterns that mention that the seam stitch is a stitch other than just a purl or knit stitch, like a twisted stitch (knitted through the back loop).

‘The seam stitch is the one twisted, and the knitted one is knitted plainly. To twist the seam stitch: Bring the wool forward as usual with a seam stitch to the front, put your needle in at the back of the loop, and bring it out pointing towards the right hand; put wool over loop, and draw through.’ (The Lady’s Friend, 1864)

Or the seam stitch could even be a combination of stitches like alternating knit and purl stitches.

‘1st. – Purl all but seam stitch – which knit. 2d. – Knit all but seam stitch – purl it. 3d. – Purl all but seam stitch – knit.’ (Arthur’s Lady’s Home Magazine, 1887)

‘Seam-stitch. You make this, by working it plain in 2 successive rounds and pearling it in the next.’ (The Lady’s Knitting-Book, 1875)

‘Every alternate row of the seam stitch must be pearled, as if it were a straight piece instead of round knitting.’ (Treasures in Needlework, 1855)

Calf Shaping

To make fitted stockings, you increase and decrease stitches at the back of the stockings on right and left side of the seam stitch. Some historical stocking patterns decrease the stitches next to the seam stitch. While other historical stocking knit patterns say to knit 3 stitches between the seam stitch and the decreases. I decreased the stitches right next to the seam stitch.

‘You decrease on the right-hand side of the seam-stitch by slipping a stitch, knit 1, pass the slipped stitch over. Work the seam-stitch and knit 2 together.’ (The Lady’s Knitting-Book, 1875)

How To Keep Up Stockings?

Garters were a way to hold up the stockings. I made knitted garters from “Godey’s Lady’s Book” from 1862. The Victorian garters are made of alternating rows of purl and knit stitches. Here‘s the pattern for the 1860s knit garters. By the way, the same stitch was still popular for Edwardian knit sweaters. Today, the stitch is called “ridge stitch”.