From the Historical Record | Stockings in Colonial Virginia, 1773
In June 1773, Allan & Turner, merchants in Williamsburg, Virginia, advertised a service allowing customers to supply their own fine cotton or thread to be made into stockings using a stocking frame.
The cost was five shillings for men's stockings and four shillings for women's.
The merchants even claimed that their frame-knitted stockings were equal, if not superior, to those knitted by hand! This small advertisement offers a fascinating glimpse into the textile trade of colonial Virginia, where hand knitting and frame knitting existed side by side as different methods of producing an essential article of 18th-century dress.
Explore the Original Historical Sources
Virginia Gazette, June 10, 1773 — Supplement
The advertisement was also printed in the June 10 supplement. This link leads directly to the newspaper page containing the advertisement, with the original image and transcription. In the June 10 supplement, look on page 1, column 2, for the Williamsburg advertisement dated June 3, 1773, signed by ALLAN & TURNER. It is the last advertisement in column 2. The stocking-knitting offer appears immediately below their signature, beginning:
"N.B. Those who have fine cotton or thread..."
The advertisement concludes with the merchants' claim that frame-knitted stockings were equal to those knitted by hand, "nay, superior."