# Why are/were seams in the back of stockings? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-were-seams-in-the-back-of-stockings/798062 "2017-10-05T21:40:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dingbang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-were-seams-in-the-back-of-stockings/798062/1 "2017-10-05T21:40:16Z")
With old fashioned stockings, the ones that had seams running up and down the legs in the back, is there any reason it was located there? The seam is so visible there, whereas it would seem to be less conspicuous on the inside of the legs. I know that the seam itself came to be seen as sexy, with women painting them on during the nylon shortage in WW2, and now some see it as an attractive part of the retro stocking look. But why did it start out there? Is there a manufacturing reason? A comfort reason? (I’m not asking why they had seams then and can be made without them now. I’m asking specifically about the design choice to put them on the back of the leg.) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-were-seams-in-the-back-of-stockings/798062/2 "2017-10-05T22:07:51Z")
It seems that it was just the natural place to put the seam: > [@](#): > > The Process: Making Stockings > Full-fashioned (traditional seamed stockings) stockings are knitted flat, then fashioned, or shaped by mechanical manipulation by programmed chains that articulated cams to drop needles from the knitting process creating the famous “fashioning marks” on the backs of the stocking. (The little V’s on the back near the seams are created when a stitch is cast off, just like in hand knitting a sweater) The stockings are then joined at the back on a looping machine by hand, creating the seam up the back. The actual knitting is done on a flat knitting machine first developed in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England by William Cotton in 1864. > > The stocking is started at the top with the welt, with an extra-thick section for gartering. Reducing the number of needles at the ankle, then adding needles at the heel, and again reducing the number through the foot shape to the fabric. > > [StockinGirl: Stockings, Thigh Highs & Lingerie: History of Hosiery](https://www.stockingirl.com/HIST.html) ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-were-seams-in-the-back-of-stockings/798062/3 "2017-10-05T22:19:31Z")
I always assumed that there were two reasons: most of all, it’s a lot harder to sew a flat piece of cloth to wrap around a foot and ankle if you stitch it along the bottom and then straight up the back of the leg, than if you try to stitch it from the side, simply because the cloth can be cut symmetrically that way; that, plus that the assumption is that you would want to look at a woman from the FRONT, making it better to hide the seams in back. But I have no direct confirmation. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-were-seams-in-the-back-of-stockings/798062/4 "2017-10-05T22:21:19Z")
> [@Dingbang](#): > > With old fashioned stockings, the ones that had seams running up and down the legs in the back, is there any reason it was located there? The seam is so visible there, whereas it would seem to be less conspicuous on the inside of the legs. ISTM that if the seams were on the inside of the legs, they would rub against each other. And having a seam on the inside of the leg would look funny. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-were-seams-in-the-back-of-stockings/798062/5 "2017-10-06T01:34:17Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > ISTM that if the seams were on the inside of the legs, they would rub against each other. And having a seam on the inside of the leg would look funny. Plus you would then have a right sock and a left sock. Tough to keep straight when you are sneaking out in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-were-seams-in-the-back-of-stockings/798062/6 "2017-10-06T02:37:51Z")
Aren’t left and right stockings identical? Or more precisely aren’t the two stockings in a pair identical with no distinction between left and right? If you put the seams on the inside, you’d have to make different left and right stockings which, I assume, would be more expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-were-seams-in-the-back-of-stockings/798062/7 "2017-10-06T07:38:37Z")
Did the technology exist at that time to manufacture seamless stockings? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-were-seams-in-the-back-of-stockings/798062/8 "2017-10-06T08:13:10Z")
> [@Dereknocue67](#): > > Did the technology exist at that time to manufacture seamless stockings? Read the article I linked to in #2 ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-were-seams-in-the-back-of-stockings/798062/9 "2017-10-06T12:12:36Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > ISTM that if the seams were on the inside of the legs, they would rub against each other. And having a seam on the inside of the leg would look funny. \ Okay.