10/09/2026
**From the Historical Record | Stockings in Colonial Virginia, 1773**
**Did you know that in 1773, you could bring your own thread to a stocking maker and have it knitted into stockings?**
In June 1773, Allan & Turner of Williamsburg, Virginia, advertised a service allowing customers to supply their own fine cotton or thread to be knitted into stockings on a stocking frame.
The cost? 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!
Hand knitting and frame knitting existed side by side, offering different methods of producing an essential part of 18th-century dress.
**Explore the original historical source:**
📜 **Virginia Gazette, June 10, 1773 — Allan & Turner advertisement, Williamsburg, Virginia.**
The original newspaper transcription is available through **FromThePage, Colonial Williamsburg's Virginia Gazettes transcription project**.
**A note on finding the advertisement:** Search for the *Virginia Gazette* dated June 10, 1773. The transcription is quite lengthy, so the easiest way to locate the passage is to use the website's search box and enter **stockings**. Look for the advertisement dated June 3, 1773, signed by Allan & Turner. The stocking-knitting offer appears immediately below their signature, beginning with "N.B. Those who have fine cotton or thread..."
