Last revised on March 6, 2003

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I found this hosiery-mending kit among my grandmother's effects.  Note the blank space on the back of the kit where the "representative" should have written her contact information.  Note also the promise that the "run arrestor" would wash out; it was only to keep the run from getting worse before you could take the stocking off and repair it.  "Real Silk" as a brand name for stockings suggests to me that this kit was made after rayons and azlons were introduced, but before nylon hose became generally available.

I've no idea where I came by this kit, how old it is, or how it came to be completely unused.  Something about it says "forties" to me -- perhaps it's the four-digit phone number.  It is late enough that the thought that the user might care whether or not the glue on the stop-run sticks would wash out never entered the kit-designer's head.  Note the needle. I see no sign that the earlier kit ever had one, but a needle lashed to the kit in this manner would leave no marks.

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