Seams seen in short stockings? Goodness! (8)
I believe the answer is:
holiness
'goodness' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'seams seen in short stockings?' is the wordplay.
'seams' becomes 'lines' ('line' can be a synonym of 'seam').
'seen in' is an insertion indicator.
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'stockings?' becomes 'hose' (I've seen this before).
'hose' with its last letter removed is 'hos'.
'lines' going within 'hos' is 'HOLINESS'.
(Other definitions for holiness that I've seen before include "State of spiritual excellence" , "State of sanctity" , "Piety" , "Goodness!" , "purity" .)