Introduction
Made by interloping of yarns.
More stretchable and comfortable than the wovens.
Loops are called stitches, created by needles.
Warp knit and weft knit.
Wales and courses.
latch needle, spring beard, compound needle.
Cut and gauge
Machine related informations.
Used in case of weft knitting machines.
Number of needles in one inch of the machine.
Cut of a machine can not be increased.
Determine the fineness or coarseness of the fabric.
A ten cut fabric has 10 wales per inch and a 20 cut fabric has 20 wales per inch
Gauge refers to warp knitting as well as weft knitting machines.
Wales per inch also depends on the thickness of the yarn, type of stitch, stretched fabric after knitting.
Cut and gauge refers to the relative tightness of the fabric.
Knitting stitches
• Plain stitch
• Purl stitch
• Miss stitch
• Tuck stitch
Plain stitch Purl stitch
Miss stitch Tuck stitch
Flat and circular knit
• Flat knitting – produces knit fabric in flat form
• Circular knitting – produces knitted fabric in circular/ tubular form.
Basic weft knit fabrics
Jersey knit --- all loops are drawn in one direction and the face and back is easily
recognizable. Other characteristics are:
• Tendency to curl at the edges which can be removed with finishing.
• Face and back is easily recognizable due to different hand feel.
• Stretch equally in both the directions.
• All the wales are created by plain stitches only.
• Can be produced on flat as well as circular knitting machines.
• Only one set of needle is required.
• If one yarn breakes, the entire fabric unravels. Unraveling is called RUN.
Rib Knit – made by alternative wales of plain and purl stitch. A 2 by 2 rib means
two wales of plain stitch and two alternate wales of purl stitch.
Two sets of needles are required
Operates slower than the jersey knits.
Produced on flat and circular knitting machines
Rib knit stretches more in width direction.
Do not curl at the edges.
Used for collar and cuff.
• Purl knits – contains plain and purl stitch in each alternate course.
• Produced in special purl knitting machines.
• Each wale contains both plain and purl stitch.
• 1 by 1 purl is when one course of plain and one course of purl stitch and so on.
• Knitting machines are also called links and links.
• Rate of production is lowest of all.
• Two set of needles are used or one double headed latch needles are used.
• Links to links machines are capable of producing all three types of basic knits.
• Has more stretch lengthwise.
• Used in infant wear or fancy garments.
• Interlock knits – made on special machines called interlock machines.
• These are a variation of the rib knit.
• Both face and back has the same knitting.
• More smooth in handfeel .
• More expensive.
• Double knits – another variation of the rib knit. These have plain sticth on both
side.
• Produced on rib or interlock machine.
• Yarns used are thick
• More dimensional stability.
Full- fashion knits -- produced on flat knitting machines.
Not just cut and sew but are garments.
Seams of the garments are joined during knitting.
Characterized by raised holes or knots called fashion marks.
Expensive.
High pile knits – single jersey knits
Sliver is fed in the knitting machine
Thick sliver are then brushed
Resembles that of a natural animal fur
Needs extra care
• Terry knit – made by putting two yarns. One form the ground and the other forms
the pile. This is called plating. The yarns are then pulled out to form loops.
• Knitted velour – the loops of the knitted terry are cut and the surface becomes. It
is called knitted velour.
Warp knitting
– Produced on flat knitting machines.
– Stitch run zig zag along the length of the fabric.
– The back of the fabric has longer floats called laps.
– main varieties are: Tricot knit and raschel knit.
Tricot knits --- fine smooth filament yarns are used.
rate of production is very fast.
Fabric produced are smooth
Weft Knit Structure
Elements of Knitting Machine
Latch needle Spring beard
Knitting Mechanism
Weft Knit Structure
Weft Knitted fabrics
Examples of weft Knitted fabrics
• Tricot knit and raschel knit
