Actually knitting fabric can be
made by hand or by using a machine. Presently, knitting machine used more than
hand knitting. There are variety of knitted fabrics available in the market. In
apparel industry, knitted fabrics are used for producing knitted garments like
T-Shirt, Polo shirt, Sweater, Sweatshirt, children’s wear etc. For producing
different type of knit fabrics, mills used different type of construction &
specification. We already discussed about basic structure of knit fabrics.
Now we will discuss the following
list of names of knit fabrics which are commonly used to produce knit garments:
- Plain/
single/ jersey knit
- Pique
knit / Lacoste knit
- Interlock
knit
- Rib
knit
- Terry
knit
- Fleece
knit
- Jacquard
knit
- Yarn
dyed stripe knit
- Feeder
stripe knit
- Engineered
stripe knit
Plain / Single / Jersey knit:
People call it jersey knit. A
weft knit process producing a plain, flat-surfaced knitted fabric designed with
a separate face and back. A single-faced knitted fabric designed by an interlinking
of stitches in the same direction on the face and a series of semicircular
loops produced on the reverse or back. Even-patterned loops are produced in the
lengthwise direction on the face of the fabric and even patterned, wavy loops
in the crosswise direction on the reverse. Jersey knit process utilizes both
single and double yarn construction.
Pique Knit:
Pique Knit fabric manufacturing
by weft technique. Basically, Pique fabrics used for Men’s polo shirt &
women’s polo shirt. It’s also used for manufacturing sportswear.
Interlock stitch knit:
A weft knit process producing a
compound fabric. Two separate 1x1 rib fabrics are interlocked or inter knitted
to form one cloth. The two rib course are defined as one interlock course,
since together they produce one stitch in every wale. Interlock stitch knit
process utilizes single yarns in the knitting process. Same appearance on face
and back and double faced. When needle heads are facing with each other, then
it is called interlock gating, that means interlock fabric.
RIB knit:
A weft knit process producing a
double faced fabric. Rib knit is made with two sets of needles producing
alternate plain and purl stitches that join in opposite directions in the
lengthwise direction and produce separate vertical ribs on both sides of the
fabric. Rib knit process produces high and low areas with stitches alternating
up and over and down and under creating a corrugated effect. There are 1 by 1 rib,
2 by 2 ribs, 3 by 1 rib, 5 by 2 ribs and so on. You count the number of ribs in
front and on back to determine what it is.
Terry knit:
A woven or knit uncut loop
structure produced as single faced with loop formation on face and back. Size,
shape and density of loop formation may vary. It looks like terry towel.
Fleece knit:
One side looks like jersey, the
other side heavily brushed. Also note that, the inside of fleece fabrics brush
can be light or heavy, buyer will confirm their requirement of brush. Fleece
fabric’s contraction can be 100% cotton, 80% cotton 20% poly etc (As per buyer requirement).
Actually buyer will confirm which contraction used to make the fabric. Also
note that, normally fleece fabric GSM is higher, than the normal other knitting
fabrics. Please note when knitted fabrics are finished by the mill, it is
usually rolled on a tube with tension.
Therefore, when you unroll the
fabric on the cutting table, you should not apply the marker on and cut it
right away, you should let it relax for a few hours, or preferably over night
to check if the length has become shorter when the tension is gone. If may
surprise you that the length or the width or both have shrunk 5 to 7% on the
cutting table. Just imagine, if you cut the fabrics without relaxing then you
many end up getting your garments undersized. The degree of such shrinkage is
contingent on the tension it was given prior.
Jacquard knit:
Jacquard knit is a system of
producing a patterned knit fabric combining the jacquard system. The system is
the individual control of the selection of the needles to produce the design or
pattern utilizing.
- Punch cards or programmed techniques similar to woven Jacquard fabric
- Electronic or electromagnetic devices
- Can be produced by warp or weft type method of knitting fabric
- Produces single or multicolored designs and patterns
- Designed with a flat or raised surface
- Can be hard finished or smooth texture or brushed for napped finish
- Produces jacquard blister knit, jacquard jersey knit and jersey knit variations, jacquard rib knit and rib knit variations.
Yarn dyed stripe knit:
Generally, we collect the yarn
from yarn supplier or spinning mills then we produce the fabric from grey yarn
that is called grey fabric. After that, we dye the fabric in any color as per
buyer requirement. But after collecting the yarn from yarn supplier or spinning
mills & send the yarn for dying purpose as per buyer requirement color. On
the other hand, we can collect direct dyed yarn from spinning mill. That means
we dyed the yarn before produce the knit fabric, that is called yarn dyed
fabrics.
In making color knitted fabrics,
we usually would use the following methods to color them:
- Piece
dye: for solid colors
- Yarn dye: for horizontal stripes
- Printing:
for printed designs
For piece dyed solid colors and
prints, the process of manufacture is pretty much the same as woven fabrics. However,
on yarn dyed stripes it is important we know the following:
Feeder stripe knit:
This means you feed the knitting
machine with yarn of different colors and let the machine knit as knitting
solid color fabrics. The knitting machine has a capability for 108 cones of
yarn. Now you have inserted 8 cones of black yarn in to it, with the balance
100 cones white yarn. After getting start knitting you will find out that,
there is a black horizontal stripe within 2”.
From the above example you can
understand that within the 108 spaces, you have inserted 8 cones of black color
yarn to form a horizontal stripe design that you have worked out. You can also
see that the size of repeat is about 2”. If this is a fine yarn used, it could
be smaller than 2”, if it is a thick yarn used, it can be bigger than 2”. There
is no limit about the number of colors you can use within the 2” repeat. For example,
you can use 108 different colors if you wish. There are knitting machines of
more than 108 cones and machines of less than 108 cones. So, the 2” repeat is a
little flexible.
Engineered stripe knit:
When the size of the repeat of
the stripe you need is bigger that 2” it is beyond the feeder stripe method can
do and you will have to use “Engineered stripe” method to make this knitted
fabric. In this engineered stripe method, the machine is set to change threads
at certain time to from a big repeat. This way the repeat can be of almost any
size. However, the price of engineered striped fabric is substantially higher
than the normal stripe price. Therefore, as garment merchandisers, when we get
the artwork from buyer & artwork showing, for example, a 2-3/4” repeat, we
should check with the knitting mill to find out how close we can get the repeat
to 2-3/4”, or check with the buyer if they could let you shrink it down from 2-
¾“ to 2 ½“ before you choice to engineered stripe method. However, if the
repeat given in the artwork is 14” and buyer don’t want to change it in any way,
for example, then you should use engineered stripe method without any choice.