In apparel industry, knitting
machine used for producing knitted fabric like single jersey, pique, fleece,
terry and so on. There are two types of knitting machine used to produce knit
fabric, flatbed knit machine and circular machine. Actually, knitting machine
is a device, that used to make fashionable product. Presently, circular machine uses more than
flatbed machine uses. Flatbed machine helps to make parts like collar, cuff
& pockets etc. for garments. As we already discuss on bellow topic;
Now we will discuss about flatbed
machine and circular machine. There are two types of knitting machines are used
to produce knit fabric:
- Flatbed
knitting machine
- Circular/tubular
type knitting machine
A.
Flatbed knitting machine:
In garments sector, to produce
knitting flat pieces, flatbed machine is one of the common knitting machine. A
flat-formed fabric with straight edges or sides produced on a flat-bed machine.
Also note that, flatbed machine can’t purl stitch automatically. Because
flatbed knitting machine have horizontal needle beds. We call it flat knit as
opposed to circular knit. We usually use flat knit for collar cuff and bottom
of knit shirts or sometimes jackets too. When we use flat knit collar, cuff and
bottom, we usually would knit them to the exact sizes because as we know, they
should not be cut for size adjustment.
B.
Circular/tubular knitting machine:
Now-a-day, circular/tubular
machine is used widely for producing knitted fabric in the knitting mills. All
over the world, majority of knit fabrics are produced on circular knitting
machines. A tubular or circular fabric produced on a circular-type knitting
machine with the loop stitch formation process made around the fabric. Needles
on the knitting machine are arranged in circle, producing fabric in tubular
form. Goods may be produced as tubular yard good or circular-shaped components
or trimmings. Most knitted fabrics, are of circular knit which means before it
is cut open, the circumference is about 60”. After knitting is completed and
finished, you cut it open and width becomes about 60”.
When you set the width /Dia. by
machine, you may stretch it to 62” or 64”. There is a flexibility of about 6”
you can play with to suit the garment chest measurement of your size
specifications. Therefore, before you specify the width of the knitted fabric
for the knitting mill to follow, you should study your garment size
specifications to determine what width you need to minimize the cutting loss.
Not only you can stretch the
width, you can also stretch the length and set it, so that the width is wider
and the length is longer. Since you buy knitted fabrics by weight (by pound or
kg), now that you have stretched the fabric width wise and lengthwise, you seem
to have benefited from this manipulation. Unfortunately, the truth of the
matter is, you are taking a very dangerous step because what you do may bring
you big problem later.
- When
you stretch the width and length, the weight of the fabric per square
meter will be reduced, you may be making the fabric too light beyond the
buyer’s acceptance.
- When
you stretch the width and length excessively, you are making the holes in
the fabric bigger than normal, the fabric may have a see through effect.
- No
matter the fabric is of 100% cotton, or cotton / polyester blend, when you
stretch it excessively, it will recover to an extent
When it is relaxed or washed,
garments made of this over stretched fabric may not pass the buyers test, nor
even be found acceptable at the consumer level due to excess shrinkage. We
should not try to gain the extra profit by stretching the fabric excessively.
If we need wider width on the fabric to achieve better yield we should try to
set the machine to knit wider width, and not to make up the normal width and
then stretch it and set it. It is dangerous to do so.
Starching the selvedges of knit
fabrics:
When you order knitted fabrics of
medium to light weight, you should consider to instruct the mill to starch the
selvedge (to make both edges of the fabric inflexible so that they will not
curve up) without starching the selvedges, you may find the two sides of the
fabric, curved up on the cutting table, making it very difficult to lay the
fabric neatly for cutting.