Commonly
Used Knit Fabrics for Garments
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:
1.
Plain/ single/ jersey knit
2.
Pique knit / Lacoste knit
3.
Interlock knit
4.
Rib knit
5.
Terry knit
6.
Fleece knit
7.
Jacquard knit
8.
Yarn dyed stripe knit
9.
Feeder stripe knit
10.
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:
Thanks by Rubel
