The knitting fabric is a fabric that uses a needle to bend yarns into a loop and string them together. The difference between knitted fabric and woven fabric is that the yarns have different forms in the fabric.
The knitting is divided into weft knitted fabric and warp knitted fabric. At present, knitted fabrics are widely used in garment fabrics, home textiles and other products which are quite popular to the customers.
Types of knitted fabrics
- The weft knitted fabric is usually woven on various weft knitting machines using flat needle organization, changing flat needle organization, rib plain needle organization, double rib plain needle organization, jacquard organization, wool loop organization, etc with low elastic polyester filament, poly-amide fiber, cotton yarn, wool yarn, etc. With a great variety, the fabric has good flexibility and ductility . The fabric is soft, firm, wrinkle resistant and easy to wash and dry. It has a poor hygroscopicity, meanwhile, it’s not straight enough and easy to take off, roll the edge, fuzz, ball, and hook filaments.There are mainly the following varieties.
- 1.Polyester knitted fabric:The texture with a strong sense of wool is compact and thick Meanwhile, it has the style of the wool fabric. It’s Mainly used for men and women jackets, suits, windbreakers, vests, skirts, winter clothes, children’s wears and so on.
- 2.Polyester knitted working fabric: This kind of fabric is compact, thick, firm and wear-resistant. If the raw material is added polyurethane core yarns, it can be woven into the elastic knitting jeans with better elasticity. It’s mainly used for man and woman’s wears and trousers.
- 3.Polyester knitted wick fabric:The fabric is concave and convex.The texture is thick and plump,meanwhile it’s easy to keep elastic and warm. It’s Mainly used for man and woman’s wears, suits, windbreakers, children’s wears and other fabrics.
- 4.Polyester covered cotton knitted fabric:The fabric is dyed for shirts, jackets and sportswear.The fabric is straight, wrinkle resistant, firm and wear-resistant. It is also soft and comfortable on the base side.
- 5.Artificial fur knitted fabric:With a good warmth retention, the fabric is thick and soft. According to the variety, it’s mainly used for coats, clothing linings, collars, hats and so on. Artificial fur can also be woven with warp knitting.
- 6.Velvet knitted fabric:With the thick fur and soft colors,the fabric is soft, thick, firm and wear-resistant.It is mainly used for coats, collars and hats.It can also be woven with warp knitting.
- 7.Hong Kong knitted wool:It’s not only smooth, soft and loose like the cashmere fabrics, but also shiny, straight, non-shrink and breathable like the silk fabrics.It’s mainly used for fashionable suits all year round.
- Warp knitted fabrics are usually made from polyester, polyamide, polyvinylon, polypropylene and other composite filament yarns, as well as from cotton, wool, silk, hemp, chemical fiber and their blended yarns.It has the advantages of high stability of vertical dimension, high firmness, low detach-ability, no curling, good air permeability and so on.But its horizontal extension, flexibility and softness are inferior to the weft knitted fabric.There are mainly the following types:
- 1.Polyester warp knitting fabric:With the bright color, the cloth is flat and classified thick and thin ones.The thin ones are mainly used for shirts and skirts.The medium thick and thick ones can be used for men and women’s windbreakers, coats, suits and trousers.
- 2.Warp raising knitting fabric:It’s mainly used for the winter coats, windbreakers, coats, trousers.With a better drapability the fabric is easy to wash and dry and needn’t to iron. However due to the electrostatic accumulation, it’s easy to absorb the dust.
- 3.Warp knitted mesh fabric:The texture of the fabric is light,smooth,soft,elastic and air permeable.It’s mainly used for men’s and women’s summer shirts.
- 4.Warp knitted velvet fabric:The texture is thick , fluffy, plump, soft and elastic, meanwhile it’s easy to keep warm.It’s mainly used for winter clothing and children’s wear.
- 5.Warp knitted loop fabric:With the stabilization of the wool structure the fabric is plump and thick,meanwhile it has a good quality of elasticity, moisture absorption,heat preservation and warmth keeping. It’s mainly used for sportswear, lapel T-shirts, pajamas, children’s wears.
The differences between warp knitting and weft knitting
The warp knitted fabric is made by multiple yarns to loop along the longitudinal direction.
The weft knitted fabric is made by winding one or more yarns in a horizontal order.
The weft knitted wears can be formed by at least one yarn, however in order to improve the production efficiency, it is generally made by more than one yarns.The Warp knitted fabric can not be formed with a single thread of yarn, and a single thread can only form a loop of fabric.
All weft knitted fabrics can be spun out in the opposite direction, but warp knitted fabrics cannot.
The warp knitted fabrics can not be woven by hand.
The warp knitted fabric is divided into two categories.
One is Raschel fabric which has larger shape of flowers , rough cloth surface , many holes and mainly used for decoration.
The other is Tricol fabric.With the higher output and less kinds of colors, it’s mainly used for the covering fabric and the printing cloth.
Notes needing attention in costume design
- Take advantage of the stretch of knitted fabrics
Knitted fabric has a good scalability which can minimize the seams and folds in sample design. Secondly, the knitted fabrics are generally not suitable to use the skills of pushing back, drawing and ironing, but to use the flexibility of the fabric or the folding techniques to suit human curves.Then the flexibility becomes an important thing for sample design.
The sample of woven clothing is generally larger than the area needed to cover the human body, because there is a certain amount of slack to the human body.Due to the different structures,the knitted garments with large flexibility shouldn’t loose the quantity of sample size, sometimes should reduce the quantity.
- Make use of the curving edge of knitted fabric
The coiling of the knitted fabric is caused by the loss of the inner stress of the fabric edge.The coiling is the defect of knitted fabric.It can result in uneven seams of garments or the changes of garment edges, ultimately affecting the overall effect of clothing and the size of clothing specifications.However, not all knitted fabrics but some fabrics with individual organizational structures, such as weft flat needle fabrics have curving edge. For this kind of fabric, it can be solved by means of adding the size of the thread, setting the rib or roller, and inlaying the adhesive liner at the edge of the garment.Some knitted fabrics have eliminated the curving edges in the later process to avoid the trouble of sample design.
It should be pointed out that many designers design the curving edges to the sample of the necklines and cuffs which makes the appearance of the clothing special and refreshing.It can also be used to form unique patterns or secant lines in the weaving of shaped garments.
- Pay attention to the decoherence of knitted fabric
Knitted fabric is different from woven fabric in styles and characteristics. The style of knitted fabric should not only emphasize the advantages of the fabric but also overcome its disadvantages.Due to the decoherence of some knitting fabrics, model design should use concise lines and less exaggerate designs, provincial highway designs, cutting lines, and spell junctures to prevent the the occurrence of the loose of knitting coils and affect the clothing wear.
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