Knitted fabric: type and quality of material, structure, purpose and application

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:35

Knitwear always looks cozy and warm. And sometimes you really want to please yourself and your loved ones with hand-made sweaters, especially in the family look style. After all, how beautiful family photos turn out!

But knitting sweaters, dresses and blankets takes a lot of time, and there is no guarantee that the first time you will be able to make all the loops the same, and the details will match the pattern. It is in such cases that a ready-made knitted fabric is used.

Using this material, the time to create a product is significantly reduced, but there are several features of working with it.

Concept and types

First you need to understand what it is. First of all, a knitted fabric is, as a rule, a kind of either knitwear or lace. It all depends on the tool with which it was made and on its characteristics. We can definitely say that this is not a woven fabric. They can be divided by similarity with products relatedmanually.

Crochet - these are usually small cuts made by hand, less often - on warp knitting machines, but these are rare. It can be either dense cuts without a pattern, or openwork, for example, made using the Irish lace technique. Such materials are quite dense, do not stretch or deform.

Knitted fabric is more common and very popular. As a rule, such material is produced on an industrial scale on knitting machines, in addition, there are also household knitting machines. It can be plain, with a pattern, lace or braids. This material stretches well and deforms with improper care.

Structure

The hallmark of a knitted knitted fabric is its structure. There are many ways to weave threads in this type of material, but the main one is the classic interlacing of wavy rows of threads. This is especially clearly seen in rows made with purl loops. The front surface looks like a lot of parallel braids.

Such a fabric stretches in all directions, well fits complex shapes, but is unstable to deformation during wear.

Another type of weaving is tights. In such a canvas, the rows of threads are not arranged horizontally, but vertically. They look like a branch, the leaves of which are intertwined with the leaves of neighboring branches.

A fabric with such a structure has a higher stretch coefficient, however, it also unravels more easily, so it is rarely used in tailoring. A canvas with a leotard structure is created exclusively by machine.

In addition to the above weaves performed with a single thread, there are also fabrics that are weaved using 2, 3 or 4 threads simultaneously, but this structure is inherent in thinner knitted fabrics, such as interlock fabrics.

Purpose and application

In general, knitwear is divided by purpose into linen, hosiery, upper, shawl, interior and others. Knitted fabric is used mainly for making clothes, including outerwear, as well as warm socks, blankets, hats and scarves.

Open

Cutting a knitted fabric is quite difficult. This is due to the fact that the loops in this material are weakly fixed, therefore, if some rules are not followed, the edge may unravel or the loop will go down.

1. To make an even cut on the material, just cut the loop at the required level and pull the thread out of the row. This is possible due to the structure of the material. If the width is large enough, then it is necessary to cut, stepping back 5 cm from the edge, then gently pull the edge loop of the row where the cut was made. The material will gather into an accordion, it must be carefully straightened, picking up the formed free loops. On the second part of the material there will be a row similar to the initial one, which will not need to be fixed. dissolve in the same waymaterial on the other side. After that, the edge can be closed with knitting needles or crochet using a thread from the canvas. Thus, it is possible not only to separate the necessary piece of material, but also to shape the bottom of the product and sleeves.
2. If you need to make a cut of a complex shape, it is better to pre-fix the edges of the future product. To do this, you can carefully sew with small stitches parallel to the contour of the part, stepping back 0.5 cm from the markup. The main thing is not to stretch the fabric so that it does not wave after cutting.
3. Another way is to glue the contour of the part with a tape of adhesive interlining so that it is located along the outer edge. This will not only prevent the material from fraying, but also protect the edge from unnecessary stretching.

Sewing

When all the details are cut out, the question arises, how to sew a knitted fabric? This can be done both manually and on a sewing machine.

1. To maintain the elasticity of the material, the seam must be chosen elastic, designed for knitwear. If the sewing machine does not have such a function, then you can replace it with a small and frequent zigzag.
2. To make it easier to work with coarse knit fabric, it is better to place the edges of the product between sheets of tissue paper. It can be replaced with a newspaper or tracing paper. This will facilitate the sliding of the material from below along the rail, and the "foot" will not hook on the loops of the upper layer of the part. After the auxiliary material can be easily removed.
3. The armhole, neckline and especially the shoulder seam must always be secured so that it does not stretch. To do this, use a strong siliconeribbon or bias tape.



4. The edges of the product must be processed with an overlock, preventing the material from blooming. This is especially true for horizontal slices. Vertical ones are quite stable, but only if the cut is straight.
5. If it is not possible to sew the edges on a sewing machine, you can do it manually. At the same time, they use the “forward needle” line, making punctures in the loops of each row. You can also crochet a knitted fabric. They can also fix the sections by tying them parallel to the seams with half-columns or single crochets.

Recovery

There are situations when it is necessary to connect a knitted fabric without visible seams. In this case, the recovery technique will help. It is convenient to use a plastic needle and a thread pulled from a common web for this. To do this, two segments are placed face up so that the loop columns are opposite each other. Loose loops are cast on the knitting needle, after which the needle is inserted into the first loop of the lower fabric, the thread is circled around the first column of the upper fabric and threaded through the first and second loops. In this case, the needle is located parallel to the cut, and the thread forms the missing row, which connects the two cuts.

For purl loops, the technology is similar, only the needle will be perpendicular to the cut.

The easiest way to connect the front surface or garter stitch in this way, however, with proper skill, you can restore morecomplex pattern.

Care

It is necessary to take care of the knitted fabric very carefully. Wash at 30 degrees by hand or on a delicate cycle. First, the product must be turned out, the parts prone to stretching (neck, bottom, sleeves) are stitched with a strong thread. The powder should be specialized and the conditioner should be suitable for the specific composition of the yarn.

It is also necessary to wring out the product carefully, without twisting. The surest way is to put it on top of a terry towel, then twist it into a tube and gently crimp along the entire length.

It is necessary to dry the fabric on a horizontal surface, away from heat appliances, and iron it very carefully, steaming, but not pressing the iron.

Despite the fact that sewing from such material is more difficult than from ordinary fabric, knitting from scratch will still take more time and effort. That is why craftswomen increasingly use ready-made knitted fabric to make large-sized items.