The features of knitted fabrics play a significant role in style and processing of clothing design. In order to have a correct and reasonable design, stylist should know features of the knitted fabrics.
1.Stretchability
Stretchability also called as elasticity. Knitted fabrics are worn by the coil stems when affected by external force, occurs the transfer of coil ring post and ring arc, and resume after the external force is disappear. This phenomenon happens in the vertical and horizontal side of knitted fabrics which are related with material, elasticity, and dyeing process.
Knitted fabrics with excellent elasticity will have the inferior dimensional stability which should be focused during designing, cutting, sewing and ironing, or the knitted fabrics may be out of shape. For instance, when sewing, the choosing of thread should based on the elasticity of fabrics and use method of interlining to avoid deforming.
2. Curling
The edge of single knitted fabrics will be curled in the free state, which can be called as curling. The curling will influence the working efficiency of sewing workers. Currently, the foreign workers have adopted an adhesive to spray on the knitted fabrics to overcome the curling.
The curling is related to the structure of fabrics, tissue density and coil length. Generally, the single knitted fabrics will have serious curling, while the double ones don’t have curling.
3. Breathability
The knitted fabrics have excellent breathability and thermal resistance, therefore are comfortable when wearing. These characteristics contribute them to become popular, while manufacturers should keep them dry and ventilate and prevent mildew in distribution or storage.
4. Shear resistance
The shear resistance has two reasons. Firstly, the smooth surface will easily cause the slippage between layers when clipping. Secondly, due to the excessive speed of electric cutter and thickness of material, the synthetic fabrics are easily to be melted and boned when cutting.
In order to improve this phenomenon, when cutting knitted fabrics with smooth surface, workers had better not to put too many fabrics, and use the clamp to hold on fabrics. The same as the synthetic fabrics, do not put too many fabrics at the same time, and reduce the speed of electric cutter or take blade with waveform edge.
5.Process retraction
When processing, the knitted fabrics will have retraction both in length and the width. The ratio of retraction is relevant to structure, density, material and processing. The process retraction is an important characteristic of knitted fabrics which should also be taken into consideration in designing.
