Knitwear Design Terminology Glossary

Butts On a dubied industrial machine, these are used to create pattern and texture.

Cable knit A style of knitting where permuting stitches create textures of crossing layers. Think Arran jumpers.

Cam Changes the tension on a , working with the high butts and low butts.

Casting On and Casting Off Refer to “” below

Circular Knit Created by a knitting machine which makes a tube of fabric as opposed to a flat piece. First invented in 1806, but widely adopted from the 1860s. Now the most common form of industrial knitting. Used for making t-shirts, jumpers, tights etc.

Cone Used to hold the for knitting on a machine. The conical shape helped the thread to slip off without snagging.

Complete Garment Knitting Can knit an entire 3-dimensional garment in one. The finished knitted products do not have seams. Computerised instructions direct movement of hundreds of needles to construct and connect several tubular knitted forms to create a complete garment in a single production step. This reduces material waste, eliminates seam allowances and means faster time to market by eliminating the need for sewing any components. Two companies manufacture complete garment knitting machines: Shima Seiki and Stoll.

Double-Knit Jersey Thicker than single knit as they are created with two sets of needles and more strands of yarn than a single knit. The layers of cloth are knitted together as they are formed. When finished, the fabric has two faces, or knit sides.

Digital Knitting Founders of Open Knit are in the midst of launching Kniterate a digital knitting machine for your workshop. It turns your digital ​ designs into knitted garments automatically. Allowing you to go from an idea for a scarf, a beanie, a sweater or a dress into a creation ready to be made within a few minutes. They started Kniterate because they wanted to democratise clothing manufacturing. It will enable people to explore knitting’s potential and locally make personalised goods. Until now this was only possible with industrial knitting machines, which cost upwards of $50,000, take a lot of space and require a technician to operate. They have re-imagined this industrial technology to make it faster and easier.

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Dubied An industrial knitting machine with a flatbed (as opposed to a circular bed). The Dubied hand-flats have a v-bed, meaning they have two opposing beds that meet in an upside down V formation. These machines were used primarily in factories to produce sample garments and small production runs. Nowadays they are found mostly in schools and small design studios.

Fashioning Shaping a flat fabric during knitting. This is done by varying the lengths of successive knitting courses. The product is known as 'fully fashioned.'

Finishing Processing the wool. This includes scouring (washing), milling or fulling to improve the 'feel', as well as bleaching and dyeing.

Flat locking A development of overlocking, producing a flatter join, introduced in the 1920s.

Flat knitting Machine or Fully Fashioned A knitting machine which produces a flat fashioned (see above) fabric on a variety of knitting sections turned by a single long shaft. First introduced by William Cotton of Loughborough in 1864. Used for high-class work only, usually in fine gauges. Produces flat fabric of even width or different widths by increasing or decreasing the number of stitches in the rows. Flat but shaped pieces of cloth are then subsequently made up by sewing. Flat machines include machines for common weft and .

Gauge Used in hand and machine knit, refers to the number of stitches per inch, dictating the weight of the fabric. In general, 2 or gg, is chunkier than a finer 12 gauge or gg.

Hand Knitting Stretch fabric produced using or methods by hand. It uses two straight needles for flat knitting, ​ ​ while circular knitting is performed with sets of double-pointed needles or circular needles. While flat knitting produces two-dimensional flat fabric, circular knitting creates tubular-shaped fabric. The basic process begins with or creation of stitches on the needle. Different methods of casting on yield different effects in the finished fabric. By varying the insertion of the needle into the previous stitch in different ways, different types of stitches are made, and desired patterns can be formed in the fabric.

Jersey Jersey commonly refers to any without a distinct rib. Although it was originally made of wool, the introduction of commercial knitting systems led to the production of jersey fabric from other fibres like cotton and rayon.

Jacquard Knit Either a single or double knit made with a pattern on its face, achieved with jacquard controls on a knitting machine. Any yarn may be used. The single knit jacquard will have floats across its back, while the back of a double knit jacquard will have a birdseye pattern. A jacquard pattern may also be knitted by hand.

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Knitting The knitting process involves continuously interlinking or knotting series of loops of yarn using needles. These consecutive loops are intermeshed into the previous loop structure. Thus the new stitch secures the loop structure by locking the previous stitches that are suspended from it, eventually creating a sheet of material. Just like in , this sheet of material is a two-dimensional fabric. The difference, however, is that the threads run straight or parallel in woven cloth, whereas the follow a meandering path (a course) in a knit fabric. The symmetrical looping (also called bights) of material causes the resulting fabric to be elastic and stretchy.

Knit Tension The tension applied to the yarn in the knitting process, hand and machine. Needs to be right for the yarn, stitch and gauge, can be adjusted to get different results.

Ladders Created if a stitch is dropped and often takes time to repair! In some cases, a stitch may be deliberately left unsecured by a new stitch and its wale (see below) allowed to disassemble. This is known as drop-stitch knitting and produces a vertical ladder of see-through holes in the fabric, corresponding to where the wale had been.

Linking Joining up the selvedges of a piece of knitted fabric loop to loop.

Machine Knitting All knitting machines follow a basic knitting process with six steps, although the machines look mind-bogglingly complicated! Knitting on machines involves low carbon steel bearded needles, which are supported on a needle bar. There is a presser bar to depress the beards, and the process is outlined below.

● The needle bar goes forward, and the open needles clear the web. ● The weft thread is placed on the needles ● It is made to fall loosely ● This thread is pulled in the open needles by drawing the needle bar backwards. ● The presser bar drops to close the needle loops and draw the weft back through the loops ● The needles open and a new row of loops is revealed

Making up Joining knitted fabric pieces together to form a garment, and attaching fastenings.

Overlocking Sewing cut edges of knitted fabric with a double chain stitch which covers the join to prevent fraying.

Rib Knit In knitting, ribbing is a pattern in which vertical stripes of stockinette stitch alternate with vertical lines of reverse stockinette stitch, used for cuffs, waistbands, scarves etc.

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Row The completed series of stitches worked from one needle to the other, thereby making it time to transfer needles accordingly: from the left-hand needle in left hand to right hand, and right-hand needle (with row) to the left hand.

Single-knit This fabric is stretchy and lightweight, making it perfect for fitted yet comfortable clothing. This type of cloth was first commercially produced in Jersey in the Channel Islands, and was also known as, unsurprisingly, Jersey! Single-knit jersey fabric is widely used in t-shirts. It is soft and pliable and is characterised by one smooth side and a purled underside.

Selvage (or, selvedge) Technically meaning raw edge of a piece, that is, the first and last rows of stitches.

Wale A sequence of stitches in which each stitch is suspended from the next. To secure the initial stitches of a knitted fabric, a method for casting on is used; to secure the final stitches in a wale, one uses a method of binding/casting off. During knitting, the active stitches are secured mechanically, either from individual hooks (in knitting machines) or from a or frame in hand-knitting.

Warp Knitting Depending on the direction in which the yarn travels during the knitting process, two types of knitting are identified: Warp knitting or Weft knitting. In warp knitting, yarn loops vertically in the fabric. Warp knitting machines can only perform this type of knitting. Warp knitting results in flat or open width forms, it secures the loop structure and is resistant to runs.

Weft knitting, ​ The yarn travels horizontally. This type of knitting can be done by hand or using weft knitting machines. Weft knitting results in tubular fabric pieces. Weft-knit fabrics are easy to make, but it will unravel when cut unless repaired promptly.

Yarn The knitting industry's primary raw material. Knitting yarn is softer and more pliable than thread. Wool, cotton, rayon, viscose, bamboo, hemp, polyester acrylic, banana, the list is endless.

Yarn count Used to indicate the weight of the yarn. It is key to use the right count of yarn for the knit gauge, though this is a general rule and can be played with to create different fabric effects. Looser tension = more floppy + more drape / Tighter tension = more compact, less stretch.

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