Knit, Tuck and Miss Stitch

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22/KNITTING VIEWS/SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2010 T here are three principle stitches utilised in knit fabrics: Knit, tuck and miss stitch. These three stitches, or combinations of them appearing in the same fabric, form the basis of all knitted fabrics. Formation of loop structures The weft knitted structures described so far have been totally composed of knitted loops, which are produced whenever the needle clears the old loop, receives the new yarn and knock over the old loop from the previous knitting cycle. Fig. 6.1 shows the three possible positions of the needle at the time of feeding the yarn. They are referred to as knit, tuck and miss positions. These different stitches are produced by controlling the height of the needles and the individual selection of needles enable knit, tuck or miss stitches to be formed. For different stitch requirements, swing cams or auxiliary cams are placed between the rising cams and the stitch cams to change the path of the needle butts to form a raceway and the needle butts travel in this restricted path accordingly to form knit, tuck and miss stitch. VASANT R KOTHARI - has done Master’s in Textiles Technology from DKTE’s Textile and Engineering Institute, Ichalkaranji (Shivaji University, Kolhapur), Maharashtra. He has also done Diploma in Export Management (Apparel Export) from the Indian Institute of Export Management, and Garment Export and Merchandising Management from NIFT, Bangalore. Presently, he’s working as an Assistant Professor in Department of Fashion Technology, NIFT, Bangalore. (This is his fifth input from the series of articles in Knitting Views) 22/KNITTING VIEWS/SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2010

Transcript of Knit, Tuck and Miss Stitch

Page 1: Knit, Tuck and Miss Stitch

22/KNITTING VIEWS/SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2010

There are three principle stitches utilised in knit fabrics: Knit,

tuck and miss stitch. These three stitches, or combinations

of them appearing in the same fabric, form the basis of all knitted

fabrics.

Formation of loop structures

The weft knitted structures described so far have been totally

composed of knitted loops, which are produced whenever the

needle clears the old loop, receives the new yarn and knock

over the old loop from the previous knitting cycle. Fig. 6.1 shows

the three possible positions of the needle at the time of feeding

the yarn. They are referred to as knit, tuck and miss positions.

These different stitches are produced by controlling the height

of the needles and the individual selection of needles enable

knit, tuck or miss stitches to be formed.

For different stitch requirements, swing cams or auxiliary cams

are placed between the rising cams and the stitch cams to change

the path of the needle butts to form a raceway and the needle

butts travel in this restricted path accordingly to form knit, tuck

and miss stitch.

VASANT R KOTHARI - has done

Master’s in Textiles Technology from

DKTE’s Textile and Engineering Institute,

Ichalkaranji (Shivaji University, Kolhapur),

Maharashtra. He has also done Diploma

in Export Management (Apparel Export)

from the Indian Institute of Export

Management, and Garment Export and

Merchandising Management from NIFT,

Bangalore. Presently, he’s working as an

Assistant Professor in Department of

Fashion Technology, NIFT, Bangalore.

(This is his fifth input from the series of

articles in Knitting Views)

22/KNITTING VIEWS/SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2010

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KNITTING VIEWS/SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2010/23

Knit stitch

The knit stitch is the basic stitch. It is also called the plain stitch.

Knit stitch is formed when the needle carries out a complete

stroke, reaching the maximum height on the looping plane.

The tuck loop will always lie at the back of the held loop. The

numbers of consecutive tucks on any one needle is limited by the

amount of yarn that the needle hook can hold, with the maximum

usually being between four to five loops. Fig 6.5 shows the

technical face of the tuck stitch along with the knitting notations.

Fig 6.1 Three needle positions for the production of three stitch types.

Fig 6.2 Cam setting for different stitches

Tuck stitch

A tuck stitch is formed when a knitting needle holds its old loop

and then receives a new yarn. Two loops then collect in the

needle hook. The previously formed knitted loop is called the

held loop and the loop which joins it is a tuck loop.

Fig 6.3 Face and back of knit stitch

Fig 6.4 Tuck stitch produced on a latch needle machine

Fig 6.5 Technical face of tuck stitch fabric with stitch notations

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The resultant stitch is elongated. Tuck stitches appear on the

back of a fabric and may be recognised as an inverted V, sometime

elongated for two or more courses, depending on how many

times the stitched was tucked. Fig 6.6 shows a single tuck viewed

from technical face and back of the fabric.

Fig 6.7 shows a single tuck viewed from the technical back and,

in addition, how this structure is represented using conventional

stitch notations.

Tuck stitches tends to reduce the length of the fabric and increase

its width (Wales are pushed apart), resulting in the fabric being

thicker (yarn from the tuck stitch lies on top of the preceding

stitch) with less extension in the width.

The tuck stitch is used in knitted fabric to create design effects

in colour, raised surface texture, or a hole or eyelet effect.

Miss stitch

A miss stitch is created when one or more knitting needles are

deactivated and do not move into position to accept the yarn.

The yarn merely passes by and no stitch is formed.

The float will lie freely on the reverse side of the held loop, which

is the technical back, and in the case of rib and interlock

structures it will be inside the fabric. Fig 6.10 illustrates that the

float will extend from the base of one knitted or tucked loop to

the next.

Fig 6.6 Tuck stitch

Fig 6.7 Tucking over four adjacent plain needles

Fig 6.8 Tuck stitch (Face and Back)

Fig 6.9 Float stitch produced on a latch needle machine

Fig 6.10 Technical face of float stitch

Miss stitch is also known as float stitch or welt stitch. Fig 6.11

shows the face and the back of the miss stitch.

Fig 6.12 shows a four needle float viewed from the technical

back, together with the conventional stitch notation used to

represent this structure.

The introduction of miss stitches results in the fabric becoming

narrower in width, since the wales are pulled closer together and

the held loop ‘robs’ yarn from adjacent loops. This tends to improve

fabric stability. The miss stitch also has a tendency to increase

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fabric weight, and reduce both stretch, and width. A miss stitch is

used to create colour and figure designs in knitted fabric since it

permits the selective positioning of yarns in a fabric.

Fig 6.11 Miss stitch

6.12 Floating across four adjacent plain needles

Fig 6.14 Successive tucks and floats

(In the next edition, we would bediscussing about Weft Knitting.)

Fig 6.13 Miss stitch (Front and back)

Knit, tuck and miss stitches can be used in any of the four fabric

types – single jersey, rib, purl or interlock – to produce a wide

range of structural effects. Fig 6.14 shows the combination of all

three stitches.