BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY

Ethiopian Institute of Textiles and Fashion

Technology(EITEX)
SEMINAR ON KNITTING MACHINES FOR FULLY FASHIONED CLOTHING
PREPARED BY: SELAMU TEMESGEN
SUBMITTED TO : Dr.S.Kathirrvelu (Professor Textile Tech.

KNITTING MACHINE FOR FULLYFASHIONED GARMENT

Introduction to Knitting: Knitting is a process of fabric
manufacturing by converting yarn into loop form and then
these loops interlock/inter-mesh/interloped together .
Knit garments: Knit garments are basically three types:
Cut and sew knit garments.
Fully Fashioned shape knitwear.
Complete knitted garments

Cut and Sew knit garments:

The cut and sew technique is by far the simplest method of garment
construction whereby individual panel shapes are cut to size from
panels (V bed or flat bed) or from a long length of fabric or cloth
(circular knitting machines).

Fully Fashioned Shaped Knitwear:

1) Shaped knitwear is engineered to size and
shaped at the point of knitting.
2) It is very distinctive and easily identifiable by
the fashioning marks which normally run parallel
to the garment seams.
3) The garment panels are assembled using cup
seaming and linking where usually the garment
sides, sleeves and underarms are cup seamed and
the shoulders and collars are linked.
4) The difference between linking and seaming is
that with linking a stitch per stitch joint results
whereas cup seaming stitches the edges of the
fabrics together.

Name of Fully fashioned knit garments:

1) . Sweater
2) . Cardigan
3). Tights
4) . Stockings
5) . Lingerie, etc

 Fully Fashioned Knitwear:

Fully fashioning is a process of shaping a knitted structure by
increasing or decreasing the number of needles or Wales where the
individual pieces are more engineered so that each garment piece is
made with no extra fabric and the pieces are basically knitted together
at the seams.
In this case each piece is shaped using
techniques specific to knitwear by using special
stitches, making lines of loops shrink and grow
depending on where more length is needed and
where not.
Example- Sweater, Pullover, Cardigan etc.

The production procedure of a fully fashioned knitwear

Fully fashioned knitting machines

Fully-fashioned knitting machines are flat knitting
machines that produce custom pre-shaped pieces
of a knitted garment.
The most commonly used fully fashioned knitting
machines are
1. Straight bar frame machines
2. Flat machines- manual&computerizad
3.Circular machine

Hand Loom Flatbed Knitting Machine

Hand loom flatbed knitting machine is a smaller and less costly type of
machine that does not run automatically.
Instead, it is manually operated to produce sweater panels.
The operator follows the knitting instructions given, adjusts the cam,
and knits each row accordingly.
It is more labor intensive than a computerized machine but still more
efficient than hand knitting or hand crochet

Fig .Hand Loom Flatbed Knitting Machine

The development of the straight bar frame

The straight bar frame is, with a number of later
improvements and developments, recognizable as a
direct descendant of William Lees hand frame.
William Cotton of Lough transformed the hand
controlled power-driven rotary frame into the
high-speed automatic fashioning multi-head
straight bar frame.
The modern automatic straight bar frame with its
fully-programmed garment-knitting sequence was
around 1953.

Fig. Sixteen-head plain straight bar frame having a conveyer for

transporting the rib ends to each head [Iropa)

 The fully-fashioning process allows the separate creation of

shaped front and back body parts and sleeve parts by increasing
or decreasing the number of loops and this eliminates the cutting
operation.

However, because all parts of the garment

are knitted separately, the fully fashioned
knitting still requires a post sewing or linking
process.

Linking is defined as a process of joining side seams or edges of

fabric pieces together with a row of knitting on a linking machine

 To achieve fully fashioned knitting, loop

transference is necessary.
The loop transference is the process that moves stitches (i.e., loops) from
the needles on which they were made to other needles .
Following figure illustrates the mechanism of loop transference on a Vbed flat knitting machine. The fully-fashioning process allows the
separate creation of shaped front and back body parts and sleeve
parts by increasing or decreasing the number of loops

a. The delivering needle is raised by a cam in the

carriage. The loop is stretched over the transfer
spring.
b. The receiving needle is raised slightly from its
needle bed. The receiving needle enters the
transfer spring of delivering needle and penetrates
the loop that will be transferred.
c. The delivering needle retreats leaving the loop
on the receiving needle. The transfer spring opens to
permits the receiving needle to move back from its
closure. Finally, loop transference is completed.
Fig. Mechanism of loop transference on V-bed flat knitting
machine

Knitting action of the plain straight bar frame

Figure below shows the cross-section of the knitting head containing
the following elements:
A .Bearded needle, having a cranked end for location in the tricked and
drilled needle bar.
B. Sinker only one between every other needle space with a
reinforced back and, at the front, a catch to sink the yarn around the
needles, and a neb to separate the old and new loops until knock-over.
C. Divider, occupying each remaining space, usually having the same
shaped front as the sinker but with an extended tail at the back.
D. Knocking-over bit one directly beneath each sinker and divider
having a throat for holding the loops and a nose for knocking-over.
E. Needle bar, having a compound horizontal and vertical movement.
F. Striking jack, fulcrummed at its lower end, each one with its nose
resting on a sinker back, and a spring exerting pressure on its tail.

 G. Catch bar, extending the full width of the knitting head,

having forward and backward, as well as vertical,
movement.
H. Yarn carrier, which traverses in alternate directions
across the head from one course to the next up to six
carriers may be available.
The carrier is connected to a reciprocating carrier rail by
friction, and when the carrier is arrested by its carrier stop,
the carrier rail completes its full traverse, driven by the
coulier cam and punching through the carrier friction.
J. Falling bar, which is a stop that cushions the advance of
the sinkers and dividers

THANKS