Evaluating width-wise contraction of different cotton single knit structures due to the positioning of tuck and miss loops at different locations in the structural repeats

The contraction rates of weft knitted plain jersey fabric and some patterned single jersey fabrics with respect to machine gauge were determined. Fabric samples were knitted using cotton yarn at various stitch length values on a positive feed based multi feeder circular weft knitting machine. Widthwise contraction rates of the resulting fabric samples were then calculated using the values of wales per inch and needles per inch. It was discovered that when stitch length increased, the value of the contraction rate decreased. Additionally, it was found that the knitted stitches (knit, tuck and miss) greatly impacted how much the fabric contracts. Fabric with miss stitches showed higher contraction than fabrics knitted with tuck stitches. However, knit-miss based single jersey fabrics showed less contraction than plain single jersey fabrics while all courses are knitted at the same course length value. It was also observed that contraction rates also change due to different positioning of tuck and miss loops in the patterned structures.