Knitwear always looks cozy and warm. And sometimes you want to please yourself and your loved ones with hand-made sweaters, especially in the style of family look. After all, how beautiful family photos turn out!
But knitting sweaters, dresses and rugs takes a very long time, and there is no guarantee that the first time it will turn out to make all the loops the same, and the details will correspond to the pattern. It is in such cases that a finished knitted fabric is used.
Using this material, the product creation time is significantly reduced, however, there are several features of working with it.
Concept and types
First you need to understand what it is. First of all, a knitted fabric is, as a rule, a kind of either knitwear or lace. It all depends on the tool with which it was made and on its characteristics. You can say for sure that this is not a woven fabric. You can separate them by similarity with hand-knitted products.
Crocheted are, as a rule, small cuts made by hand, less often - on warp knitting machines, but such are rare. It can be as tight cuts without a pattern, or openwork, for example, made using the Irish lace technique. Such materials are quite dense, do not stretch or deform.
Knitted fabric is more common and is very popular. As a rule, such material is produced on knitting machines on an industrial scale, in addition, there are household knitting machines. It can be monophonic, with a pattern, lace or braids. This material stretches well and deforms when improperly maintained.
Structure
A distinctive feature of a knitted knitted fabric is its structure. There are many ways to weave yarns in this type of material, but the main one is the classic clutch of undulating rows of yarns. This is especially evident in rows made with purl loops. The front surface looks like a lot of parallel braids.
Such a fabric stretches in all directions, well fits complex shapes, but is unstable to deformation during wear.
Another type of weaving is a leotard. In such a fabric, rows of threads are arranged not horizontally, but vertically. They look like twigs, leaves of which are intertwined with leaves of neighboring branches.
A canvas with such a structure has a greater tensile coefficient, however, it blooms more easily, so it is rarely used in sewing products. A web with a tights structure is created exclusively by machine.
In addition to the above weaves, performed by a single thread, there are also fabrics, when weaving which 2, 3 or 4 threads are used simultaneously, however, this structure is inherent in thinner knitted fabrics, for example, interlock fabrics.
Purpose and use
In general, knitwear for its intended purpose is divided into linen, hosiery, upper, scarf, interior and others. Knitted fabric is used mainly for the manufacture of clothing, including the top, as well as warm socks, plaids, hats and scarves.
Cut
Cutting a knitted fabric is quite difficult. This is due to the fact that the loops in this material are loosely fixed, so if some rules are not followed, the edge may open or the loop may go down.
- To make an even cut on the material, it is enough to cut the loop at the required level and pull the thread out of the row. This is possible due to the structure of the material. If the width is large enough, then it is necessary to incise, 5 cm from the edge, then gently pull on the edge loop of the row where the cut was made. The material will gather in an accordion, it must be carefully straightened, picking up the formed free loops. On the second part of the material there will remain a series similar to the initial one, which will not need to be fixed. In the same way, dissolve the material on the other hand. After that, the edge can be covered with knitting needles or crochet using a thread from the canvas. Thus, you can not only separate the necessary section of material, but also draw the bottom of the product and sleeves.
- If it is necessary to make an incision of complex shape, it is better to first fix the edges of the future product. To do this, you can carefully sew small stitches parallel to the contour of the part, departing 0.5 cm from the marking. The main thing is not to stretch the fabric so that it does not go a wave after cutting.
- Another way is to glue the contour of the part with a tape of adhesive non-woven in such a way that it is located on the outer edge. This will not only prevent the material from blooming, but also protect the edge from unnecessary stretching.
Sewing
When all the details are cut, the question arises, how to sew a knitted fabric? This can be done both manually and on a sewing machine.
- To maintain the elasticity of the material, the seam must be chosen elastic, designed for knitwear. If the sewing machine does not have such a function, then you can replace it with a small and frequent zigzag.
- To facilitate work with a large-knit fabric, it is better to place the edges of the product between sheets of papyrus paper. It can be replaced with a newspaper or tracing paper. This will facilitate the sliding of the material from below along the rail, and the “foot” will not engage the loops of the upper layer of the part. After the auxiliary material can be easily removed.
- The armhole, neck and especially the shoulder seam should always be fixed so that it does not stretch. To do this, use a strong silicone tape or slanting inlay.
- The edges of the product must be processed using an overlock, preventing the material from blooming. This is especially true for horizontal slices. Vertical ones are quite stable, but only if the cut is straight.
- If it is not possible to sew the edges on a sewing machine, this can also be done manually. Using the line “forward needle”, making punctures in the loop of each row. You can also connect a crocheted knitted fabric. It is also possible for them to fix sections by tying them parallel to the seams with half columns or single crochet posts.
Recovery
There are situations when it is necessary to connect a knitted fabric without visible seams. In this case, the recovery technique will help. It is convenient to use a plastic needle and thread drawn from a common fabric for this. To do this, two segments are placed face up so that the columns of loops are opposite each other. Loose loops are drawn onto a knitting needle, after which a needle is inserted into the first loop of the lower fabric, the thread is circled around the first column of the upper fabric and threaded through the first and second loops. The needle is parallel to the cut, and the thread forms a missing row, which connects the two cuts.
For the wrong loops, the technology is similar, only the needle will be located perpendicular to the cut.
The easiest way to connect the front surface or garter stitch in this way, however, with proper dexterity, you can restore a more complex pattern.
Care
Care for the knitted fabric must be very careful. Wash at 30 degrees by hand or in the delicate wash mode. Previously, the product must be turned out, parts prone to stretching (neck, bottom, sleeves), stitched with a strong thread. The powder must be specialized and the conditioner suitable for the specific composition of the yarn.
It is also necessary to wring out a product carefully, without twisting. The surest way is to put it on top of a terry towel, then twist it into a tube and gently squeeze it over its entire length.
It is necessary to dry the canvas on a horizontal surface, away from thermal appliances, and iron it extremely carefully, steaming, but not pressing the iron.
Despite the fact that it is more difficult to sew from such a material than from ordinary fabric, knitting from scratch will still take more time and effort. That is why, for the manufacture of bulky items, craftswomen increasingly use a finished knitted fabric.