Elastic and non-elastic narrow fabrics / and a chapter on narrow fabrics made on knitting machines

by Samuel Brown

Introduction of Fancy Stitch

Fig. 2 shows the same fabric with a fancy stitch introduced at one needle on the cylinder of the knitting machine to produce what is known as “tuck” work. In this work the needle in question is made to hold its thread for one course without knocking over its loop, and takes a second thread on the next course so that two threads are knocked over together, giving rise to the effect shown in the middle of the illustration.

This effect is produced by inserting a needle at this point with a latch which is longer than the other needle latches of the machine, with the result that it does not knock over its stitches with the ordinary needles unless it receives a specially deep draw down, which it gets every second course. All the stitches made on this needle are double as compared with the single stitches in the rest of the tube. In a machine with 20 needles in the circumference, one needle would be inserted with this extra long latch to give a tuck stitch right down the tube.

As regards the position of the fabric at which the tuck effect is made to show, this is entirely a matter of arrangement in folding the tube. According to the line of folding the tuck effect can be made to appear in the middle or at the side.

Further examples of this style of narrow fabric are given in Figs. 3 and 4, made on the same diameter of machine. In Fig. 3 the tuck stitch is made both front and back of the tape; that is, a long latch needle is inserted in the cylinder every tenth needle so that there are two in the circumference in place of the single line in Fig. 2. In Fig. 3 the second vertical line of tucking stitches appears on the back of the fabric directly under the line shown on the face, and this has the effect of making the tuck stitch more pronounced.

Fig. 5 Fig. 6

Fig. 7 Fig. 8

In Fig. 4 it will be recognized that this idea is further developed by having two vertical rows of tuck stitches showing on the face of the tube, and these are supplemented by two others placed directly under them on the other side of the fabric, thus giving a total of four long latch needles in the circumference of the machine. To give the proper effect, the tube as obtained from the machine has to be carefully pressed so as to show the fancy effect at the correct place, for if the tube gets out of alignment at any point, this will affect the form of the pattern.