FAQ

Q: I’m looking for a circular knitting machine that is both capable of also doing flat knitting and is gauged for typical cotton yarn. Is there such a thing? I tried cotton on one of the cheap kids machines by singer, but the stitch is way too loose. so circular knitting machine that is good for cotton yarn?

A: Yes, that is what those machines are for. They make loose stitches. What else were you expecting?? They are set for a certain gauge, and you can’t change it. You need to use a thicker yarn, but then the mechanism doesn’t work that well. If you wanted a tighter gauge, you need to get a good machine made for that kind of work. (I have no idea what you mean by “typical cotton yarn”)

Whether it is cotton or wool or even ACKrillic, any machine should work, as long as you have it set up properly. This takes a lot of practice to get it to work right for you, and then you are all set.

There aren’t that many companies that make knitting machines anymore. If you want circular, you are looking at a sock machine. There is only one or two companies that make good machines, and they are pricey. Some flatbed machines will do circular knitting as well, if it is a double flatbed. And if you want to do all those features, you are going to pay a very high price.

Q: How are weaved, bonded and knitted fabrics manufactured?
I Need the answer by now! Thanks!

A: Woven fabrics are produced on a loom: huge machines with hundreds of threads going up and down, and a shuttle passing another thread between them: ‘warp’ and ‘woof’. Knitted fabrics are produced on knitting machines: huge machines with hundreds of needles, but only one thread held by a carriage that moves back and forth over the needles. Bonded fabrics are usually plastic threads that are laid crosswise and then slightly melted to make the threads stick to each other.

Q: Why circular knitting machine keeps snagging yarns even with weights on it?
I purchased an innovations knitting machine from Ebay tried it out and every time I start knitting the yarn keeps getting snagged. I added weights to no avail. I kept taking it off and starting over no help. Does anyone else have this problem that they solved? I have a smaller model that knits beautifully so I don’t know what is wrong with this one Does anyone else know what is going on here?

A: I’m not sure what you mean by “getting snagged”. Do you mean it is catching on a latch? Is the yarn fuzzy and sticking? Maybe the timing is off on the stitches, and so the latch is not opening or closing at the right time. Maybe it’s the tension on the yarn. There could be many reasons… someone really needs to see it in operation to know for sure. But check it all very carefully. Turn it slowly and watch to see exactly what is going wrong and why it is getting “snagged” and then try to correct it. But perhaps there was a reason it was for sale on eBay… buyer beware.

Q: Innovations knitting machine question?
I just bought it and am waiting for it to ship to my house. what I want to know is if you can make socks with it or is it to big for that. I don’t have it yet. I know I can make scarfs and hats but can’t fins any patterns for socks for it.

A: That one is too big for socks, I’m afraid. It looks like it makes about up to a 17″ diameter tube and it may adjust down to a 13″ one on it, far too big for socks. Circular sock machines are available from Japan, but they run well into several hundreds of dollars.

Q:What’s the difference between the following knitted fabrics: Jersey, Interlock and Rib?
I am a new soul to fashion and knitwear manufacturing and would really appreciate pointers explaining differences between Jersey, Interlock and Rib knitted cotton. Ideally I would like anyone in the fashion and manufacturing industry to answer with information specific to t-shirts. Which is best for what type of t-shirt? which is more expensive? and so forth. Thanks in advance

A:Knit fabrics, specifications, manufacturing processes and usages is a bit too broad a subject for a simple Yahoo Answer. You’ll need to do a lot of research beyond asking a Yahoo answers question if you are planning to get into the business of making t-shirts and other knitwear. There are professional consultants who can answer all your questions, but they don’t work for free. Here are the bare bone basics: Jersey is single knit fabric, similar to hand knitted stockinette stitch. it is usually knit in a tube and is used to make basic t-shirts. It has stretch ratio of 25-50% based on fiber composition. Interlock is a double knit and usually knit flat. The interlocking threads give a higher quality fabric that is denser with less stretch, ranging from 10-25%. Rib knit is a specialty knit, made in tubes and it is the stretchiest or the three. Rib knit has a ribbed texture from the method on knitting, worked in a knit one purl one pattern. Ribbing is used to finish sleeves, necklines and occasional bottom hems. The rib can be cut smaller because if the stretch. It helps hold sleeves in place and help the neck to hug the body. Single knit jersey is the least expensive and available for anywhere from 49 cents a meter (children’s plain tubular t-shirting) up to 15$ a meter depending on fiber composition, density of the knit, width, and other factors. It can also be the lowest quality. Interlock is the better quality knit and has the widest range of price, again depending on the many factors in it’s making such as fibers, surface treatments, etc. Ribbing is most expensive because of the special machines needed to make the ribbed fabric. And that’s the basics of knit fabric.

Q: I was trying to sew a medium weight interlock knit fabric, and my upper thread keeps breaking and jamming. I also skipped a lot of stitches, but seem to skip fewer by turning the tension WAY down. Any idea how to fix this problem? I have a ballpoint needle and all purpose thread, and am using a straight stitch on a Singer sewing machine. I also have a slight problem with the fabric bunching up. Also, is it necessary to use an elastic thread with knits?
I know the needle is in the right way, same with the thread, my machine is a student machine and very simple to use. I am using a regular foot, it is a plastic see-through one I use for quilting, I don‘t own an embroidery foot. Guess I will try redoing the bobbin thread… It just seems like the top thread gets caught somehow inside the bobbin area, that is when it breaks… It sewed a piece of cotton fabric just fine.

A: Skipped stitches are usually the result of a needle in backwards or a needle that‘s too small for the thickness of fabric being sewn. Try turning the needle around 180o and reinserting it, and then rethreading from scratch. If that doesn‘t cure it, go up a needle size. I‘m guessing an 80/12 would be about right. Breaking top threads are usually due to misthreading. Take all the thread off of the machine (spool off the spool pin, bobbin out of the bobbin case), and rethread, step by step, manual in hand. If you don‘t have a manual, see if your machine has a threading diagram on the net at least. Try your machine‘s website or http://www.circularknittingmachinesale.com Now check and see if your stitch is balanced… adjust the top tension if it isn‘t. The sweet spot should be between about 3 and 5, and if it‘s much outside that, your machine may need a trip to the sewing machine doc. Puckered seams on knits can be a stitch length problem, a top thread tension problem, a wrong foot problem (for instance, an embroidery foot vs. the standard foot), a miswound or misthreaded bobbin problem, a wrong thread problem, a foot pressure problem, and good ol‘ operator error. Here‘s a good way to figure out what‘s going on: circularknittingmachinesale.com… If I‘m going to straight stitch interlocks, I usually switch to a straight stitch foot and plate if at all possible. I also use a good quality spun polyester thread and wind the bobbin at no more than half speed, so the bobbin thread isn‘t stretched. If you don‘t have a straight stitch foot and plate, try moving the needle to the far right or left position. No, I don‘t use elastic thread on knits unless I‘m doing something different, like mock-smocking. I do tend to use my serger for a lot of knit construction (love that differential feed!), but on a sewing machine, I usually use on of the stretch stitches — even a very narrow zigzag helps. If you‘re working with a straight stitch only sewing machine, you can stretch the fabric slightly as you sew to build in a bit of stretch in a seam. You‘ll want to practice on scraps until you‘ve got the amount of stretching you need to do down pat. This is typically done only on seams that will go around the body, not vertical seams. If you‘re interested in this method, try to get hold of one of the old Stretch and Sew books from the late 60‘s or early 70‘s — that‘s how we did it before zigzags were common, and home sergers were just a pipe dream.

I have had similar problems with my overlocker. It got so frustrating I was ready to give up sewing. However I tried changing the needle thread to a different brand and have had no more problem. I was able to use the original thread in the loopers and it worked fine. You could try changing your top thread and see if that works. Good luck.

Q: Anyone know where I can find circular knit fabric that they use to wrap babies on newborn photography shoots? I live in Australia, so an online store would be great. Ta for any help! I will look through those links your provided. Just to be a bit clearer, I’m looking for something like in this circular knitted fabrics Any ideas?

A: All knit fabric is circulary to some degree. The addition of Spandex to any fabric, woven or knit, will make it circulary. I’ve seen many different fabrics used in newborn photography, from gauze to crocheted or knitted. Photographers may use any fabric that achieves the look they’re going for–and styles change rapidly. To describe what you’re looking for as "that they use to wrap babies on newborn photography shoots" is just too vague to pinpoint it. However, you might try these links to see if you can find what you’re looking for or a fabric that you’ll love anyway: http://www.circularknittingmachinesale.com/polyester-lycra-single-jersey-knitting-fabrics-green.html
Edited to add: That looks like a length of knit stockinette (stocking stitch) fabric. It may have been knit on a standard-gauge knitting machine. It may have been knit from a circulary yarn–there are several on the market–or it may depend on being knit to circular. Since it mentions "no seam", it sounds as though it's a 15" piece of fabric knit as a tube that's 26" across. If you know a machine knitter who has a standard-gauge machine with a ribber, he or she may be willing to knit you one.

Q: I am looking for an automatic knitting machine that will work without an operator (something where I can leave it and come back later to a finished product). Does anyone know if these exist, and if so where I can get one? Also, what is the Automatic knitting machine price?

A: Oh yes, of course, there are electric knitting machines. They all just knit fabric — large sheets of knitted material, which you then have to cut and sew together into something. Because most pieces for a sweater, for example, require some shaping, you may need to keep an eye on it, or it will stop when it reaches a certain point to await further assistance from you. And then there are the large circular knitting machines which just knit tubes. These are for commercial use and can be very expensive, very large, and very heavy! That’s probably not what you are looking for.

What you can do is get a motor to fit on a knitting machine. You set the motor to knit the number of rows required and go away and do something else.

Brother do not manufacture knitting machines any more unfortunately. Brother machines are still available and you can buy a garter carriage which again you program the number of rows you want the garter carriage to knit and leave it to get on with the job.
There is not a knitting machine that you can leave to knit a jumper all by itself any more than you can get a sewing machine to make a dress.

Q:I’m not crafty and not interested in learning to hand knit. Im an adult but beginner. No craft knowledge. I want to make socks for my family. so what knitting machine is best for adult socks?

A:Any adults knitting machine will knit the fabric for socks. The small machines for children would not have sufficient needles. To knit circular socks without a seam you would need a knitting machine with a ribber or a double bed machine. Buying a knitting machine just for socks would make the socks very expensive indeed.

Not really a reasonable idea – you’d need a circular knitting machine, possibly different sizes for different size yarns or socks. Good antique ones cost a few hundred dollars, if you can find them. Few new ones are being made, and antique ones are hard to find and of course, refurbish and keep running (and also in demand by collectors). It takes about an hour to make a sock on an antique sock machine: Zhenlihua circular knitting machine factory is situated in Xinglin Industrial Zone, Jimei District of Xiamen, which is the first industrial park approved by the State of Council for Taiwanese businessmen doing business in mainland. In the industrial park, there are a large number of Taiwanese enterprises with advanced machine-building industrial technology and strong technical forces in processing techniques, among which, Zhenlihua knitting machine machine is the remarkable one.

Fabric: Textile is generally called as fabric, having various categories. Based on materials, fabric can be classified into pure fabric (including cotton, feather, hemp, silk, artificial fiber and synthetic fiber), blend fabric and mixed fabric. Based on processing, fabric can be classified into primary colors fabric, bleached woven fabric, dyed fabric, printed fabric, etc. For usage, fabric can be classified into clothing fabric, decorative fabric, industrial fabric, etc.

Plain cloth: Plain weave fabric which has close warp and weft densities and equivalent roughness. Plain cloth has simple organization, compact stricture and smooth surface. Based on the roughness of yarn, plain cloth can be classified into classique, medium plain cloth and cossas. Based on materials, plain cloth can be classified into purified cotton, polyester cotton, acrylic cotton, lanca, rayon, polynosic, etc. Classique is also called as coarse cloth. The surface of coarse cloth is coarse. It has thick and solid feel. The material of classique is low grade cotton. Classique is classified into greige cloth and grey cloth. Greige cloth is mainly used as packing materials. Grey cloth can be made from shirts, trousers, beddings and vamp cloth after being bleached and dyed. It can also be processed into oilcloth, sail, etc. Medium plain cloth is called as plain cloth, having compact structure and smooth surface. Plain cloth can be classified into grew sheet and grey fabric. Grew sheet can be on sale directly for its natural color. It can be made from shirt, trousers, quit and lining cloth. It can also be used as industrial cloth. Grey fabric can be processed into bleached cotton, cotton print, colored cloth.

Poplin: The surface of poplin shows diamond particles constituted by warp. Warp density is higher than weft density. Poplin has light weight, compact structure, clear pellets, smooth surface, slippery feel. Poplin has various categories. Based on structure of yarn, poplin can be classified into poplinette, half line poplin and the whole line poplin. Based on spinning techniques, poplin can be classified into carded poplin, semiworsted spinning poplin and whole worsted spinning poplin. Poplin is used to make from t-shirts, wind coat, rain coat and coat.

Cambric: Cambric has advantages of clear strip, thin and coll. Cambric is made of cotton tarn and various fibers. The common utilizes cambric is cotton or polyester fabric. For the structure of cambric, zonal washing shrinkage is larger than warp direction. So spare should be maintained when sewing clothes. Printed cambric is used as raw materials of jackets or dresses.