Author(s): Ichetaonye SI, Ichetaonye DN, Adeakin OAS, Tenebe OG, Yibowei ME and Dawodu OH
The Effect of the Stitch length on the properties of plain and 1x1 rib knitted fabric was carried out. Fabrics with various stitch length determined by the stitch dial at 4, 6, 8 and 10 were knitted using the flat bed machine for plain knitted fabric and the v-bed machine for 1x1 rib knitted fabric separately. The knitted fabrics with stitch length (Plain) 0.67 cm, 0.84 cm, 0.86 cm, 0.94 cm and also (1×1 Rib) 0.8 cm, 1.04 cm, 1.06 cm and 1.08 cm were tested separately for linear density, weight, tightness factor, thickness factor, elastica factor and stitch density of the fabric and the results show that significantly they differ. The results show that the higher the stitch length the more loose the loops hence the structure of the fabric and the shorter the stitch length the tighter or compact the fabric is.