1. hobbies and interests
2. arts and crafts
3. knitting

A KNITWEAR FASHION COLLECTION WITH
THE APPLICATION OF CAT ELEMENTS
CHOI WAI CHU
BA (Hons) Scheme in Fashion and Textiles
(Knitwear design with Technology Specialism)
INSTITUTE OF TEXTILES AND CLOTHING
THE HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY
2010
A KNITWEAR FASHION COLLECTION WITH
THE APPLICATION OF CAT ELEMENTS
A Thesis Sumitted
in Partial Fullfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Bachelor of Arts (Honours)
In
Fashion & Textiles
(Knitwear design with Technology Specialism)
under the Supervision of Dr. Ng Yuet-ming, Judyanna
by
Choi Wai Chu
Institute of Textiles and Clothing
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
April 2010
I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr Ng Yuet-ming,
Judyanna, for her constant guidance, valuable advice and sustained
interest throughout my preparation of the project work. Her effort
for connecting me with the knitwear industry is critical for successful
development and completion of this dissertation.
Special thanks to Mr Francis Lee, executive director of China Union
(Cashmere) International Group Limited for the generous sponsorship
to produce the garments for this project. I am grateful and thankful
for the technical advices and encouragement from the staff, Ankh,
Meagan, Megan and Mei Mei.
Besides, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Zhou and
especially Miss. Liu Su, Susan for their professional knowledge and
patient advice on knitting to actualize my ideas.
Finally, I thank my family, friends and classmates for their love,
support and joy that brought to me.
II
III
ABSTRACT
Cat is one of the most popular pet companions to human and serves
as a Muse in many modern art and design. This project is aimed
at developing some innovative
knitting stitches with
the
inspiration of cat, and integrates them into a knitwear collection.
Since with the sophisticated development in knitting technology,
there are many possibilities to achieve the aim. The research work
consists of four parts including i) the review on cat’s physical
attributes, ii) the review on weft knitting technology and
concerned aspects, iii) to conduct experiment and develop knitting
techniques and stitches base on the above research, iv)to design
and develop a cat inspired knitwear collection from the above
research.
A serious of knitting experiments on the computerized flat knitting
machine, with various yarns and knitting stitches were carried
out to explore the possibilities of applying domestic cat elements
on weft knitting. The investigation established some combinations
of yarns and knitting methods for actualizing the inspirations
from cat. The knitting samples were evaluated base on their
IV
aesthetic and practical value with qualitative method.
The experimental knitting samples were brought to application on a
fall/winter
2010/2011
knitwear
collection
also
with
the
considerations on fashion trend and color combination. The development
process of the collection was recorded and evaluated in case study
method.
Base on aesthetic point of view, the research also values the
application of knitting technologies corresponding to the importance
of “product development”. This thesis attempts to provide knowledge
for
future
knitwear
development
or
cat
inspired
designs
in
corresponding to the growing popularity of cats and knitwear in the
fashion industry.
V
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
CHAPTER 1 INTRODCTION
1.1
Background of the study
1.2
Aim and Objectives
1.3
Scope of Study
1.4
Methodology
1.4.1 Exploratory research
1.4.2 Qualitative research
1.5
Significance and contribution
1.6
Structure of the Thesis
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ON DOMESTIC CAT
2.1
Introduction
VI
2.2
Body form
2.2.1 Origins of Different body forms
2.2.2 Types of body forms
2.3
Head and face shape
2.4
Coat pattern
2.5
Fur texture
2.6
Summary
CHAPTER 3 LITERATURE REVIEW ON KNITTING
3.1 Knitting material: Fibre
3.1.2 Natural Fibres
3.1.3 Man-made fibres
3.2 Knitting material: Yarn
3.3 Knitting flat machines
3.3.1 Single bed flat machine
3.3.2 V-bed flat machine
3.4 Knitting structure
3.5 Coloured stitch design in weft knitting
3.5.1 Horizontal striping
VII
3.5.2 Plating
3.5.3 Intarsia
3.5.4 Jacquard
3.5.4.1 Single jersey jacquard
3.5.4.2 Double jacquard
3.6 Summary
CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY
4.1 Literature Reviem
4.2 Quantitative Research
4.3 Qualitative research
4.4 Case study
CHAPTER 5 DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Knitting method for developing knitting samples
5.3 The electronic knitting machines
5.4 Knitting Materials
5.5 Procedure of knitting
VIII
5.6 Inspiration, knitted samples and evaluation
5.6.1 Experiment 1 Yarn and stitch relationship
5.6.2 Experiment 2 Yarn and stitch relationship
5.6.3 Experiment 3 Yarn and jacquard
5.6.4 Experiment 4 Intarsia and stitch combination
5.6.5 Experiment 5 Birds’ eye jacquard
5.6.6 Experiment 6 Jacquard with intarsia
5.7 Summary
CHAPTER 6 CASE STUDY: Knitwear collection development
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Trend analysis
6.3 Inspiration
6.4 Color palette
6.5 Selection of materials
6.6 Selection of knitting structures
6.7 Portfolio Development
6.7.1 Design collection and finished garments
6.7.1.1 Outfit 1
IX
6.7.1.2 Outfit 2
6.7.1.2 Outfit 3
6.7.2 Styling Development
6.8 Summary
CHAPTER 7 Conclusion, limitations and recommandations
7.1 Conclusion
7.2 Limitations
7.3 Recommendations
REFERENCES
X
CHAPTER 1
INTRODCTION
1
1.1
Background of the study
Cat (Felis Catus) also know as domestic cat gain universal
popularity as a “perfect animal companion” (Fogle, 2001, p.7) to
human and plays an important role in the modern human society.
Humans appreciate the “elegant body form and movement” (Besant,
2006) of cat which are “aesthetically pleasing” (Fogle, 2001, p.7)
and even Leonardo da Vinci praised that “the smallest feline is a
masterpiece” (Choron, Choron, & Moore, 2007).
The exclusive characters of cat provide a lot of inspirations for
culture; in paintings, sculptures, literature, tales, comics,
cartoons, movies, dramas… as well as for fashion, traces of cat
could be commonly found.
Being a popular companion to human, aesthetically pleasing and
important in human culture, cat is a great subject for knitwear
fashion study.
For Knitwear, as everything starts form a yarn, it gives a lot of
possibilities for developing ideas through different yarns and
stitches. The possibilities of fashion with cats by the means of
knitwear are worth to investigate.
2
1.2
Objectives
In order to investigate various aspects of domestic cats for the
application on knits and knitwear objectives are formulated as
follows:

To study concerned features of domestic cat (felis catus)

To conduct review of existing literature on fundamental
knowledge of knitting techniques;

To conduct experiment and develop knitting techniques and
stitches base on the above research;

To design and develop a cat inspired knitwear collection from
the above research, and;

To explore and analyze the application of cat elements in a
knitwear collection.
1.3
Methodology
In order to achieve the objectives of this project, a procedure
of research activities was designed as follow:
Literature Review Experiment (knit samples)
Evaluation Application(case study) Conclusion
3
The project begins with exploratory research comprised with desk
research on secondary data from books, journals and websites.
Concerned features about cat and knitting design elements have
been traced out in the literature review as the base for
generating knitting samples and succeeding research activity.
In this project, qualitative research is involved on the
evaluation of the knitting samples from the knitting experiments,
from the aesthetic and practicably aspect.
A case study was carried out on succeeding process to record and
evaluated the whole development process of the knitwear
collection, which includes trend analysis, inspiration, colour
palette, selection of yarns, selection of knitting structure,
manufacturing process.
1.4 Scope of Study
In this project, the study on cats was mainly focused on certain
concerned features of domestic cat for the development of
creative knits with the feeling of cat.
The investigation carried out in this project was based on design
4
perspective and aesthetic purpose instead of scientific and
functional.
Considering the practical application of weft knitting and warp
knitting on knitwear production, this project would only focused
on investigating weft knits that would give the feeling of cat
integrated with different yarns and graphics. With the
availability of resources, for efficiency and more design
possibility in knitting experiment, electronic V-bed flat
machines were used to produce all the knitting samples in this
project.
1.5
Significance and contribution
The aim of this thesis is using cat as the inspiration, to
develop creative knits that would give the feeling of cat, in
aesthetic and creative way, by applying different yarns and
knitting structures. Besides the value in aesthetic and knitting
techniques application, with significant growing in the number of
cat owner and cat lovers worldwide, the commercial value of cat
inspired fashion should be relative high.
5
1.6
Structure of the Thesis
This thesis comprised of seven chapters.

Chapter one is for introducing the background, objective,
scope and methodology of this thesis.

Chapter two gives a comprehensive review on concentrated
areas of domestic cat.

Chapter three gives a comprehensive review on knitting
technology.

Chapter four covers the research methodology of the study.
Including the flow of research activities, sample development
and evaluation methods.

Chapter five gives a full demonstration of the knitting
samples and analyze on the results.

Chapter six is a case study to analyze and evaluate the
results of the study including the knitwear collection. The
findings are discussed in depth.

Chapter seven is the summarization of conclusion and
significance of the research limitation and recommendation on
further studies.
6
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW ON DOMESTIC CAT
7
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, before design development in the succeeding
chapter, desk research has been done to have better understand to
cat. To study cat is a really huge topic, and in depth genetic or
biological aspects of cat is not the concern of this project. So,
to reduce the area of the study to a manageable scale, only
chosen aspects of cat’s physical appearance are discussed here.
2.1
Introduction
Cat (Felis Catus) also known as domestic cat serves an important
role in human culture for a long history. The earliest human and
cat relationship could trace back to 9,500 years ago according to
archaeological evidence (Hartwell, 2001- 2009).Either serves as a
cult animal in ancient Egypt or treated as evil by the Western
Christianity in middle age until about 150 years ago, the role of
cat in human society was very ambivalent. With more understanding
about cats, in modern time, there has been a dramatic change in
human and cat relationship, especially in the western world and
cat has become one of the most popular pets in the world in the
8
past decades.
2.2 Body Form
Most cat breeds are not defined by coat colour or pattern and
many breeds share these attribute with each other. “Cats breeds
are more often differentiated by the characteristic shape of
their bodies and faces, and sometimes by the characteristic shape
of their bodies and faces, and sometimes by distinctive physical
characteristics such as taillessness or fold ears.” (Fogle, 2001,
p. 100)
“The Encyclopedia of the Cat” provided insights of different
breeds’ geographical origin from their bodies and faces shape.
2.2.1 Origins of Different body forms
Cold-Weather Cats
Fogle (2001) had the following descriptions
The heavies and most compact of domestic cats evolved through
natural
selection
in
cold
climates.
Many
of
these
“natural
breeds” have fairly large, rounded heads, moderately short, broad
9
muzzles, solid bodies with broad chests, sturdy legs and round
paws, and short to medium length, thick tails. They are in
essence, built to retain as much body heat as possible. (p. 100)
Semi-Foreign Breeds
Another group of cat which is lean but muscular are often called
“semi- foreign”. They have physical characteristics somewhere
between the muscular cats of northern Europe and the more sinuous
cats that developed in the warmer climates of Africa and Asia.
Example of the breeds are Turkish Angora and Russian Blue which
have slightly oval, slanted eyes set in moderately wedge-shaped
heads, slender but muscular legs, oval paws and long and, gently
tapering tails. (Fogle, 2001, p. 100)
Oriental Breeds
The oriental breeds are the most dramatically slender cats. Most
of them evolved in warm climates where losing excess body heat
was
much
more
important
than
retaining
it.
The
cats
have
developed maximum body surface area for their size in order to
10
get rid of excess heat--with large ears, wedge shaped heads
characterized with fine legs, slender bodies and long thin tails.
This conformation traditionally has oval, slanted eyes and the
Siamese is the most classic example.
However, there are arguments claiming that the Siamese is not
always look like this way, but due to the selective breeding
according to the Western stereotype of Oriental delicacy.
(Fogle, 2001, p. 101)
As suggested by some breed standards, ranging form two extremes,
body types of cats include cobby, semi-cobby, medium, foreign and
semi foreign. (Hartwell, n.d.)
2.2.2 Types of body forms
COBBY breeds should be compact, heavy-boned and well-muscled.
They have short, thick and strong legs with large paws. The
bodies are broad and deep-chested; and the shoulder and rump are
equally massive built. Tails should be short and thick. Face
shape should be round and on massive looking head with a broad
skull, full cheeks and a thick, short neck. In general, cobby
11
breeds have strong chins and short, broad noses and a "break"
between the eyes, examples are Persians and Exotics. (Hartwell,
n.d.) Obviously, cobby cats belong to cold-weather cats mention
above.
Figure 2.2.2 Cobby cat
SEMI-COBBY means a compact, muscular and heavy-boned cat that is
not as massively built as the cobby breeds, the exact boundary
between "cobby" and "semi-cobby" is hard to define. Example for
this category is the British Shorthairs that are less massively
built than Exotic Shorthairs. (Hartwell, n.d.)
MEDIUM essentially means neither cobby nor foreign in type. It is
closer to the "wild-type". Medium conformation cats have broad,
rounded heads and relativey well-developed cheeks. The muzzle is
squarish and medium-short. The body is medium length with medium
12
boning. The overall impression is of a rectangle. Larger medium
conformation breeds are described as rangy i.e. having a long
torso with long legs, but not disproportionately long-legged.
(Hartwell, n.d.)
Figure 2.2.2-2 Medium cat
SEMI-FOREIGN are less extreme in type than the modern Siamese
cats. The face is modified wedge i.e. slightly rounded, slightly
longer than it is wide and without flat planes. The nose is
straight and moderately long. There is less of a "bat-eared" look
and the muzzle is shorter. The cat is medium in length, but lithe
and graceful with long legs and is svelter and finer boned than
medium-built cats. Examples are Egyptian Maus, Burmese,
Abyssinians and Russians are semi-foreign in type (some
registries class Russians and Abyssinians as "foreign").(Hartwell,
n.d.)
13
Figure 2.2.2-3 Semi- foreign
FOREIGN is the body type of Siamese and related breeds. Long legs,
long, thin tail, long (tubular) body. Despite its svelteness, the
body must still be muscular. The muzzle is long and wedge shaped,
the eyes are slanted and the ears are large. The large ears and
long muzzle are taken to extremes in the Siamese and Oriental
breeds, but less so in Russians and Abyssinians (which other
registries class as "semi-foreign"). The tail is often described
as whippy. (Hartwell, n.d.)
Figure 2.2.2-4 Foreign
14
However, different cat registries have different opinions and
certain
cat
breeds
have
different
ways
of
development
in
different countries. There no uniform description and standard
for such categorization whether certain breeds are foreign/semiforeign or cobby/semi-cobby etc. (Hartwell, n.d.)
Also, in another standard, there is no medium type, instead there
are a type called “oriental” referring to the most elongated and
slender
body
type
extreme
and
a
type
referring simply large cats that are
called
“substantial”
not cobby or
rounded.
(Identifying cat body types, n.d.)
2.3
Head and face shape
Accordin to Fogle (2001),the cat has a short face compared with
other domestic animals. The most dramatic alternations are those
in the length of the head or muzzle.
15
Figure 2.3.1 Extreme Skull Shapes (Fogle, 2001)
Similar to body form, the shapes of head are divided into four
types among the tow extremes:
WEDGE
In modern foreign breeds ,this typical head shape could be found.
In this type of head, there is no jaw-line-break at the whiskers.
The skull is flat with the straight nose continued to the
forehead. Due to human breeding the shape become even more
exaggerated in the past few decades. In profile, the nose of this
16
type may look slightly arched and very long and narrow. Together
with the wide set bat-like ears; and form a long, lean triangle.
(Hartwell, 2009)
Figure 2.3.2 Wedge
MODIFIED WEDGE
This type of head shape is not as extreme as the wedge type. The
nose looks straight or slight indent in profile. “Modified wedges
are slightly rounded and without the flat planes or straight
lines found in modern Siamese-type cats.” (Hartwell, 2009)
17
ROUND
This kind of head shape is mainly referred to the Exotic and
Persian cat of which have short noses, broad skulls and rounded
cheeks. Between the muzzle and face there is an indentation. In
extreme case, for Persians, the nose may appear indented and the
brow may appear protrude. The ears are of round head cat is
relatively small and wide set. (Hartwell, 2009)
Figure 2.3.3 Round
MEDIUM OR INTERMEDIATE
Between the two extremes, this type refers to the normal head
shape of cat. All features are moderately position on the cats’
head, with a stop at the nose and whisker pads. (Hartwell, 2009)
18
2.4
Coat pattern
The coat patterns are one of the distinctive features people
would think of what talking about cat. The coat pattern of cat is
the natural camouflage of animal and reminds people of their wild
origin. Through selective breeding, more coat patterns appeared
and deviate from the disguise purpose, but “were no longer
dangerous once they choose to live with human” (Fogle, 2001,p.98).
Dominant Pattern: Tabby
According to Fogle (2001), there are four basis type of tabby
marking in cat: the classic or blotched; mackerel or striped;
ticked or Abyssinian; and spotted.
Classic or blotched
The distinguish feature of this pattern is swirls an circle on
the cat’s side, with a “butterfly” pattern across a cat’s
shoulder which lead into thick lines own the spine.
Figure 2.4-1 classic tabby
19
Mackerel or striped
The Mackerel Tabby pattern is defined by stripes instead of
swirls. This pattern does not have a "butterfly", but it does
have thinner spine lines than a Classic Tabby. The solid stripes
on the body go from the spine to the belly. (Lawrence, 2008)
Figure 2.4-2 Mackerel tabby
Ticked or Abyssinian
“Ticked tabbies are more subtle, clear markings are restricted to
head, legs and tail, and the body is softly flecked” (Fogle, 2001,
p.98); at other parts of the body each hair shaft there is
"bands" of light and dark color and only a even “salt and pepper”
pattern would be seen. (Lawrence, 2008) Abyssinian was the first
breed to spot this pattern. (Fogle, 2001)
20
Figure 2.4-3 Ticked Tabby
Spotted
The Spotted Tabby pattern has spots instead of lines (Lawrence,
2008) and is often combined with striped legs and tails. The
spotted pattern are formed when tabby stripes broke up. (Fogle,
2001) The spine lines will be spotted also. (Lawrence, 2008)
Figure 2.4-4 Spotted tabby
21
Patched
All of the tabby patterns above can also be combined with red
and/or cream to create a Patched Tabby. The patched tabby will
have splotches of red, or sometimes cream, scattered throughout
the tabby pattern. (Lawrence, 2008)
Figure 2.4-5 Patched
Subtle Shading
In subtle shading, color only appears on the first part of each
hair which is caused by an inhibitor gene and thus produces
subtle patterns that appear to change when a cat moves. (Fogle,
2001) There are a wide variety of subtle patterns, names like
“smoke”’,
“frosted”,
“Chinchillas”
and
“Cameos”
are
used
to
describe this shading effect on agouti coats and tipped coats.
(Fogle, 2001)
22
Colourpoint Patterns
Also with the gene that causes subtle shading on cat coat, colour
is restricted to the extremities; and colourpoint patterns are
created. Pointed cats are light on their bodies and darker on
their “points”, that is ear, feet, tail and nose. Pointing can
occur on any colour or pattern and Siamese cat is well known for
its clear pointed pattern.
Figure 2.4-6 Colourpoint Patterns
True colours
This refers to non-agouti, solid colour cats, research suggest a
relationship between tamability and non-agouti cats.
23
Accordind to Roger(2003) Augouti means:
Refers to more than one color distributed along the hair
shaft. Banded hairs of this type are termed agouti, and
they produce a ticked, or agouti, coat. Agouti is the
typical fur color found in many wild animals such as mice
squirrels and rabbits, and is thought to be important in
their crypticity (ability to blend into the background).
Figure 2.4-7 Agouti and non-agouti hair
2.5
Fur texture
The fur texture of cats could be divided into three types, namely
the rex, sphynx and smooth hair. Smooth hair the most common type
which includes both long and short hair length. The rex refers to
curly hair and occurs in only two major breeds. Sphynx is just
24
like hairless but actually the hair is very short and fine and
just like suede. (Reader's Digest Association, 1992)
Figure 2.5-1 Types of coats
2.6
Summary
Cat body form, head and face shape, coat pattern, fur texture are
studied in this chapter in details and ideas for the research and
design development was raised and brought to the succeeding
chapters.
25
Chapter 3
Literature Review on Knitting
26
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, study is mainly focused on flat knitting V-bed
flat
machine,
availability
considering
of
resources
its
which
highly
versatile
enable
more
nature
and
possibility
in
experimental knitting design.
Basic
principles
and
characteristics
concerning
about
weft
knitting were studied and compared for the succeeding research in
knitting design; technical and mechanical details are outside the
scope of this study.
3.1 Knitting material: Fibre
Fiber content is one major consideration in knitwear design, as
it
would
functional
have
great
influence
performance,
the
on
a
surface
garment,
for
appearance,
examples:
hand
feel,
garment shape and production cost.
Fibre is the raw material for textile manufacturing of which is
spun in to yarn (Spencer, 2001). In modern knitwear manufacture,
there are two main groups of fibre: natural and man-made fibre.
(Ng, 2009)
27
According to Spencer (2001) two configurations of fibres are used
to spin into yarns that are the staple fibres and filament fibres.
Stable fibre for example, wool and cotton, is comparatively short
in length, spinning and twisting are needed to make them form
into yarns and to provide suitable
length and strength
for
knitting. Filament fibre is a fibre of indefinite length, suck as
silk, a natural filament needs to combine with other filaments
with twist to produce bulk.
3.1.2 Natural Fibres
In Textile Terms and Definition (2002, p.129) natural fibre
refers to fibres that occurs in nature which are found in three
sectors of in nature world—animal, vegetable and mineral.
Vegetable fibres
Vegetable
fibres
are
generally
comprised
of
cellulose,
for
example: cotton, linen, flax, ramie and hemp.
28
Animal fibres
Animal fibres are based on proteins, including hair-like fibre
like
wool,
cashmere,
mohair
and
angora;
silk,
produced
as
filaments (Ng, 2009)
3.1.3 Man-made fibres
According to “Contemporary Knitwear Handbook” (2009, p.8), manmade fibres are generated by man, from something that was not
previously in suitable fibrous form.
Man made fibres can be subdivided into regenerated and synthetic
fibre. Most of the man-made fibres
are made from
synthetic
materials like petrochemicals; and regenerated fibres are made of
natural cellulose, such as rayon and modal, the two types of
cellulose-based fibres are regenerated or pure cellulose.
3.2 Knitting material: Yarn
Yarn is one the key design elements in knitwear design, a proper
choice of yarn would definitely add value to the garment; and
would give many design possibility when matching with different
29
knitting stitches.
Yarn
is
defined
as
“an
assembly
of
substantial
length
and
relatively small cross-section, of fibres or filaments, with or
without twsit.” (Spencer, 2001) Yarns are classified into staple
spun yarn and filament yarn. Staple spun yarn is assembled by
relatively short fibres and filament yarn is a group of endless
parallel continuous filaments. Assorted types of yarns are as
follows:
Ply yarn, folded yarn
Fold yarn is defined as a “yarn in which two or more snigle yarns
are combined by a single twisting operation.” (BISFA, 2006) Also,
it could be in two-ply, three-ply or more. (Ng, 2009)
Cable yarn, cord yarn
Cable yarn is formed by two or more plied yarns twisted together.
(Ng, 2009) It is also know as cord yarn, but specifically refer
to those with certain industrial use.
30
Roving Yarn
Roving yarn refers to “Loose assemblage of fibres drawn or rubbed
into a yarn of single strad, with very little tist.” (Ng, 2009,
p.78)
Novelty Yarn, fancy yarn, effect yarn
Fancy yarns present irregular effect that makes it contrast from
normal construction of singles and folded yarns. Typically, these
involve at least one or two normal yarns twisted together to
obtain a special effect. (Raz, 1993)
In this project, different types of yarn would be used for
experiment in order to explore the design possibility of yarn,
mainly in the aesthetic way and their application with different
stitches.
31
3.3 Flat Machines
There are two types of flat bed machines, one is the single bed
flat machine for special purpose and one is the widely used V-bed
flat machine.
3.3.1 Single bed flat machine
On single bed flat machine, “latch needles are actuated by cams
mounted in a carriage transversed by hand. This is widely used in
knitting intarsia patterns.” (Ng, 2009, p. 107)
3.3.2 V-bed flat machine
On V- bed flat machine, there are two rib gated, diagonallyapproaching needle beds which are set at between 90 and 104
degrees to each other and give an inverted V-shape appearance.
(Spencer, 2001) The latch needles are operated by cams in a
reciprocating carriage. Machines are built with E1 1/2 – E18,
from a few centimeters to 205centimeters. (Ng, 2009)
V-bed flat machine is one of the most versatile machines in the
knitwear
industry.
Especially
the
hand
operated
type;
the
32
inexpensive machines are widely used in developing countries
around the world. (Ng, 2009)
For electronic flat machine, as the pattern scope available is
almost
unlimited,
considerable
numbers
are
used
for
the
production of patterned fabrics and garment panels and some
models are able to knit in full fashioning. (Ng, 2009)
3.4 Knitting structure
Knitting structure is essential for a yarn to form into a fabric.
The manipulation of knitting structures could give very different
results in the fabric performance and appearance. It is the key
area that design could take place in knitting and provides so
many interesting possibilities to knitwear.
3.4.1 Knitted loop structure
In a knitted structure, the interdependence of knitted loops are
set in rows and columns called ‘courses’ and ‘wales’, roughly
equivalent to the warp and weft of woven structures.
33
A course
According
to
Ng
(2009),
“the
loops
that
are
interconnected
widthwise are known as course.” More specifically, “in weft
knitted
fabrics
(with
the
exception
of
structures
such
as
jacquard, intarsia and warp insertion), a course of loops is
composed of a single length of yarn termed a course length.”
(Spencer, 2001)Two courses could be called as a cycle or a
transverse in knitting.
Figure 3.4.1-1 A course
A pattern row
Spenser stated that a pattern row is a horizontal row of needle
loops produced by adjacent needles in one needle bed. This is the
same as a course in a plain knitted fabric, but in more complex
fabrics a pattern row may be composed of two or more course
lengths.
34
A wale
According to Spencer (2001),”a wale is a predominantly vertical
column of intermeshed needle loops”. It is usually produced by
the same needle knitting at successive knitting cycles. A wale
commences as soon as an empty needle starts to knit. When loop
transfer occurs it is possible to transfer a wale of loops from
one needle to another and to recommence knitting with the second
needle, i.e. a wale could be produced by intermesh loops by more
than one needle.
Figure 3.4.1-2 A Wale
35
3.4.2 Basic knit structures
I. Knit stitch
There are two different faces in this basic loop according to it
relative position of the producing needle and fabric. The face
loop is produced by needles in the front needle bed and shows the
arms of the curved formation, namely technical face in garment
manufactory. The back loop is produced by needles on the back
needle bed and disclosed the arcs of the top and the root of the
knitting
structure.
The
standard
loop
has
normally
more
elongation in crosswise and less elongation in lengthwise. (Raz,
1991)
Figure 3.4.2-1 Technical face of knit stitch (Left)
Figure 3.4.2-2 Technical back of knit stitch (Right)
II. Tuck stitch
Tuck stitch means an elongated loop that is created when a new
36
yarn is taken on by the needle without casting off the old
loop.(Ng, 2009) The tuck loops can be used to produce color
patterns
to
create
open
work
or
see-through
effects,
raise
surface effects and to make the fabric ladder resistant. Similar
to miss stitch, the deformed stretch loop, rob some yarn form the
adjacent loops and thus reduces their
size. Tuck stitch
is
featured in the tucked yarn is placed behind the stretched face
loop. (Raz, 1993, p.86-87)
Figure 3.4.2-3 Tuck stitch
Figure 3.4.2-4 Applications of tuck stitch
III. Miss stitch:
37
Miss stitch is also noticed as “float” or “welt” stitch for
another variation of the basic loop structure. Miss stitch is
created when a needle is inactive. That means no new stitch is
formed at the needle by skipping yarn over the wale of the
abutting needle during the production sequence. (Raz, 1993) Miss
loop presents a similar appearance and characteristics with tuck
loop, however, the miss loops cannot be seen from the technical
face side of the fabric, and cannot be formed alone into a fabric
without knitted loops. This unique character enables miss stitch
to form the basic element for jacquard fabric (Yue, 1995).
Figure 3.4.2-5 Miss stitch on front side (left)
Figure 3.4.2-6 Miss stitch no back side (right)
IV. Transferred stitch:
38
Transferred stitch the result of mechanically taking a loop from
the front needle bed and placing it on a needle in the rear bed
or vice versa. Special textural effects can be formed with the
operation of transferred stitch, such as cable stitch. (Raz, 1993,
p.98)
Figure 3.4.2-7 Transfer stitch
Figure 3.4.2-8 Application of transfer stitch
V. Newly formed loop
This type of loop is the derivation of the previous stitch. A
newly formed loop is composed by the combination of two changes
in structure. First, a loop is transferred from a needle to an
39
adjacent needle and leaves the delivering needle empty. Then, the
empty needle continue to knitting without loop formed inside the
needle, an a tuck-like formation is formed. A hole will then
appear no the fabric. (Raz,1993, P.106-107)
Figure 3.4.2-9 The newly formed loop
VI. Dropped stitch
Dropped stitch is usually the result of knitting failures. When a
stitch is dropped accidentally and cause laddering on the fabric.
Dropped stitch may causes a dramatically increase in fabric size
when yarns stored in the dropped stitch migrates to the adjacent
loops. However, special textural patterns and effects can be
created by dropped stitch with controlled procedure. (Raz, 1993)
40
Figure 3.4.2-10 Drop stitch
A controlled procedure starts with an empty needle joining the
production to form a new wale. The needle will be driven into a
clearing position when no yarn carrier is present to supply new
yarn after certain knitting cycles is done. It is very important
to knock over its loop by casting off needle. A secure ladder
effect is finished when
the loops
in this
wale dropped
in
succession and ladder stopped at the end of the newly formed wale.
(Raz, 1993)
3.5 Coloured stitch design in weft knitting
For
kntwear
design
at
the
knitting
stage,
besides
making
different surface effect like the traditional cables or creative
novelty stitches, it is also possible to create coloured effects
41
completely by knitting. According to Spencer (2001), there are
four techniques to get coloured effects by knitting, which are
horizontal striping, intarsia, plating, and individual jacquard
stitch selection. Since these methods might
be used in
the
succeeding design development, details are studied as follows:
3.5.1 Horizontal striping
Horizontal striping is the easiest way to obtain colored effect
by knitting stitch. It is just the change of different coloured
yarns at different course. When knitting on flat be machines, it
“involves the use of different yarn carriers working across the
full knitting width.” (Ng, 2009, p.116) and “yarn carrier changes
can take place during the pause in knitting on completion of each
traverse.” (Spencer, 2001, p.101)
Figure 3.5.1 A knitted fabric with horizontal striping
42
3.5.2 Plating
According to Ng (2009), plating is “the controlled knitting of
two similar loops within the same stitch and each yarn takes up a
definite
position
(front
and
rear)
within
the
stitch.”
The
coloured effect is obtained by using two different colored yarn
or yarns in different luster or composition. “The main yarn will
appear on the front (plain) side of the fabic and the plating
yarn will appear on the reverse (purl) side of the fabric.” (Ng,
2009 p.116) Compared to jacquard knit and miss needle selection
of colored stitches, the colour choice offer by plating technique
is very limited and great precision is required; and the colour
definition is poor. (Spencer, 2001)However, the poor definition
problem
caused
by
the
revealing
of
plating
yarn
could
be
considered as a design element.
Figure 3.5.2 Diagram showing the yarn positions in plating
technique
43
3.5.3 Intarsia
The name intarsia is derived from Italian, meaning inlay; in
knitting it refers to motif design in stitch and/ colour. On a
plain, rib or purl knitted fabric, containing designs in two or
more colours within the same course. Each area of colour is
knitted from a separated yarn, which is contained entirely in the
area. (Ng, 2009)
According
to
Spencer
(2001),there
is difference
in
the
appearance and knitting techniques between intarsia knitted
by
hand-manipulated
machines
and
automatic
electronic
mahines:
Only on a hand-manipulated flat machine with hand-feeding of
the yarn can a pure join of adjoining areas be achieved. As
the edge yarn of an area rises to the next course, it
crosses over and links to the edge yarn of the adjacent
colour area.
Most automatic methods of knitting intarsia entail some way
of overlapping (encroachment) of adjoining areas into each
other, towards the right at one course and towards the left
44
at the next. A slight saw-tooth effect across one, two, or
more wales is thus produced at the join, which should be
kept to a minimum, and the plating of knitted or tuck loops
can be employed.
The advantage of intarsia is that there is no adverse effect on
the physical properties of the structure such as reduction of
extensibility.
Also,
it
ensures
expensive
yarns
are
fully
utilized on the surface of a design. Geometric designs (e.g.
argyles) and designs in large area are more suitable for using
this method, because the knitting time is comparatively slow,
expensive and specialized technique is need on hand knitting
machines which is a drawback to the whims of fashion. (Spenser,
2001)
But nowadays, with the sophisticatedly developed V-bed computer
knitting machines, intarsia knitting is relatively easy and is
just added to machines as one of the multiple functions.
45
3.5.4 Jacquard
Jacquard refers to design in colour. For knitting in jacquard,
needles making the face of the fabric are selected to knit and
miss. In one course (pattern course)of a two color jacquard
design, two knitting courses are required—“the face needles that
miss at the first course knit at the second, and those that knit
at the first role miss at the second, which produces one row of
design in two colours.”(Ng, 2009) The number of technical course
in a row of pattern course depends on the number of colour
required in each course of the design pattern. Thus, the more the
colour in a design row, the lower the rate of productivity in
design rows per machine traverse.
3.5.4.1 Single-jersey jacquard (float jacquard, Fair Isle)
Single-jersey jacquard in knit and miss stitches produces a clear
stitch definition exemplified by Fair Isle designs in knitwear.
The float yarns caused by miss stitches would hinder the lateral
extensibility on knit. (Ng, 2009, p.140)
46
Figure 3.5.4.1-1 A Fair Isle cardigan by Paul Smith
Figure 3.5.4.1-2 Example of Single jersey jacquard
Accordion
Accordion is a technique to tie in the long floating yarn at the
back
of
single-jersey
jacquard.
Since
single-jersey
is
only
knitted on one needle bed, long float yarns were created at the
back side by the needles that are selected to miss and cause
snagging problem. The principle of the technique is to clear
specific needles to tuck and use the tuck (Ng, 2009), to hold the
47
float yarns in place at the back side. The surface performance of
the fabric is thus improved.
Figure 3.5.4.1-3 Example of Accordion Fabric
3.4.5.2 Double jacquard
In rib jacquard, one set of needles knits the backing loops to
overcome the problem of float yarns as in single jacquard. There
are various types of rib jacquard and they are named according to
the backing method. (Ng, 2009) Different backing methods would
lead to different surface appearance and fabric property. Some
commonly used methods are:
Figure 3.4.5.2-1 Double jacquard pattern
48
The original two colour hound’s tooth
check pattern in
the
following double jacquard samples
a. Horizontally striped backing
“This type of backing ensures that the maximum yarn floats are
only across one needle space and there is thus little loss of
lateral extensibility – a prerequisite for garment-length and
hosiery structures.” (Spencer, 2001)
Figure 3.4.5.2-2 Horizontally striped backing- front (Left)
Figure 3.4.5.2-3 Horizontally striped backing- back (Right)
b. Vertically striped backing
According Spencer (2001), “on flat machines, it is possible to
select only certain needles to remain in action to knit the
backing; for example, 1 in 3 or 1 in 5. This is termed ladder
backing. The backing needles virtually chain knit the floating
49
threads in the back of the fabric. This produces a lighter fabric
but there is less connection between the design and the backing
sides of the fabric.”
c. Birds eye backing / twill backing
Bird’s eye or twill backing is preferred in double jacquard.
Since this is a more balanced and stable structure. At the
backing side, it is a pleasing mixture of yarn colour. It is
achieved by “knitting the backing on alternate needles only and
arranging for each colour to be knitted by odd backing needles at
one feed and even needles at the next.” (Spencer, 2001) Usually,
three is the optimum number of colour. However, the fabric would
become relatively thick and stiff; result in a lost of the
softness and drapability. The thickness and weight also indicates
more yarn consumption.
50
Figure 3.4.5.2-4 Birds eye backing-front (Left)
Figure 3.4.5.2-5Birds eye backind-back (Right)
d. Reversible Jacquard (Tubular Jacquard)
The appearance on both front and back are the same. Special
effect could be produced by using different type of yarns, for
example elastic yarn with normal yarn.
Figure 3.4.5.2-6 Reversible jacquard-front (Left)
Figure 3.4.5.2-7 Reversible jacquard-back (Right)
51
3.6 Summary
In this chapter the fundamental knowledge of weft knitting has
been
introduced
studied
in
and
depth.
colour
These
stitch
concepts
design
would
methods
be
have
brought
to
been
the
succeeding research activities.
52
CHAPTER 4
METHODOLOGY
53
INTRODUCTION
In order to achieve the objectives of this project, a procedure
of research activities was designed as follow:
Literature Review Design Development (knit samples)
Evaluation Application (case study) Conclusion
4.1 Literature Review
First of all, an exploratory research comprised of desk research
on literature and internet was carried out to collect secondary
data. Concerned features about cat and knitting design elements
have
been
traced
out
in
the
literature
review.
Through
exploratory research, design ideas have been given raised.
4.2 Quantitative Research
The succeeding step after literature review was experimented on
knitting. The focus was on creating knitted fabrics that could
achieve the feeling of cats with creative usage on knitting
elements. Mixtures and various combinations of different types of
yarns and knitting methods, with graphics designed for jacquard
54
were
brought
to
the
knitting
experiments.
Evaluation
and
development have been carried out during the experimental process.
4.3 Qualitative Research
Evaluation on the knitting samples have been carried out to
assess the aspects of aesthetic and practicability. Aesthetic
aspect was subdivided in to color and appearance and see if the
samples
could
evaluation
give
aspect
the
was
feeling
of
subdivided
cat.
to
For
hand
practicability,
feel,
texture,
drapability and wearability etc.
4.4 Case Study
In application part, knitting samples have been chosen and/or
redeveloped to create a knitwear collection. A case study has
been taken place during the whole development process of the
collection, including trend analysis, inspiration, colour palette,
selection
of
manufacturing
yarns,
selection
process.Finally,
at
of
knitting
the
conclusion
structure,
part,
an
integrated analysis was derived based on the whole project.
55
CHAPTER 5
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
56
5.1 Introduction
During the design development process, inspirations from cat are
actualized into fabric pieces thorough knitting. Yarn type, fiber
content, stitch structure, machine gauge and colour were taken
into consideration on how to incorporate with the design ideas
before
knitting.
The
fabric
samples
are
then
evaluated
subjectively by the writer regarding to aesthetic value and
practical aspects. The purpose of the experiments was to obtain
more
sophisticated
designs
and
production
knowledge
for
the
employed to create
the
knitwear collection development in succeeding chapter.
5.2 Knitting method for developing knitting samples
A range of knitting techniques were
samples,
including
intarsia,
single-jersey
jacquard,
double
jersey jacquard in birds eye backing, links, ottoman and partial
knit.
The choice of knitting techniques was also based on aesthetic
value and practical performance.
57
5.3 The electronic knitting machines
Only electronic flat knitting machines were employed in knitting
the experimental sample, for improving the efficiency of the
knitting
procedure
and
obtaining
more
possibilities
for
the
knitting techniques stated above. The electronic machines are
manufactured
by
two
major
electronic
knitting
machine
manufacturers, Shima Seiki Mfg., Ltd. and H. Stoll GmbH & Co. The
type of the Shima Seiki machine is SES122-S in gauge 12; and the
Stoll machine type is CMS 822 in gauge 14 and CMS 530 in 7 gauge.
5.4 Knitting Materials
At this stage, all kinds of knitting yarns could be used to
explore for more design possibilities, considering the major
direction of this project is to produce the feeling of cat, so
the yarns that are hairy, soft, shimmer or with other features
that could go with the theme was chosen.
58
5.5 Procedure of knitting
Three knitting machines from different manufacturers were used in
the experiments and all of the intarsia and jacquard knitting
samples are knitted by using the Stoll machine. Thus, there are
two sets of knitting procedures. The outlines are as follows:
Knitting procedures with the Shima Seiki SES122-S computerized
flat knitting machine:
1. First, designs were developed with the aid of Shima Seiki
SDS-ONE
CAD
workstation,
including
a
control
panel
and
drawing pad.
2. After finishing a knitting sample design, a knitting program
was generated by using the SDS-ONE software and exported to a
floppy disk.
3. Then, the floppy disk was inserted to the SES122-S flat
knitting machine, to read in the knitting program.
4. Stitch
tension
was
adjusted
at
the
machine
computer
if
necessary, regarding to the properties of the yarn used and
structure of the stitch designed.
5. The machine knitting process was then started.
59
Knitting
procedures
with
the
Stoll
CMS
822
and
CMS
530
computerized flat knitting machine:
1. For knitting jacquard or intarsia, graphic or picture in
bitmap (bmp.) form was required to prepare beforehand.
2. The bitmap image was imported to Stoll M1 system which is the
CAD
knitting
software
developed by
Stoll. Then,
use
the
software to eliminate the number of colours in the image to
suit the limitations of jacquard or intarsia knitting.
3. The
image
was
then
turned
into
knitting
structures
and
further development could be carried out in M1, like drawing
or filling in stitches.
4. After finish, for knitting jacquard, the desirable backing
method for the sample was chosen in the system.
5. The machine takedown tension or other settings were adjusted
before running the program.
6. The knitting program in M1 system was run to check for error
and export to a USB flash drive.
7. The USB flash drive was inserted to Stoll CMS 822 flat
knitting machine to read in the knitting program.
60
8. The machine knitting process was then started.
5.6 Inspiration, knitted swatches and evaluation
5.6.1 Experiment 1 Yarn and stitch relationship
Inspiration:
a) The mackerel tabby coat pattern
Figure 5.6.1-1 A feral mackerel tabby that live near the home of
the writer
b) The ottoman knitting swatch knitted by the writer during
knitwear design and technology class. The zigzag lines on the
ottoman stitch looks similar to the mackerel pattern.
61
Figure 5.6.1-2 Ottoman stitch, front and back view
Experiment:
The ottoman stitch was further developed during the experiment
with various knitting structure, knitting yarn and in different
gauge.
Ottoman stitch
Ng (2009) states that ottoman stitch is:
A welt made on a rib basis; one set of needles knits
continuously to form the face, while the other set of needle
is selected to either knit or miss. This procedure throws
out rolls or ripples on the face. (Ng, 2009, p. 127)
Four fabrics was knitted with ottoman structure, swatch 1a and 1b
are in same yarn and gauge, a silk and cotton blend fibre was
used for its subtle luster, mohair and polyamide blend for the
hariyness, and virgin wool blend for the softness.
62
Table 5.6.1-1 Knitted fabrics in ottoman stitch
Sample
1a
Yarn
Color
Machine
Content
model
40% Silk, white
Shima
60%
Seiki
merino
ses-122 s
Gauge
12
wool
Figure 5.6-3 Front View
Figure 5.6-4 Back View
1b
40% Silk, white
Shima
60%
Seiki
merino
ses-122 s
12
wool
Figure 5.6-5 Front View
63
Figure 5.6-6 Back View
1c
40%
Mohair,
Camel
Stoll CMS 7
530
60%
Polyamide
Figure 5.6-7 Front View
Figure 5.6-8 Back View
64
1d
80%
Beige
virgin
Stoll CMS 7
530
wool, 20%
polyamide
Figure 5.6-9 Front View
Figure 5.6-10 Back View
Evaluation:
Aesthetically speaking, the width, size and the distribution of
each ottoman stitch unit affect the appearance the most.
In
sample 1a the stitch units are too close and uniform can fail the
give a feeling of the mackerel pattern while in sample 1b the
stitch unit size and allocation have been modified. Sample 1c is
knitted in a different machine in E7, with a hairy beige colored
yarn; it gives the best imitation of tabby pattern among the four.
In
sample
1d
the stitch
units
are too
lean and
long,
the
65
distribution is too uniform and the result is not very desirable.
However, the sample could still be used in other ways. Also, in
machine gauge 7, the ottoman effect is more protrude.
Practically, the hand feel of all four samples are good due to
the usage of good quality yarn with fibre contents like cashmere,
silk and virgin wool. However to production cost would be higher.
Knitting the ottoman is relatively time consuming as extra wales
are added to knit the protruding part.
5.6.2 Experiment 2 Yarn and stitch relationship
Inspiration:
The inspiration of experiment 2 comes from an partial knit fabric
knitted in knitwear technology class. It feels like touching the
cats fur in reverse direction.
Figure 5.6.2-1 Samples by using partial knitting technique
66
Experiment:

Materials: i. 20% cashmere, 40%wool and 40% polyamide blend
ii.60% wool, 10% cashmere and 30%polyamide blend

Knitting machine and gauge: Stoll CMS 530/ E7

Knitting techniques: Partial knit
The same knitting structures are knitted in two different types
of yarn, which have different fiber content and apperance.
Figure 5.6.2-2 Samples of partial knit in the experiment a
Figure 5.6.2-3 Samples of partial knit in the experiment b
67
Figure 5.6.2-4 Samples of partial knit in the experiment side
view
Evaluation:
Aesthetically, in experiment sample a) yarn no.2 was used which
is a texture yarn with tiny knots on it, it provided a more
interesting surface no the knitting piece. In sample b) the yarn
is more thick and hairy and produced a compact piece of fabric.
Practically, in the same stitch both yarns provided good hand
feels and appearance in different ways, both could be applied to
the final collection.
Besides, when lay the samples flat on the table , a C shape was
formed, and it could be applied in a more creative way.
68
5.6.3 Experiment 3 Yarn and jacquard
Inspiration:
This experiment was inspired by the tabby patterns and their
colour combinations.
Figure 5.6.3-1 Tabby patterns
Instead of directly knitting a jacquard or intarsia fabric, the
writer would like to give a burn out effect to the fabric which
she got inspired by a previous textile design work.
69
Figure 5.6.3-2 A burn out fabric by the writer
Experiment:

Materials: The transparent yarn and a shimmer fancy yarn

Knitting machine and gauge: Stoll CMS 822/ E14

Knitting techniques: Single jersey jacquard and accordion
A classic tabby pattern graphic was
prepared for the
Stoll
knitting machine CAD system M1.
Figure 5.6.3-3 Tabby pattern
70
To obtain the burn out effect directly in knitting, transparent
yarn was used in this experiment. Two strands of transparent yarn
were needed as one, since the yarn is inelastic and would broke
easily if only one strand is used.
For the coloured yarn, a fancy yarn in beige color with hairy and
shimmering effect was used to get the feeling of cat coat.
Figure 5.6.3-4 Transparent yarn (Left) and the shimmering yarn
(Right)
The use single jersey jacquard would result in a long float yarn
at
the
back
side
of
the
fabric
(the
fancy
yarn
in
this
experiment), to prevent snagging, tucks were added between each
four stitch to tie in the long float yarn. This method is called
accordion.
71
The machine was set at a very low speed to avoid yarn breakage
due to the transparent yarn.
The knitting sample made in this experiment:
Figure 5.6.3-5 Front view
Figure 5.6.3-6 Back view
72
Figure 5.6.3-7 Fabric view against the sunlight
Evaluation:
Speaking
of
aesthetic
value,
the
transparent
yarn
has
successfully created a burn out effect in a neat and tidy way,
and the fancy yarn also gives the hairy and shimmer feeling of
cat coat. The two yarns that were chosen definitely add value to
the tabby pattern jacquard and the result is satisfactory.
Concerning about practical value, by using knitting technique to
create burn out effect, the process seems to be more easy and
effective than using chemical and the fibre content was not
constrained. However, the limitation was that the transparent
yarn is not any easy material to knit; materials would be wasted
due to yarn breakage and would lower the efficiency of production.
The hand feel of the sample was acceptable after steaming, but a
bit scratchy due to the floating transparent yarn at the back.
73
5.6.4 Experiment 4 Intarsia and stitch combination
Inspiration:
The inspiration is to test the effect of filling stitch into a
colour area of intarsia knit.
Experiment:

Materials: 100% Acrylic

Knitting machine and gauge: Stoll CMS 822/ E14

Knitting techniques: Intarsia, moss stitch
An image with three cubes was drawn with, simply, the little
painter.
Considering the limited number of yarn feeder on the knitting
machine,
the
cubes
were
aligned
vertically
instead
of
horizontally, for aesthetic reason the alignment was in diagonal
way.
To create texture effects moss stitch was added to different
colour areas on the cubes.
Tucks were added to tie in the float yarn at the end of each
color area.
74
Samples developed by intarsia and stitch filling:
Figure 5.6.4-1 Front and back view of the intarsia sample
Evaluation:
Aesthetically, the moss stitch created an unexpected interesting
effect on the cube and makes it look like popping up from the
fabric. The electronic machine function was fully utilized in the
design. The definition of the cubes was sharp and clear to show
the original design.
In practical, the 100% acrylic yarn could be changed to some
softer or shimmer yarns for better hand feel and to coherent with
‘cat’, like merino wool. However, fancy yarn and hairy yarn might
not be suitable for the tiny moss stitch as the texture of the
stitch might be covered due to the hairiness. Further experiment
is needed before application.
75
5.6.5 Experiment 5 Birds’ eye jacquard
Inspiration:
Cat is a born to be predator and it is good at hiding in bush,
grass and wait for the preys. The style was inspired by a Henri
Rousseau’s painting. To test the jacquard backing method, an
image with similar style was adopted from the internet, before
further developing my own design.
Figure 5.6.5-1 Cat hiding in the bush by the writer
76
Figure 5.6.5-2 A painting by Henri Rousseau
Figure 5.6.5-3 An Art Noveau style picture (retrieved from
www.wellspringtextiles.com/nasturtium.html)
77
Experiment:

Materials: 100% Acrylic in four colour: beige , green, yellow
green and black

Knitting machine and gauge: Stoll CMS 822/ E14

Knitting techniques: Birds’ eye backing jacquard
Details refer to the knitting procedure on Stoll machine.
Sample of bird’s eye backing four color jacquard:
Figure 5.6.5-4 Birds’ eye backing jacquard front and back view
Evaluation:
Aesthetically the birds’ eye backing method is very suitable for
this
kind
appropriate
of
image,
details,
originally
with
with
appropriate
clear
colour
definition
and
combination,
it
could even product a visual depth to the fabric.
However, considering the practical usage of birds’ eye backing
78
jacquard, there is a great limited in the choice of colour. In
the experiment, the number of colour was already limited to four,
but the fabric is still very thick and stiff like a carpet, even
after steaming and washing, it only softened a bit. The choice
yarns should be more soft and light weight, but the thickness
could not be reduced in this backing method. Also, the use of
extra yarns for jacquard backings imposes higher production cost.
5.6.6 Experiment 6 Jacquard with intarsia
Inspiration:
The black and white cat gives an impression of that the cat is
wearing a tuxedo. In the design, the black coat was substitute by
the mackerel tabby.
Figure 5.6.6-1 A tuxedo cat
79

Materials: 100% Acrylic in brown and black, 30% cashmere and
70% silk in white; with the fancy yarn the same as in
experiment 3

Knitting machine and gauge: Stoll CMS 822/ E14

Knitting techniques: Intarsia with bird’s eye jacquard
Considering the limitation of color area in wale direction of
intarsia, and the undesirable thickness by birds’ eye jacquard
backing method; the two knitting methods are combined together.
The adjustment was made entirely in the M1 system.
Figure 5.6.6-2 A tuxedo cat
Evaluation:
Aesthetically,
the
birds’
eye
knitting
method
can
fully
demonstrate the original feeling of the cat graphic drew by the
writer. However, the white yarn is finer than the other yarns and
80
thus unable to fully cover the backing stitches, unwanted colours
were revealed. At the connection area between the tail and the
body, is also the connection place between intarsia and jacquard,
and a course of black stitch is chopping the tail from the body
which is not desirable.
Practically
speaking,
the
method
successfully
reduces
the
thickness of the fabric, but is only suitable for a single image
like the design here. The hand feel at the graphic areas is still
thick and stiff. Yarns should be chose carefully with the same
count to reduce the revealing of backing stitches.
5.6
Summary
This is a valuable chapter to find out some potential problems
that
would
occur
in
knitwear
manufacturing,
as
well
as
possibilities for interesting design, regard to the theme, cat.
The knitting methods used in this chapter would be modified and
used in the succeeding research.
81
Chapter 6
Case study:
Knitwear collection development
82
INTRODUCTION
The aim of this chapter is to present in details of the
development process of ‘cat’ inspired knits: started from trend
analysis, inspiration, choosing color, choosing yarn, selection
of knitting structure, garment production for the collection and
to a collection portfolio.
6.1 Introduction
This is a 2010/2011 fall/winter collection; three outfits were
design and manufactured for the theme: cat. The purpose of this
collection is to explore the possibilities of apply cat elements
in knitwear, base on the previous findings in this study, trend
analysis and further development.
6.2 Trend analysis
Before the development on the garments, the fashion trends for
Fall/Winter 2011 have been studied, through the Peclers trend
books, WGSN trend analysis website and by visiting trade shows
for yarn, the Pitti Filati in Florence and Spin Expo in Shanghai.
83
To gain insights for the fashion trends in mood, color,
silhouette, yarns and fabris.
From 2010-2011 fall/winter trend book (Peclers, 2010/2011), Wild
is one of the emerging trends for women’s wear, design elements
were taken from wildlife’s coat pattern, fur and leather.
Figure 6.2-1 Winter 2010-11 Trend, Women Fashion (Perclers,
2010/2011)
Figure 6.2-2 Winter 2010-11 Trend, Women Fashion (Perclers,
84
2010/2011)
A similar trend in knitwear was spotted by WGSN, showing some
animal
knits
in
funky
shapes
using
intarsia
and
jacquard
technique.
Cat is also in the trend and appears in graphic form.
Figure 6.2-3 Trend reports (WGSN)
Animal magic knitwear- trend report from WGSN (Left)
Trend flash! Cats- trend report from WGSN (Right)
According to fall/winter 2010/2011 trend book “Women Fashion
Update” Beige would be one of the key trend colors in coming
season.
85
Figure 6.2-4 Winter 2010-11 Trend of colours (Perclers, 2010/2011)
To interpret the findings, animal and the wild mood would be a
big trend in women’s wear in the coming season, but either in a
sophisticated way or in a playful manner, representative
materials are fur and leather.
Beige is now appeared in many fashion shows and it is great to
illuminate grey and black in the fashion collection. It could
goes with the color in cat coat.
86
6.3 Inspiration
Design Theme: Cat, Oh! Cat.
The collection is to celebrate the cat, an incredible creature
with elegant look and graceful movement, but wild at heart. A
good animal companion to human, but is completely capable to
survive on its own.
The collection is designed to capture the beautiful physical
attributes of cat and as well as its personality. The mood board
below is trying to illustrate such feeling.
Figure 6.3-1 The mood board drew by the writer.
87
6.4 Colour palette
The color palette of the collection comes from the colour of cat
coats, to give a direct association of cat to people.
Figure 6.4-1 Colour palette of the collection
6.5 Selection of materials
To reproduce the feeling of cat, the yarn for knitting should be
hairy to imitate cat’s coat, shimmer to represent the luster coat;
and soft to give the touch of cat.
In the collection cashmere, Lurex, merino wool, a shimmering
fancy yarn and transparent yarn were used.
100% Cashmere yarn is used for its softness and beautiful drape.
Lurex is used to imitate the luster of cat’s coat.
The shimmering fancy serves similar functions to the Lurex here,
but it also gives a hairy apperance.
100% Merino wool was used to replace the cashmere yarn for fine
gauge garments i.e. ≧ E16.
88
The transparent yarn is used to combine with the fancy yarn to
produce a novelty tabby cab pattern effect that was developed in
the previous experiment.
6.6 Selection of stitch structures
In the knitwear collection, various knitting structures was
applied in the designs:
Knitted cat graphics is knitted by intarsia method. Since the
luxury fibre, cashmere is used in the collection, it is a waste
to knit in jacquard, which is relatively thick and stiff, and
extra yarn is needed for backing. Thus, intarsia method is used
to retain the soft, light and drapy properties of cashmere yarn.
However, the workmanship is very heavy for the complicated
graphic.
Single jersey jacquard is used with accordion method, single
jersey jacquard method is used because the transparent effect is
more obvious; and accordion method is used to tuck in long
floating yarns at the backside.
Partial knitting is used to knit a C-shape sleeve, for extra
89
bulkiness.
The ottoman stitch developed in the experiment was used to
imitate the patterns on cat coat.
Besides basic stitches such as plain knit, tubular, rib, was also
used.
6.7 Portfolio Development
In this part, the design development and technical skills
development were being discussed and followed by the styling
development.
90
6.7.1 Design collection
Figure 6.7-1 Illustrations of the three outfits designed by the
writer
Production details and inspirations of the garments :
6.7.1.1 Outfit 1
In outfit one, the C-sleeve Intarsia sweater is matched with manmade leather (PVC) riffled skirt.
91
Figure 6.7.1.1-3 Top(Front)
Figure 6.7.1.1-2 Outfit 1
Figure 6.7.1.1-4 Top(Back)
The main body of the C-sleeve sweater is in 12 gauge, with a 7
gauge C shape sleeve. The cat graphic is intarsia knit by single
flat-bed hand knitting machine, with brown Lurex yarn and other
colours in cashmere. The cat’s shape belongs to the Cobby type of
a compact body, heavy bone and well muscled; and the coat pattern
on it belongs to the mackerel tabby type which means stripes. The
C sleeve is applied to imitate the heavy-boned cat. It is knitted
92
by using partial knitting method; the idea came from an
experimental sample in the previous part of this study. The
sleeve is knitted in coarser gauge for bulkier effect and makes
it less drapy.
6.7.1.2 Outfit 2
In outfit two there is an intarsia knitted hat with a “roll-up”
cat graphic; a scarf in ottoman stitch; a see-through effect
horizontal neckline single jersey jacquard sweater; and a pair of
dip-dyed drapy low crutch knitted pants.
93
Figure 6.7.1.2-6 Hat
Figure 6.7.1.2-7 Top
Figure 6.7.1.2-5
Outfit 2
Figure 6.7.1.2-8 Pants
The two coloured intarsia knitted hat is in 12 gauge and knitted
by single flat bed hand knitting machine. The inspiration comes
94
from the sleeping cat that rolls up its body. The see through
sweater is in 14 gauge, knitted by the Stoll electronic flat-bed
machine. The horizontal neckline is blinded of by the knitting
machine as no neck rib will be attached. The swatch was developed
in previous study, and a typical tabby cat pattern was used as
the jacquard pattern. The dip-dyed drapy low crutch knitted pants
is in 16 gauge plain knit; merino wool is used due to the
available of finer count. A tubular is knitted at the waistband
for putting through the waistband string. The single knit edge at
the waistband is leaved for curl up to create an interesting
effect after tightening the waistband string. Dip-dye is carried
out at home with black and brown fabric dyes, so as to add a
focusing point to the plain knit structure. The inspiration comes
from imitating the walking action of cats and the color point on
Siamese cat.
6.7.1.2 Outfit 3
Outfit three is a knitted cape with gradating ruffles at two
sides with a dip dyed knitted skirt in ottoman stitch.
95
Figure 6.7.1.2-2 Cape
Figure 6.7.1.2-1 Outfit
3
Figure 6.7.1.2-3 Skirt
The cape is in 7 gauge knitted by hand knitting flat machines,
small cable stitch on it to imitate the cat coat pattern as well
as the ruffles. It is decorated by horn buttons and tubular
strings at the center front. The 12 gauge dip dyed skirt in
ottoman stitch is knitted by Shima Seiki electronic flat knitting
machine and dip-dyed at home in brown colour.
96
6.7.2 Styling Development
In the final step of portfolio development, styling photos are
taken to present the mood and dressing method etc. of the
collection.
Props of three cardboard cats and a cat mask were used to
indicate the theme.
Figure 6.7.2-1 Styling photo of outfit 2 a
The outfit tends to look elegant without styling, to give the
“wild at heart” feeling of cat, a punk rock hair style and make
up is put no the model. Dr. Martens boots is also used to match
with the elegant elbow glove.
97
Figure 6.7.3-2 Styling photo of outfit 2 b
6.8 Summary
Base on previous findings and experiment, cat elements were
extracted, developed and applied the collection; and was
completely manufactured. With the generous sponsorship, the thick
and stiff birds’ eye backing jacquards were turned into hand
machine knitted intarsia and 100% cashmere tarns were used.
However, there are some constrains when it comes to manufacturing,
the lack of time, and electronic machines are two big concerns in
98
knitwear manufacturing if the methods derived from the
experiments need to be fully utilized, further discussions and
recommendations will be made in the next chapter.
99
Chapter 7
Conclusion
Limitations
Recommandations
100
7.1 Conclusion
Cat is one of the most popular animal companions to human in the
world. Nowadays, in many western countries, the number of pet
cats even exceeds the number of dogs owned by human. Cat’s
character and aesthetically pleasing appearance is so fascinating
to the modern humans.
In this thesis, the writer tried to get inspirations from the
popular animal and to apply the cat elements into a knitwear
collection. Since in the fashion industry, knitwear is also
becoming
more
and
more
popular
due
to
more
sophisticated
development of knitting machines and technology.
First, an intensive and concentrated desk research on domestic
cat’s physical appearance was conducted. Then, study of advanced
knitting technologies on yarn, fiber, knitting machines, knitting
structures and in depth research on knitting color designs was
carried out to consolidate the base of the project.
In the design development process, various knitting materials and
knitting techniques were brought to experiment incorporating with
inspirations form cat. The experimental process and results were
101
recorded and evaluated for further application in knitwear design.
A case study was
development
then conducted
process
of
a
to gain
fall/
winter
insights form
2010/2011
the
knitwear
collection. Possible and applicable techniques form the research
findings were applied to the collection, with the consideration
of
fashion
trend
and
available
knitting
techniques.
Further
experience and insights from the project will be discussed later
in this chapter.
7.2 Limitation
There
are
numerous
problems
encountered
during
the
research
process, and the limitations for this thesis are:
Lack of resources
In this project, all the knitting experiments were conducted on
computerised knitting machines, and a lot of time is required,
during the experiment process like trial and error on knitting
stitch, yarn and tension. However, there are only four machines
including both Shima Seiki and Stoll machines in the laboratory.
The machines are opened for all knitwear design students as well
102
as students from the technology stream in ITC, waiting for the
machines were usually the case in the knitting laboratory. The
number of experiments was limited and some possibilities in
design might not be yielded.
Limitation of knitting
Although there are many knitting techniques, yarns and even
surface treatments available for knitwear design, there are still
constrains caused by the nature of knitting, for example, drap is
one main property of knitting and structural designs might not be
easily achieved.
When knitting coloured designs, even there are various methods,
but each method contains different constrains, related to fabric
property and appearance, high skill requirement, high production
cost etc. All these impose limitations to a knitwear designer.
Limitations on manufacturing the collection
With
the
generous
sponsorship
from
the
industry
for
both
workmanship and material, however, there are still a lot of
103
constrains
in
manufacturing
the
garments.
Although
with
sophisticated development in computerised weft knitting machines,
hand manipulated flat machines are still the most widely used in
the knitwear industry. The experimental works in this project
might not be fully utilized or extra time was needed to produce
the garments in the knitting laboratory.
Lack of time
Lack of time is an equally serious problem. When doing desk
research, more in depth findings could be done if more time is
available. During the research process, there was not enough time
for trial and error experiments on the knitting machines. Besides,
there
is
insufficient
time
for
garment
manufacturing
and
correction, since the Luna New Year is relatively late in this
year and the pre-judge day was earlier than before. It is only
possible for most manufacturers to knit the collection garments
after the New Year holiday and it is also not very possible to
product knitwear garments by oneself as there are many other
workmanship requirements besides stitch structure. Thus, time was
104
really very limited.
7.3 Recommendation
Cat is good source of fashion design inspiration as there are a
lot of research data available. Also, with growing popularity as
an animal companion to human, cat related designs might have
significant commercial value besides aesthetic value. Approaches
in applying the cat elements to knitwear design could be further
developed and serve as reference for future studies.
Application
methods
of
the
experimental
results
should
be
creative and flexible, to tackle with potential constrains during
the research process.
Besides, during the experimental and manufacturing process, time
management is essential to the research. This could be improved
by better communication with the production staff, provided as
much reference as possible and communicate the design ideas
clearly to avoid mistakes that would lower production efficiency.
105
References
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5. Heath, S. (2001). Cat and kitten behaviour. London: Harper
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6. http://www.wgsn.com