What are the typical defects in knitted fabric inspection?
Following is a listing of some frequently occurring imperfections found in knitted fabric inspection. These fabric defects are usually caused by knitting machine malfunction, or may also be caused by yarn defects or improper fabric dyeing, printing or finishing.
Defects in knitted fabric inspection
Barre – streaks or bands in the fabric, caused by differences in yarn size, tension on yarns or fabric, colour, lustre or shrinkage, from one section of the cloth to the adjacent area. The bands are horizontal and are found only in weft knit fabrics.
Birdseye or Tucking Defect – unintentional tucking caused by a bent latch on the latch needle or by the needle not being raised to the proper height for the old loop then to be case off.
Boardy – very harsh or stiff hand, caused by stitches being too tight or yarn being too thick.
Bowing – design or line effect which curves across the fabric, distortion caused by the take-up mechanism of the knitting machine, or through malfunctions in tentering.
Broken Filaments or Yarn –this defect is self-explanatory, which means one or more filaments or yarns are broken.
Cockled Fabric – fabric puckers and does not lie flat; caused by uneven stitches or uneven yarn size.
Drop stitch – an unknitted stich, caused by a stich being too loose or the yarn carrier not being set properly.
Float – unwanted miss-stitch(es) caused by needle(s) not raised to receive a new yarn.
Needle Line – lengthwise marks or lines in the fabric resulting from a wale which is tighter or looser than the others. This is caused by a needle being tight in the slot or from a defective sinker.
Press-Off – large hole in the fabric, caused by a yarn breaking at a particular feed so knitting cannot occur.
Run or Ladder – a series of dropped stitches in a wale.
Skewing – design or line effect which is straight across in the fabric, but not perpendicular to the fabric edges.
Sleazy – term used to describe a flimsy or under-constructed knit fabric, one lacking in “body”.
Stop Mark – a horizontal fabric streak resulting from when the knitting machine was stopped. It is caused by a tension difference in the yarns.
