COLOUR IN KNITTED GOODS
The part played by colour in knitted goods depends largely on the use to
which they have to be put and the variety of garment in which they are
employed. For undergarments which are seldom noted in wear for general
purposes, the _rôle_ of colour is slight and the prevailing tints are
white, cream or mixture varieties of the natural or tinted class. The
nature of the tint for undergarments is important, and a connoisseur
will be able to distinguish quite a number of qualities in a white
garment. The tint of a white article depends on a number of factors, one
of the chief being the class of wool used in its production. Some wool
classes are in themselves whiter than others according to the place from
which the wool is obtained. Most types of merino wools give materials of
a splendid whiteness, whilst the majority of home wools give a result
which is more or less of a yellowish nature; if sand particles are
adhering in any quantity, the result is to impart a reddy tint which is
difficult to eradicate in bleaching or scouring. The yellow tint, common
to most classes of wool, is not evident at first sight, and it is only
by comparison with bleached goods that the observer may be able to tell
the difference. For many purposes of ordinary wear yellowish tinted
goods are quite serviceable and are sold under the designation of cream.
This tint is the result of a colouring pigment present in the medullary
cells of the material and can be removed by one or other of the various
methods of bleaching, but the yellow tinge may be greatly increased by
scouring in too hot liquor or using cleansing agents which exercise
drastic action on the wool fibre. Similarly when the goods are in the
hands of the wearer, the yellow tint may be considerably increased in
intensity if care be not exercised in washing and if agents of the
proper strength be not employed. To preserve the whiteness of bleached
articles certain precautions have to be observed in scouring and these
may be summarized as follows. The temperature of the scouring liquor or
the washing solution should not be raised beyond what is absolutely
necessary to effect a removal of the dirt, for a high temperature
produces a kind of melting action on the goods which causes the internal
scales of the fibre to fuse to some extent, with the result that a
permanently yellow tinge is imparted. Next to the temperature, which
should be as close to the "lieu warm" as possible, is the question of
the nature and composition of detergents. Launderers know that an
application of a certain amount of soda or alkali accelerates the
scouring action and gives to the liquor a certain softness which is
rather misleading. The softening experienced really constitutes a
dissolving action on the wool fibre which settles on the material when
dry a feeling of pronounced hardness. These two factors combined with a
high temperature of scouring liquor and an excess of alkali or soda will
destroy the quality of the purest white and impart a permanently
discoloured or faded yellow appearance to the finest goods.
_Natural Tinted Goods._—The simplest departure from pure white
undergarments is to be found in the well-known natural coloured members
of the knitting industry, which are usually pants, shirts and
combination garments. This is obtained by an admixture with white of
about 10 per cent. of coloured fibre, and has the effect of increasing
the serviceability of the garments by allowing more extended intervals
between the washes. In their usual forms these blends or tinted shades
do not possess an aspect of attractiveness, the general run being in
dull brown, drab or cold bluish tint, but recently there has been a
tendency to brighten up the blends somewhat and introduce an element of
greater attractiveness to the garments. There is not, however, great
scope for colour effect in such goods; little colour is wanted, as they
seldom come into vision.
_Horizontal Stripes._—Unfortunately the knitted fabric as such does not
give great scope for the production of coloured effects in the plain
stitch because of its peculiar structure as an essentially weft fabric.
The thread is inserted crosswise in the fabric, both vertical and
horizontal elements of the structure being formed from one and the same
yarn, and this limitation must be carefully kept in mind when
considering the capacity of the fabric for showing colour. From the
inherent horizontal character of the fabric it is evident that cross
effects such as horizontal stripes of colour can be much more
expeditiously produced than effects of the vertical variety. There is
something jarring about a predominantly horizontal series of colour
stripes, for when these are made into garments they show crosswise,
whilst the prevailing cast of the human figure is vertical. For the
great bulk of goods, therefore, cross stripes are quite unserviceable
except, perhaps, for the sporting jersey, where the object is to arrest
the attention of the observers and enable them to trace the movement of
individual players in the field. In most types of knitting mechanism the
cross colour effect is much more easily produced than the vertical,
because we have simply to provide a colour for each thread-carrier and
these are brought into operation in succession according to the pattern
required. To overcome the inherent defect of the horizontal direction,
fabrics are often turned round a right-angle so that a horizontal colour
stripe becomes a vertical one, but this has the disadvantage of turning
the stitches on their side. The stretch in length is greatly increased
over the width, and such garments show a tendency to elongate
considerably during their period of wear, whilst the elasticity in the
width is much reduced from the normal. In wearing such a garment the
tendency is for the fabric to go to length by reason of its own weight
combined with the action of the wearer in walking.
In considering patterns for horizontal striped goods, it should be borne
in mind that the average rotary frame has a side-to-side movement of the
thread-carrier, and that the full extent of the motion requires two
courses to complete, once to the right and another to the left. If
single courses are inserted it means that one of the thread-carriers has
to be kept on the off side of the frame and special tackle requires to
be used to work odd courses on these machines. In making out patterns
for horizontal striped goods, the patterns should be built as far as
possible on evenly numbered courses, 2, 4, 6, etc., for in this way the
thread-carrier for any particular colour can be brought back to the
starting-point. The usual way of indicating horizontal striped patterns
is to detail each colour and the number of courses in succession until
the whole pattern is complete. Thus we might have a pattern as follows:
12 black, 6 white, 2 grey, 4 black, 12 white, 6 grey, 6 white. When
colour patterns are written in this fashion it may become a rather
lengthy process in the case of complicated arrangements such as are
often required for fine gauge goods, and for these it is a saving of
time and labour to arrange the colour scheme in the following manner—
Black 12 . 4 . .
White 6 . 12 . 6
Grey 2 . 6 . .
In this case the colours present in the effect are set down one below
the other as shown, and the pattern is indicated by the figures in the
columns beginning at the left-hand side and reading downwards from top
to bottom for each row, when completed a start is made with the next row
and so on till the pattern is finished. The following gives another
example of a horizontal striped arrangement which embodies several fancy
colours—
Brown 16 8 16 . 12 . . .
Green 8 4 . 8 . 8 . .
Yellow . 2 6 . 4 . 4 .
Black . . . . . 2 . 2
In this pattern there are 100 courses in one complete repeat of the
pattern, and to produce this a pattern chain would require to be drawn
out which by its projections would cause connecting fingers to swing
into the carrier as indicated by the colours of the pattern. In all such
patterns the colours introduced are part and parcel of the fabric and in
direction run crosswise in the texture. Outer wear fabrics made
predominantly of cross stripe are not popular because of the reasons
already shown, but they are often used for trimming garments, for
borders of coats, cuffs and collars, and for fancy shirts they are often
quite effective. One point must be borne in mind in selecting fancy
colours in fine materials such as silk, etc.; the size of the fancy yarn
chosen has to be approximately equal to that of the ground texture, or
the fancy threads will cause a space more or less open to appear in the
fabric so as to spoil its amenity.
_Vertical Stripes._—For most kinds of knitted articles the vertical
stripe is extremely difficult to produce without extra tackle on the
machine, and most examples of vertical lines are produced by means of
yarn inserted in addition to the ground of the fabric, notably in the
case of clocking introduced in hosiery articles and vertical striped
effects so popular in the men's shirting trade. In both these cases the
effect is introduced as a form of embroidery worked as an addition to
the fabric, where the fancy yarn is made to exhibit itself prominently
on the face of the goods and only comes to the back for purposes of
intersection. The materials employed for such colour effects are usually
of the lustrous variety, silk or mercerized cotton, and they are forced
into prominence on the face by the upward thrust of the ground yarn
which they cover. A feature of the vertical stripe effects produced on
Cotton's Patent frame is the variety of colours which it is feasible to
insert, for every extra thread introduced can be of a different colour
if necessary, as each yarn proceeds independently from its own bobbin.
In regard to the scope of design, this is generally restricted to solid
vertical stripes, and very interesting and effective variations are
produced by a zig-zag motion given to the thread guides in knitting.
_Tuck Work._—The term tuck is employed to indicate a class of fabric
where certain stitches are tucked in the cloth, that is, they are not
permitted to form their stitches in the ordinary way but are retained on
the needles to be worked in along with the following stitch. This
tucking of a yarn into another stitch is performed by means of tuck
pressers on bearded needle machines, these pressers being cut so that
during the knitting operation the needles affected are left unpressed,
that is, they are not permitted to discharge their thread in the normal
manner but are held up on the stem of the needle to be discharged as
part of a second course of loops. Naturally the omission of the pressing
operation cannot be allowed for long, because this would cause a
conglomeration of unworked yarn on the needle stems which would in a few
courses lead to disaster in the fabric; an essential of the pattern
arrangement is to insure that the tucked stitches are cleared from the
needle stems after every two courses or so. On the hand frame and the
patent rotary machine tuck pressers are of the form shown in Figs. 53
and 54, being the ordinary kind of presser cut with spaces so that the
needles which come under the spaces of the presser are not pressed but
have their yarn retained on the needle stems. These stitch portions are
pushed back on the needles, and when the next yarn is fed into them, the
presser is moved along so that needles left unpressed at the last course
are now pressed and two yarns are discharged in place of one. In the
figures the points marked N represent the needles, and in Fig. 53 the
spaces are noted to be over every second needle, 2, 4, 6, etc., whilst
the remaining needles, 1, 3, 5, etc., are pressed by the projecting
pieces. The odd numbered needles are being pressed in Fig. 53 whilst the
even needles are left unpressed. At the next course the presser is moved
one needle sidewise, so that the even needles are pressed to discharge
their double loops whilst the odd numbered needles remain unpressed. The
third course sees further reversal of the presser back to start again
when the operation is repeated as before. In Fig. 54 is given another
design for a tuck presser, this being termed a 2 and 1 pattern, and
every third needle is left unpressed whilst the remaining two-thirds of
the needles are pressed as usual. This presser is also given a sidewise
movement to insure that the needles are cleared of their stitches every
two courses or so. The 2 and 1 presser and the 3 and 3 presser are often
used in conjunction with other patterns such as the 1 and 1 or 2 and 2
to form patterns more fancy in style and character. Very effective
patterns can be produced in colour by working the 3 and 3 tuck presser
in co-operation with the 1 and 1, whilst very effective designs may be
made with 2 and 2 tuck presser and a plain presser alternately.
[Illustration:
FIG. 53
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 54
]
[Illustration:
FIGS. 55 & 56
]
_Tuck Work on Circular Frames._—In frames employing the spring or
bearded needle arranged in circular machines which are largely employed
for the making of fabric in the roll, tuck patterns can be produced by
cutting the pressers in circular form as illustrated in Figs. 55 and 56.
In the French circular frame, the presser consists of a plain circular
disc which, by reason of its adjustment, presses the beards or springs
of the needles as they revolve. Figs. 55 and 56 are the circular tuck
pressers which correspond to Figs. 53 and 54, that is, 1 and 1 and 2 and
1 pressers. In Fig. 55 the circumference of the wheel is cut alternately
in small spaces which come over the beards and press them, and larger
spaces which by the depth of their incisions fit over the beards of the
machine but do not press them. The wheel receives its motion by the
revolving action of the needles in the circle, and the teeth have
therefore to be cut to the gauge required, that is, the setting of the
machine needles and the teeth in the wheel circumference require to
coincide. In Fig. 56 every third space is cut large so as to grip the
needle but not press it, whilst the remaining two spaces are cut with
small indentations so that the needle will be pressed in the ordinary
way. In circular frames there are several feeds, that is, the
stitch-forming apparatus is repeated two or more times round the
circumference of the machine which allows of a more convenient
arrangement being made for the discharge of the unpressed loops. One way
is to have a tuck presser and a plain presser arranged alternately in
the machine so that there is a tucked pattern where the double stitches
are discharged every second course. If, in addition, there is a
different colour in each feed, we have an interesting colour effect
which is different with every type of pattern wheel employed, whilst
wheels can be cut with the greatest freedom right round the edge
according to a predetermined design. What actually happens in the fabric
with the use of tuck pressers may be better understood by a reference to
Fig. 57, which is a diagrammatic enlargement of the pattern produced by
the 1 and 1 tuck presser illustrated in Figs. 53 and 55. For the first
course where needles 1, 3, 5, etc., are pressed to knit the odd numbered
needles are worked, and this state of matters is represented in Fig. 57,
where the needles are numbered 1 to 4 to correspond from left to right.
Stitch 1 and stitch 3 are pressed as usual and form their ordinary
stitches as given by the shape of the presser in Fig. 53, stitches 2 and
4 are left unpressed, and the yarn is noted to have fallen to the lower
position marked _a1_, whilst the knitted loops are retained in their
higher position _a a_. At the second course _b_, _b1_, the position is
reversed, the stitches on needles 1 and 3 being tucked or left unpressed
whilst those on needles 2 and 4 are knitted as usual. This effect may be
traced by following the course of the thread marked _b_, _b1_, _b_,
_b1_. From this diagram it will be evident that the whole structure of
the texture is altered by the tuck presser, and that this will enable us
to insert a greater weight of yarn into the fabric because the threads
are not subjected to such a high degree of intersection, and the result
is to give a cloth of greater weight and consistency suitable for a
large variety of outer garments. Again, it is evident that when two or
more colours are employed, novel and characteristic colour effects will
result because of the way in which it is possible to pass one colour to
the back at certain points and allow the other to show on the face and
_vice versâ_.
[Illustration:
FIG. 57
]
_Check Designs._—By the structure of ordinary tuck work illustrated in
Fig. 57 it is clear that the threads have a considerable mingling
together, and the result will to a considerable extent be a melange
colour effect. In what is termed check or press-off work in knitting a
clear-cut colour effect of reversible character is often desired, that
is, when a block of one colour is knitting on the face, the second
colour is made to float loosely on the back, and this arrangement can be
made to work with each colour in turn. To make such designs on the
circular frame we have two pressers, one cut the reverse of the other,
and these are used in succeeding feeds of the machine, so that the
needles pressed at one feed have their stitches tucked at the next and
_vice versâ_. The whole matter of tuck check designs belongs to the
higher branches of designing of knitted fabrics. The term check in the
ordinary way consists of a vertical colour scheme combined with a
horizontal scheme of the same character, and whilst these are possible
in the knitted fabric their production is somewhat difficult. Tartan
hosiery can be produced in a number of colours having the vertical
elements working on the embroidery system and with the corresponding
cross colour scheme working in the ordinary horizontal stripe, but these
effects require great skill in manipulation owing to the fact that the
extra embroidery yarn is inserted over and above the ground, and this
tends to show more prominently than the cross effects, and these require
special treatment at the hands of the colorist if the balance of the
colour scheme has to be preserved.
_Spot Effects._—This type of colour effect is best produced on the
Jacquard flat knitting machine which is the ordinary flat knitter with
an attachment for making patterns of a raised character. These raised or
knop effects are produced on the basis of the rib stitch where one
needle bed is made to stop knitting for a few courses during which time
the opposite side is making its loops as usual. The needle bed which
does not knit has its stitches drawn tight and this causes the loops of
the other bed to curve round and form an arched effect which can be made
the basis of a most interesting pattern scheme. These raised or knop
designs have the result of causing an uneven reflection of light, the
ridges give a full reflection, whilst the light which falls into the
hollows is dispersed and broken so as to cause an interesting play of
light and shade. This is used to form novel designs on the flat knitter
with the aid of the Jacquard selective mechanism, and when several
colours are employed by means of the extra thread-carriers, these can be
made to form spot effects with considerable facility. Here again the
effects are very pronounced and produced by quite minor alterations in
the machine mechanism.