Textile Structure
how cloth is put together
Field

Knits and other structures

Loops rather than crossings. Why a knit stretches without a bias, why stockinette curls, and why a dropped stitch runs while a woven cloth frays.
a course runs acrossa wale runs down5 wales × 4 coursesevery loop passes through the one below itweft knit

The loop

A knit is one thread bent into loops, each drawn through the loop below. Nothing in it is straight, which is why it stretches in every direction while a woven cloth stretches only at an angle.

 the dots mark which way each course facesstockinette — every course the same0 face changes · curlsgarter — alternate courses reversed5 face changes · lies flatface changes counted, not the curl itself

Why stockinette curls

A knitted loop is not symmetric front to back. Work every course the same way and the asymmetries add up along the edges; alternate them and they cancel. That is the whole difference between a fabric that rolls and one that lies flat.

 a knit — the break runs up the wale3 loops freeda weave — the break stays put1 thread freedcounted from the structure, not from experience

Ravel, fray and run

Cut a woven cloth and one thread comes loose. Break one loop in a knit and every loop above it follows. The two structures fail in opposite ways, and the reason is topology rather than strength.

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