Seam elongation behavior of knitted fabrics due to donning-doffing.

Seam elongation behavior of knitted fabrics has been studied along with the effect of various parameters like stitch type, sewing thread, fabric direction and fabric layers on the strain encountered by seams in knitted garments. Seam strain is assessed both in longitudinal and transverse directions under tensile loading. The experimental results show that these parameters affect seam elongation differently when stressed in longitudinal and transverse directions. Occurrence of seam cracking is observed in lockstitch when elongated in longitudinal direction. A phenomenon known as seam grinning is observed in all transverse direction loads. This paper also reports the effect of above parameters on the grinning behavior of seams at different elongation percentage (30% and 40%) of seams. It is found that over-lock stitch gives the maximum amount of seam grin. Fabric stitched in wales direction and fabric layers formed by joining two plain knitted fabrics give higher amount of seam grinning.