A comparative study of cotton knitted fabrics and garments produced by the modified low twist and conventional ring yarns

Spirality is one of the major potential problems in knitted fabrics and garments. It affects the aesthetics and physical properties of the garment produced, such as the seam displacement, shape retention, pattern distortion and sewing difficulties. In this paper, a comparative study has been carried out to evaluate the physical performance of 100 % cotton knitted fabrics and garments produced by the modified low twist and conventional ring yarns through the actual wearing and washing trials. Experimental results showed that the properties of side seam displacement, fabric spirality, dimensional stability and skewness change of the T-shirts and sweaters made by the modified single yarns are comparable to those of garments made from the control plied yarns but much improved when compared to those from the control single yarns. In addition, the pilling resistance and bursting strength of the knitted fabrics made by the modified single yarns can still maintain a reasonably high level at a low yarn twist.