Elastane plating

Machine types that can knit it

• Single bed, punch card
• Single bed, electronic
• Single bed, no patterning
• Single bed (punch card) + ribber
• Single bed (electronic) + ribber
• Double bed with pushers (Passap type)
• Double-bed hand flat (V-bed)

Steps

1. Thread: ground yarn → central eyelet; elastane → oblong slot.
2. Swatch, relax, measure.
3. Knit.

The full card

What it looks like

Looks like the main yarn on both faces (elastane hidden), with a slightly ribbed, compact surface.

How it behaves

Gathers and recovers; firmer cuffs and close-fitting bodies.

How it works

An elastic strand is fed together with the ground yarn in the plating position. Technically the elastane is the base yarn and the visible yarn is the plating yarn, so it goes in the oblong slot while the ground yarn sits in the central eyelet, the reverse of colour plating.

Machines

Plating feeder (Brother) or plating carrier (Dubied/Stoll). Elastic yarns need good tension control.

Parameters

use in starts/rib for more elastic welts, or throughout for fitted fabric; tension slightly larger than for the ground yarn alone [inference].

Steps

1) Thread: ground yarn → central eyelet; elastane → oblong slot. 2) Swatch, relax, measure. 3) Knit.

Charting

Mark plated-elastane areas with an "E" hatch in a structure layer, not a colour layer.

Limits and common problems

Elastane showing on the face if the slots are swapped. Shrinkage much larger than expected.

Related techniques

• Plating
• Plating on a single bed
• Reverse plating, plated rib and plated transfers