Rib Knit Fabric

What is Rib knit?

Don’t get rib knit confused with ribbing. There is a pretty distinct difference between RIBBING and RIB KNIT. Ribbing is designed to create cuffs, waistbands, and neck bands due to its high degree of elasticity in the crosswise direction. Rib knit on the other hand is designed to create full garments! Shirts, rompers, dresses, sweaters, and so much more. Now I know that makes for a huge variety in possibilities but that’s because it all boils down to what type of fabric has the rib design on it. See when you are talking rib knit it’s not one fabric fits all. It can be composed of many different fabrics but with a rib design. So to fully understand this lets break down the design. A rib knit design forms ribs on both the face and the back of the fabric.Thus raising the rib on one side and then doing the same to the back side rib. This makes both sides appear the same. The ribs usually are parallel to the fabric bolts selvage. Rib knits come in many different ribs. This is calculated by counting the rows of different thread from one ribs start to finish to the other ribs start to finish. The most common sizes are 1x1, 2x2, 3x3, 6x6. Though there’s also multisized ribs where they can be something like 4x6, 2x4, etc. This makes for unique patterns with whatever the count is. Now back to why you can make such a variety of items with rib knits is because of what base the rib knit design was used on. Ultimately, you can put a rib design on almost any fabric. Put it on a brushed hacci and you have a brushed hacci rib knit, put it on a rayon spandex and you have a rayon spandex rib knit! This list goes on which is why I really enjoy the endless possibilities rib knits offer!