Karl Mayer has developed a stunning pair of seamless open work leggings on its DJ 4/2 EL double needle bar warp knitting machine. Describing the elegantly worked garment, the German company says:

“Seamless designs are one of the success stories of the modern textile industry; they turn mere body parts into eye-catching things of beauty and conjure up something magical out of clothing – as shown by the leggings on this page. The garment, which comes somewhere between tights and stirrup pants, emphasises the slim outline of long legs and conjures up a look of extravagant elegance on the skin.”

DJ 4/2 EL in gauge E24

The textile technology used to produce this relies on a sophisticated pattern produced on a warp knitting machine. The clever, open-work design was worked on a DJ 4/2 EL in a gauge of E 24. The compact, double-bar raschel machine produces long, free-standing fringe sections for the legs, which open out into a wide, dense border with wavy contours and works a firm, dense structure for the panty part – and all these sections are produced in a single piece (click image on the right to enlarge).

All the parts of the leggings are made directly on the warp knitting machine – from the dense bottom part through the open-work pattern of the legs to the narrow stirrups. “The special technical configuration of the DJ 4/2 EL enables it to produce these designs,” says Karl Mayer.

KAMCOS

It includes EL control of the movement of the guide bars and electronically controlled yarn feed – technical features that are made possible by the KAMCOS computer system. The machine computer concept comprises the Motion Control/Multi Speed system for controlling all the main functions, the Pattern Control component for controlling the jacquard motion, a USB port for storing or loading the pattern data, an Ethernet interface for integrating the machine into the company’s network, and the Operator Interface for easy-to-understand machine operation using touch screen technology. The Laserstop yarn monitoring system is also integrated into the KAMCOS system.

Configuration

The DJ 4/2 EL is equipped with two ground guide bars and two split piezo jacquard bars for feeding the yarn flexibly to the knitting point. The piezo jacquard system in particular enables zones having different densities to be worked seamlessly into the textile. The jacquard constructions in the various patterns also enable a wide variety of designs to be produced. The machine is equipped with each two needle bars, knock-over comb bars and stitch combs for working the closed, tubular shapes.

“The DJ 4/2 EL, with a working width of 44 inches and gauges of E 24, E 28 or E 32, makes full use of all these features,” Karl Mayer says.