Stitch Classes and Types: The Six Classes Explained

A stitch is the configuration of thread, looped or interlaced in a specific repeated unit, that holds a garment together. Understanding stitch formation, the properties that make a stitch good, and the six standard classes lets you specify construction that performs and read what a factory is doing. Here is the full picture.

How stitches are formed

Three mechanisms, each defining different classes:

• Intralooping - a loop of thread passes through another loop of the same thread (e.g. stitch type 101).
• Interlooping - a loop passes through a loop of a different thread (e.g. 401).
• Interlacing - a thread passes over or around another thread or loop (e.g. 301).