The typical micro-knitting structure of knitted fabric, which makes it very different from woven fabric, is described. The tensile tests of knitted fabric are reported. The deformations of the micro-knitting structures are carefully studied. The study indicates that when a knitted fabric sheet is subjected to a tension along w-direction an extra compressive stress field inside loop in c-direction is induced. The extra stress field is also determined through analysis. Finally, a micro-mechanical model of knitted fabric is proposed. This work paves the way for the simulations of buckling modes of a knitted fabric sheet as are observed in experiments.Knitted fabric consists of more complicated microstructures. The simulations of draping or buckling of knitted fabric, and the determination of its con-stitutive model have not been paid a due attention in literature. In the present paper we describe the typical micro-knitting structures of knitted fabric, report the results of the tensile tests of knitted fabric, analyze the deformation of the micro-knitting structure, and, finally, propose a micro-mechanical model for knitted fabric.The more details about recent advances in fabric mechanics can be found in the review article [8] and the book [9].