INVESTIGATION OF FABRIC SEWABILITY PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS: AN OVERVIEW

Sewability problems are displayed in finished garments in the form of effects such as damage by the needle, thread breakage, seam slippage and seam pucker. The number of problems related to sewability, and their economic severity has increased with modern trends towards higher speeds, partial and/or full automation, and changes in textile material input such as fabric and sewing threads, new dyes and fabric finishes, together with the use of synthetic fibres in both fabric materials and sewing threads. These have created many new problems during sewing operations, especially at higher speeds over 3000 stitches per minute. The increased speed of sewing machines had been one of the contributing factors towards the increased difficulties in achieving satisfactory seam performance e.g. pucker less and strong seams.