THE PERFORMANCE OF SEWING THREADS WITH RESPECT TO SEAM APPEARANCE

This paper reports an experimental investigation into the effect of th e physical and mechanical properties of sewing threads on the seam app earance of lightweight fabrics, which are prone to seam pucker. In thi s work, a range of forty-two commercial serving threads of various tic ket numbers, yarn structures, and from various suppliers were used, an d their performance ranked according to the appearance of the seams af ter sewing, Based on a statistical analysis, the important physical an d mechanical properties of sewing threads related to seam appearance w ere identified and a quantitative relationship between these propertie s and the performance rankings of sewing threads in terms of seam appe arance was established. A parameter, called 'Sewing Thread Pucker Inde x', which incorporates those properties of sewing threads which are im portant with respect to seam appearance, is proposed to provide an obj ective measure of performance.