Comments on: Pop Quiz: Designing a t-shirt sewing cell

By: Fashion Incubator » Blog Archive » The difference between band and binding

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 20:15:31 +0000

[...] writes: Can you settle an argument? I looked at your posts on designing a t-shirt sewing cell (pt.2) but it wasn’t obvious. I have always understood that the neckline of a tee shirt is a [...]

By: Designing a t-shirt sewing cell pt.2

Designing a t-shirt sewing cell pt.2 — Wed, 30 May 2012 23:08:14 +0000

[...] up to last week’s entry, the questions you were invited to answer [...]

By: Sarah H.

Sarah H. — Sat, 26 May 2012 22:48:17 +0000

1 Straight stitch, 3 overlock, 2 coverstitch to do the work most efficiently and be the most flexible.
I based this on a plain t-shirt, with possibly a vented side seam and sewn in labels. Also I counted on circling in the collar rother than sewing it on straight with one sho seam open.

By: sfriedberg

sfriedberg — Fri, 25 May 2012 23:29:52 +0000

Quin, with a split needle bar you can use just one needle at a time on a double needle lockstitch machine. This is used to turn nice square corners on inner and outer lines of stitching. Most double needle machines don’t have a split needle bar, but it’s a very nice option.

However, there’s no such thing for a coverstitch or overlock machine. Once it’s set up and threaded, you have to use all the needles you installed.

You cannot force a double needle machine’s lines of stitching to converge. However, there are pattern sewing machines (often used for things like jeans back pockets) that can sew converging or diverging lines of stitching. They work differently from double needle machines.

By: David S.

David S. — Fri, 25 May 2012 23:06:58 +0000

Quin: most double needle machines have needles that move in sync with each other. There are machines were one of the needles can be disengaged; they get used to sew things where there’s a sharp corner. You see them on top stitching on jean back pockets, and upholstery, for instance.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Fri, 25 May 2012 21:40:10 +0000

Quin: you are so funny (cheating is encouraged, I’d hoped someone would).

By: Quincunx

Quincunx — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:43:03 +0000

I am. . .cheating and heading straightaway to this entry on industrial sewing machine instructions, which as I recall were for a T-shirt. Oo, they are, and added that tape in the neckline which I forgot. I like that neckline tape. Even some of my pile-’em-high sell-’em-cheap T-shirts have contrasting tape back there now, and look and wear all the better for it. Let’s keep it even if it doesn’t show up in the app.

After further cheating in the form of inspecting my husband’s shirts, the ‘better’ T-shirts have tape shoulder-to-shoulder, and the pile-’em-high sell-’em-cheap ones have flashy tape sewn into the neckline, with distinct sewing over the ends of the tape that I can’t visualize how to do in one pass with the rest of the neckline*, and different, plainer stabilizing tape in the shoulder seams. The flashy tape could possibly be sewn at the same step as the neckline*, the stabilizing concurrent with the shoulder seams, and no extra step whatsoever for shoulder-to-shoulder–that matches with the Juki app sewing instructions. Now either I’m wrong and shoulder-back neck-shoulder is all one pass no matter what tape style you’re using, or the desired T-shirt is going to require a more complex process than the one in the free app. For now, I’m going with the blog entry instructions since they also specified taped shoulder seams, so I’ll assume it’s right about the other marks of high quality being desired.

. . .waitaminute, I forgot about the detailed chart below the sewing instructions. Sheesh. Someone already solved this problem for 1 operator per machine. I can’t take credit for this!

*Can you force a double needle machine’s lines of stitching to converge? Can you use just one needle at a time? This isn’t a material which holds needle holes from being sewn with an unthreaded needle, so I suppose the same effect could be made by unthreading one needle and sewing as normal, if that wouldn’t screw up the thread consumption.

By: Robyn Bieber

Robyn Bieber — Fri, 25 May 2012 06:10:23 +0000

This is exciting. Downloading it right away.

By: Katherine

Katherine — Fri, 25 May 2012 04:32:08 +0000

I’m not sure how the shoulders are taped, but this is what I came up with

6 overlocked seams (2 shoulders, 2 sleeves attached, 2 side seam & sleeve)
1 coverstitch with binder attachment (neckband)
4 coverstitched seams (taping shoulders, hem, 2 sleeve hems)

I haven’t taken into account that some seams take longer to sew than others, as I’m not sure about this.

So the ratio I have is
6:4:1 overlocker:coverstitch:coverstitch with binder attachment

By: Tara Niscak

Tara Niscak — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:16:19 +0000

I’ll give it a go. It’s funny, I’ve had that app for ages more as a curiosity than anything. Good to see how it is a resource for my future machine puchase planning.

Depending on how you put on the neckband…

I would say 3 overlocks (A): 2 coverstitch (B) and 1: double needle (C)

First overlock the shoulder seams (A-1), next coverstitch the neck band to the body (B-1) and then stitch the tape over the shoulder seams and back neck (C-1). Overlock sleeves (A-2) and side seams (A-3) and coverstitch the armholes and body hem (B-2).

I thought at first you could use one less overlocker – do the sleeves and side seams at the same time, but I forgot about the tag inside on the side seam ( hence separate into two steps would be easier?).

Or Meaghan could be right, I don’t know exactly what a chainstitch machine does.
Great challenge either way. I look forward to everyone’s responses. Thanks.