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All About Industrial Stitching and Sewing Machine

Types of stitching or sewing machines, stitch machine components such as needles, feed systems, sewing machine motors, type of stitches, stitching defects, and safety measures

ApparelProduction
By Komal Priya
1 15,781

Industrial sewing machines are specialized machines that are designed to perform specialized tasks in high volumes. Various industrial sewing machines and their components and features are explained in this article.

Parts of Sewing Machines

 

Anatomy of a Sewing Machine

 

Handwheel

Turn this wheel to adjust needle height. Always turn the handwheel toward you.

Spool pin

The spool pin keeps the spool in place while the thread feeds through the machine. Some machines have both horizontal and vertical spool pins

Spool Cap

The spool cap slips onto the end of the spool pin and holds the spool in place.

Bobbin pin/winder

bobbin winder
Built-in bobbin winders may be found on the top, front, or side of a sewing machine. Most winders consist of a bobbin pin to hold the bobbin while the thread is being wound, thread guides for maintaining tension, and a start/stop lever. Some bobbin winders have built-in thread cutters.

Thread guide

Thread guides may be hoops, discs, or flat metal shapes that pinch or direct the thread to feed it through the machine without tangling and at the correct tension.

Take-up lever

The take-up lever is a metal finger with a thread guide that moves up and down, pulling a thread from the spool and feeding it through the machine.

Stitch selector

Use the stitch selector to choose which stitch you’d like to use. Many machines feature a number of built-in stitches: straight stitch, zigzag, buttonhole, blind hem, etc.

Presser’s foot

The presser foot works with the feed dog to move fabric evenly through the machine. When the presser foot is lowered, it engages the tension discs and presses the fabric beneath the foot against the feed dog. The upper part of the foot, called the ankle, is usually screwed onto the machine securely; the lower part may include a quick-release mechanism for changing presser feet.

Presser foot pressure control

This control adjusts the amount of pressure the presser foot applies to the fabric as it feeds beneath the needle. Increase pressure when sewing heavy fabric and decrease pressure when sewing lightweight or thin
fabric

Presser foot lifter

This lever, located above the presser foot at the back or side of the machine, raises and lowers the presser foot. When the presser foot is lifted, the tension discs are disengaged, and the fabric will not feed through the machine.

Needle

The needle carries the upper thread through the fabric to create a stitch. Specialty needles are available for specific stitching needs.

Needle threader

Some machines have built-in needle threaders. Threaders have a tiny hook that swings through the needle eye catches the thread, and pulls it back through the eye when the threader is released.

Thread cutter

Some machines have a built-in thread cutter near the needle area. To use the cutter, raise the presser foot and remove the stitched piece from the machine. Pull both the threads over the cutter’s shielded blade to cut them.

Needle clamp screw

 

Tighten and loosen this screw to release or secure the needle in place.

Stitch plate

The stitch plate also called a needle or throat plate is a flat metal piece below the presser foot. Slots in the plate allow the feed dog to push the fabric along. A hole or slot admits the needle carrying the top thread through the fabric.

Feed dog

 

The feed dog is a toothed metal piece below the stitch plate that moves up and down to push the fabric along, beneath the needle. Stitch length is controlled by how much fabric the feed dog moves.

Throat

 

The throat of a machine refers to the open space between the needle and the machine housing. A large throat is helpful when sewing bulky fabrics and large projects like quilts.

Bobbin cover

 

The bobbin cover is a plate or hinged door that protects the bobbin mechanism. Open the bobbin cover to replace the bobbin and clean the bobbin area or case.

Foot control

 

Like the gas pedal in a car, the foot control regulates the machine’s speed.

Attachments In Sewing Machines (Work Aids)

Work aids are devices that are built into machines, added to them afterward, attached alongside, or made use of in whatever ways a resourceful engineer can devise to improve productivity, improve or maintain quality standards, reduce training time and minimize fatigue for the operator.

Work Aids can be divided into the following categories

Folder

Folders are used, as their name implies, in situations where fabric must be folded prior to sewing. They vary from the simple fold (which could be achieved by an operator alone, though only slowly and perhaps untidily) to extremely complex combinations of folders (which enable some to be achieved in a fraction of the number of stages that it would take without the folders) and indeed enable some to be achieved that would not otherwise be possible at all.

Folders are frequently used on machines having more than one needle

(Note – Choose the folders for the “product” which are being manufactured in the nearby Industry of the center.)

Binder

Many folders are available that add further items of self-fabric or other material to a garment and of these, many come into the category are known as Binder. Fabric Edges are frequently bound, either as a means of edge neatening or to create a decorative effect or both.

(Note -Use 28mm Piping folder for a practice session)

Hemmer

Folders that operate on a garment part without any additional material are known as Hemmer.

(Note -Use Shirt Bottom Hemming folder for a practice session)

Presser Foot

Presser feet can be used as specialized work aids, in addition to their normal function of holding the materials against the feed dog, when the scale of the situation is within the small size of the foot. The function of edge guiding can be performed in some circumstances by a special presser foot called compensating presser foot.

Guides etc.

Guides are used where sewing must take place in a certain position on a garment. In their simplest form, they are edge guides, forming some kind of physical barrier to the edges of the fabric being joined together

(Note: Use Variation of Straight and curved guide for a practice session)

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Komal Priya 13 posts 0 comments

A creative, energetic, ambitious person who has a keen interest in fashion, sustainability, cultural craft, and technology.

Being a student of the National Institute of fashion technology, Patna, I have hands-on knowledge of production and fabric (worked in Siyaram textile and Raymond's) as well am currently working with Future Group as an Intern buyer and product developer.

I am also interested in penning down my thoughts and expressing my views on global scenarios.

Have published 11 articles related to my field and interest.

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1 Comment
  1. Desmond Duah says

    You have said it all what I marveled about is the blind hem stitchine industrial machine in the Collage I went Vogue Style as twenty ten graduate
    school of fashion and designing by Joyce Aba Bio was thought by hand Heming and Blind stitches was one mean the hand stitching thanks a lot guys.

    Reply
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