GARMENTS

MANUFACTURING
TECHNOLOGY-II
Joy Sarkar, Lecturer, Department of Textile Engineering
World University of Bangladesh.

Sewing Thread

Natural fibres threads:

Linen:

Made of flax fibre.

Higher strength of stiffness.
Ancient and used widely for seam of higher strength like tent, canvas shoe making etc.
Not used now a days.

Silk:

Made of both continuous and broken filament.

Comparatively higher strength, extensibility and luster.
Used in costly garments and in silky ladies wears.
Limited use due to higher cost.

Cotton:

Most used among the threads from natural fibres.

Normally made from higher grade cotton fibre.
Less strength and abrasion resistance.
Do not get damaged due to high heat in needle.

Cotton sewing threads are of 3 types

1.

2.

3.

Soft cotton thread

Bleached, dyed and finished with lubricant.
Shrinkage occurs in washing and seam pucker occurs.
Mercerized cotton thread:
Finished with caustic soda solution on tension.
Fibres get round shaped.(Normal: Kidney shaped)
Higher strength and luster.
Glazed cotton thread:
Made by applying surface coating on soft cotton thread.
Improved stiffness, smoothness and abrasion resistance.

Note:
The price of cotton thread is more than the synthetic thread. Use of cotton thread has decreased as cotton thread can
be rotten up or degrade. But the garments which are to be garments dyed are made with cotton thread.
Viscose thread:

Made of staple fibre and continuous filament of regenerated cellulose.

Lower strength and durability.
Less use as sewing thread but widely used as embroidery thread.
More lusturious
Garments sewn by viscose thread should not washed with water.

Joy Sarkar, Lecturer, Department of Textile Engineering, World University of Bangladesh

Page | 1

Synthetic thread:
Polyester:
Very strong, lower price, satisfactory elastic property and good color fastness.
Extensively used.
No shrinkage in washing and below 150c.
Nylon:
Higher extensibility so after sewing seam pucker may occur.
Used in extensible seams, knitted garments and swimming costume.

Aramid:
Very limited use.
Very costly.
Used in flame retardant garments. ( Example: Aramid sewing thread NOMEX)
PTFE (Poly Tetra Fluro Ethylene):
Limited use for cost.
Used in protective clothing as they have
Flame retardancy power.
Melting retardancy power.
Chemicals retardancy power.

Thread Construction:
Sewing threads are made of staple fibre and continuous filament. Single yarn are made from staple fibre by using S
twist, then more than one single yarn are Z twisted & sewing thread are made. Single needle lock stitch & some other
machines are designed to use Z twisted threads as Z twisted threads are mostly used.
Some machines like flat lock machines use S twisted threads.
Monofilament:

These types of sewing threads are made from a continuous filament. It has no twist.
It is comparatively coarse and stiff (as one thread is used)
The cut edge of this thread causes discomfort.
Due to more stiffness, seam locking power is less & seam grip is less as a result, the stitches get open easily.
It is easy to match shade by using these threads as filaments are transparent generally.
Generally used in upholstery, house hold and other garments which dont come in contact to skin.

Joy Sarkar, Lecturer, Department of Textile Engineering, World University of Bangladesh

Page | 2

Multi filament:
These types of sewing threads are made from more than one filament by twisting together.
For flexible threads, filaments are twisted, twist set, dyed and lubricated.
For maximum properties & higher abrasion resistance.

Synthetic polymer coating is applied on the plied thread, so that among the each filament & in thread a polymer
bond is created.
Multi filament polyester threads are more strong and cheap.
Extensively used in garments and leather industries.

Textured filament:
A term used to describe filament yarn that has been treated to change its hand, increase bulk, and or increase
stretch.
Crimped by texturing (False twisting, air jet, edge crimping etc.)
Amount of crimp van be adjusted according to the end use.
Joy Sarkar, Lecturer, Department of Textile Engineering, World University of Bangladesh

Page | 3

Soft hand feel & used as under thread & in edge finishing.
Nylon textured have more crimp rigidity than polyester textured.
Seam locking property good than mono & multifilament.
Generally used as looper thread.

Core spun thread:

Combination of filament and staple fibre.
Continuous filament (generally Polyester) as core and layer of staple (generally Cotton) fibres in a single
construction.
Several no. of single yarns are twisted to produce a sewing thread.
Strength like synthetic thread and quality of cotton fibre at the same time.
Shrinkage decreased.
No damage because of needle heat as cotton fibre is in outside.
Need two times dyeing for cotton & polyester, So more dyeing cost.
Now a days polyester filament and polyester staples are used in core spun threads.
Used in high quality garments.
NB: Cotton wrapped polyester has excellent sewability & preferred for denim.

Joy Sarkar, Lecturer, Department of Textile Engineering, World University of Bangladesh

Page | 4

Thread finish:
Objectives:
To reduce friction between thread and needle/ fabric.
To reduce damage of synthetic thread against needle heat.
To serve special purposes (To protect from mildew to produce protective clothing).
To increase production rate.
Lubricant is the most used finishing material

Characteristics/Properties of good lubricants or features of good quality sewing thread lubricant:

Should not close the needle eye.

Should no create any strain on needle or fabric.
Should not create any problem/ trouble to unwind threads from the package.
Must reduce the friction between machine and thread.
Should not create any harm at high temperature.
Should be easy to apply on threads.
Should be comparatively cheap.
In special purpose threads (Water resistant, flame retardant), should no damage the special power of the
thread.

Sewing thread package:

Requisites:
Compact and stable package.
Easy unwinding/ withdrawal.
Easy feeding to the sewing machine

Different types of packages

Spool:

Smallest package of sewing thread.

Flanged bobbin package (bobbin made of wood or plastic).
100 500m thread parallel wound.
Except textured all kinds of sewing threads may be wound on spool.
Not used in high speed machines.
Used in domestic purpose. Little Use in shoe or leather industry.

Joy Sarkar, Lecturer, Department of Textile Engineering, World University of Bangladesh

Page | 5

Figure: Spool of sewing thread.

Cop:

Small cylindrical and with no flange.

Threads are cross wound.
1000 2500 m threads are wound on the package.
Difficulties arise in fast unwinding as small & thin package, so not used in high speed machines.
Used in fashion garments where thread color may frequently change.
Domestic use is very common example.

Figure: Cop package.

Cone:

Angular hollow tube.

Tube made of plastic.
4000 to 5000m or more threads are cross wound.
Used in high speed machines.
Ideal package for garments industry.
Easy and fast unwinding.
Extensively used.

Joy Sarkar, Lecturer, Department of Textile Engineering, World University of Bangladesh

Page | 6

Figure: Sewing thread cone.

Vi cone:
Parallel or low angled tube with a flange which may incorporate a small lip.
Polished & filament threads wound.
Variable length of thread.
May be small vi cine or large vi cone.

Figure: Vicone of sewing thread.

Joy Sarkar, Lecturer, Department of Textile Engineering, World University of Bangladesh

Page | 7

Container:
Large package.
In case of filament threads, those are not controllable in the normal package, containers are used.
Lubricant applicator is placed at the thread unwinding position.

Figure: Container

Large package:
Large type of package (Cone/ Tube).
20000 m or more thread.
Used in over edge & covering stitch machine.
Cocoon:
Special type of thread package.
No support to wind thread.
Used in multithread quilting machine and some embroidery machine.

Figure: Cocoon of sewing thread

Joy Sarkar, Lecturer, Department of Textile Engineering, World University of Bangladesh

Page | 8

Pre wound bobbin:

Precisely wound package.
Used as lock stitch bobbin when bobbin is exhausted as it is time consuming to reload it.
Ne center support (metal/paper).

Figure: Pre-wound bobbins.

Example of different sewing threads package capacity (Common):

Thread count

Cone quantity

20/9
20/6
20/4
20/3
20/2
40/2
40/3
50/2

500m
1000m
2000m
2000m
3000m
4000m
4000m
4000m

Difference between sewing thread and yarn:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Yarn
Used to manufacture fabric.
Not plied.
Regular yarns are not lubricated
Yarn is twisted form of fabric.

5. Not strong like sewing thread.

Sewing thread
1. Use to in garments.
2. Plied (two or more plain).
3. Lubricating is done for sewing thread.
4. Sewing thread is twisted form of yarn (single yarn).
5. More strong than regular yarn.

Joy Sarkar, Lecturer, Department of Textile Engineering, World University of Bangladesh

Page | 9

Properties of good quality of sewing thread:

Some coats recommendation are given below

Thread

Description

Coats Aptan

Continuous Filament
(Nylon)

TKT. Tex

Tensile
Strength
(CN)

Elongation %

Recommended
Needle Size

Minimum Maximum

Coats Epic
Antisil
Coats Gral
Antiwick
Coats Dual
Duty
Coats Astra

40

70

4600

16

26

110-120

80

35

2000

14

24

80-90

80

40

1900

22

23

80-90

60

45

2800

15

20

90-100

80

35

2100

16

21

80-90

Polyester-Cotton core
spun

120

24

970

19

21

70-75

Spun Polyester

50
80
120

60
40
27

2700
1500
1000

21
17
13

22
18
15

90-110
80-90
70-80

Polyester core spun

Polyester

Points to be checked during thread selection:

What type of production is being produced.

Type of fabric being used.
Sewability.
Seam performance.
Seam appearance.
Cost
Twist.
Thread count.
Fibre content.
Thread finished.

Joy Sarkar, Lecturer, Department of Textile Engineering, World University of Bangladesh

Page | 10