See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/292388206

Processing and Properties of Sewing Threads

Article  in  Indian Journal of Textile Research · August 2009

CITATIONS READS

0 2,195

2 authors, including:

A. Kumar
Dupont
63 PUBLICATIONS   287 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by A. Kumar on 31 January 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Processing & properties
of sewing threads

Sewing threads can make or mar garments, and hence a thorough understanding of
their processing and properties is vital for the industry to choose the right type of
the threads, emphasise M Subramanian Senthil Kannan and Dr Akshay Kumar.

A
ccording to the definition is to provide uniform stress ity, sophisticated and economi-
given by ASTM, sewing transfer from one piece of fabric cal production methods and the
thread is a flexible, small to another, thus preserving the controllable elasticity of the
diameter yarn or strand usually overall integrity of the fabric seam produced.
treated with a surface coating, assembly.
lubricant or both, intended to be Different types of sewing
Seam can be formed by the
used to stitch one or more following techniques:
threads
pieces of material or an object Usually, sewing threads are

Mechanical: Stapling,
to a material. It may be defined manufactured from either natural
sewing.
as smooth, evenly spun, hard- or man-made fibres in either
twisted ply yarn, treated by a
Physical: Welding or heat-
staple or filament form3. A broad
special finishing process to setting.
classification of different types
make it resistant to stresses in
Chemical: By means of
its passage through the eye of a resins2.
needle and through material The formation of seams by
involved in seaming and stitch- physical and chemical methods
ing operations1. is restricted to a few specialised
Sewing threads are used in applications, as these processes
garment, upholstery, air-sup- tend to alter certain properties
ported fabric structures and of the textile material. Among
geotextiles to join different mechanical sewing techniques,
components by forming a seam. sewing maintains its prevailing
The primary function of a seam position by virtue of its simplic-

16 The Indian Textile Journal, August 2009

 Sewing Threads
of sewing threads is given ments during sewing. The fore possess adequate strength
below: strength of the sewing thread and elongation in order to
perform satisfactorily during
sewing and in seam7.
3. For good performance in a
sewing machine moderate to
low extension-at-break of the
thread is usually preferred.
Needle thread with different
elongation-at-break has been
found to behave quite differently
during stitch formation. The
Essential properties required must be higher than that of the determinants of success of
for sewing threads fabric so that the thread does sewing a thread with certain
Industrial sewing techniques not rupture during use. During elongation per cent without any
make specific and often very sewing at high speeds, the problem are the machine setting
needle thread is subjected to and special properties of the
exacting demands on the
repeated tensile stresses at very sewing thread itself6.
threads involved in the sewing
high rates. The thread also
process. The sewability of
comes under the influence of
sewing threads is of major
heat, bending, pressures, torsion
importance6, having a very
and wearing. The value of these
profound effect on seam quality
stresses depends on the sewing
and production costs. The
speed, machine settings and the
sewing and the seam perfor-
thread used. The stresses created
mance of a sewing thread are
within the thread have a nega-
largely influenced by the
tive effect on the processing
material to be sewn, the sewing
and functional characteristics of
technique and the end-use for
the thread, and there is signifi-
which the sewn material is
cant reduction in the thread
intended. These requirements
strength after sewing.
can be defined as:
This is a function of the 4. The elasticity of the sewing

The ability of the sewing thread must be uniform along its
dynamic and thermal loading of
thread to meet the functional length in order to enable equal
the thread and is influenced by
requirements of producing the length stitches to be formed,
the thread frictional properties,
desired seam effectively. and it must closely match the
thread tensioning during sewing,

The ability of the sewing needle size, stitch length and elasticity of the fabric being
thread to provide the desired number of fabric layers in the sewn; Otherwise either seam
aesthetics and serviceability in seam. The thread should there- thread fracture, or tearing of the
the seam. adjacent fabric may arise during

The cost of sewing thread garment use. Clearly, the
and that associated with produc- requirements of woven and
ing the desired seam. knitted fabrics will be different.
The different important 5. The forces that are devel-
properties required by a sewing oped in the sewing thread are
thread are discussed below: mostly due to the friction
between the thread and ma-
1. Needle thread must pass
chine parts, the most severe
freely through the small eye of
action taking place between:
the needle; Consequently they
must be uniform, knot-free, non-
The thread and the needle.
torque and fault free.
The thread and the fabric
2. Tensile strength/breaking being sewn.
strength is one of the essential A controlled level of both
properties of the thread. It must static and dynamic friction is
be capable of withstanding required; This must not be too
several kinetic/lateral move- high, which could cause lack of

The Indian Textile Journal, August 2009 17

 needle during enable the stitch forming
sewing very much mechanism of the sewing
depends on: machine to perform correctly;

The nature of Most sewing machine require Z
the fabric to be twist, but there are a few where
sewn (density, performance is better with S
thickness, finish). twist.

The speed of 10. Colour fastness is a general
the sewing machine. requirement for sewing thread. It
is important that the selected

The type of
shade retain its colour through-
needle used (size,
out the life of the garment. Two
shape, surface
aspects of fastness are impor-
finish).
tant:

Size and finish
of the sewing
The thread must not
thread control. High static change colour.
thread.
friction values are necessary to
The thread must not stain
allow the stitches to lock and The needle temperature is
especially critical for fabrics any material adjacent to the
prevent “Run-back” of seams. seam.
Spun threads are particularly and sewing threads of thermo-
good in this respect when plastic fibres, where it may 11. Low shrinkage during
compared with filament thread. exceed their melting tempera- washing and ironing is required.
The worst is the monofilament ture. Needle heating causes Shrinkage due to fibre swelling
threads. The frictional properties sewing thread breakage, cross- causes seams to pucker, espe-
thread, skipped stitches, seam cially if the fabric exhibits less
are affected by lubrication. The
damage and physical damage to shrinkage than threads. Synthetic
factors that influence the
the needle. threads suffer less from this
frictional properties are:
Various studies show that the problem than cotton threads

Uniform application of owing to their much lower
sewing thread influences the
lubricating agents. moisture absorbency; However
needle temperature significantly.

Adhesion of the finishing Its movement through the they are liable to residual
agent on the thread. needle reduces the needle shrinkage problems if unsuitable
The quantity and quality of temperature by an average of manufacturing processes are
finishes are very important. 21 - 45%, the amount of reduc- employed. Synthetic threads can
Special finishes like silicone tion depends on the sewing suffer from the problem of
compounds have been found to condition and the structure, thermal shrinkage during ironing
exhibit clear advantage over fineness and composition of but this difficulty can be solved
standard paraffin wax. sewing thread. by the use of high temperature
6. Good abrasion resistance is Lubrication of sewing thread setting, which stabilises the
essential for good sewing with a mixture of wax, emul- thread at temperature above
performance. The thread is sions with synthetic resins, and those normally encountered
under tension condition, espe- silicon based products may during the ironing process.
cially when the stitch is being minimise heat generation, and The sewing threads should
set. The thread must be resilient the fibres surface of spun yarns possess better evenness and
enough to return to shape after may be an advantage in that a should contain minimal number
the distortions, and then must thin layer of the surrounding air of knots, faults and neps, etc.
maintain its physical properties will move with the thread and Thread should have very low
to provide good performance in promote needle cooling. level of imperfections and
the seam after the sewing 8. The hairiness of sewing classimat faults.
process is complete. Nylon and thread also affects the appear- 12. Good lustre in the thread
polyester offer the best resis- ance of the seam. Sewing improves appearance of the
tance to abrasion. threads for decorative seams are seam.
7. Good resistance to heat is singed, squeezed and gloss- 13. Threads must be uniformly
a very important requirement of brushed. dyed in a good match to the
a sewing thread. The tempera- 9. The final direction of twist materials being sewn and also
ture reached by the sewing insertion may be important to the dyed thread should have

18 The Indian Textile Journal, August 2009

 Sewing Threads
properties like colourfastness to washing, light,
perspiration, and sublimation.
14. The ability of the thread to perform effi-
ciently in the sewing machine is defined
sewability. It can be assessed by the number of
breaks that occur during the sewing of a certain
number of stitches. However, owing to the
generation of needle heat in high-speed sewing,
the threads could be damaged without breaking.
The long knot-free evenner yarns in case of
rotor and air-jet can give better sewability.
15. The characteristics of properly constructed
seam are strength, elasticity, durability, stability
and appearance. The relative importance of
these qualities is determined by the end-use of
the sewn product. The factors that govern these
properties are seam and stitch type, thread
strength and elasticity, stitches per unit length
of seam, thread tension, seam efficiency of the
material. The hairiness of sewing thread is
important to decide seam appearance. The
shrinkage potential of the thread and hence the
seam is also major importance for proper seam
appearance. The serviceability of a garment
depends not only on the quality of the fabric
but also on that of the seam. The seam quality
is measured by stitching parameters of the
threads and seam parameters such as size,
slippage and strength.
The failure of seam produced by traverse
loading can generally be classified as: Type I:
The failure due to thread breakage, Type II: The
failure due to fabric breakage, Seam breakage:
The failure due to the slippage of cloth yarns at
right angle to the seam.
Seam slippage is the most probable cause
for seam failure that leads to garment rejection
in wear. The durability of a seam depends
largely on its strength and its relationship with
elasticity of the material. It is measured in
terms of seam efficiency, where Seam effi-

The Indian Textile Journal, August 2009 19

ciency = (Seam tensile strength/fabric tensile the formula:
strength) x 100, generally ranges between 85 to Thickness strain (%) = (seam thickness – 2 x fabric
90%. The minimum loop strength correlates thickness) x 100/2 x fabric thickness {ref}
well with the stitch breaking strength. Further
Process flow chart of sewing thread
resistance to abrasion and wear of the seam
during everyday use, including laundering is The process flow chart for the manufacture of
also essential for the longer seam. sewing threads is shown in the given flowchart.
16. Seam pucker can be defined as a differen- Functions of various machines in sewing thread
tial shrinkage occurring along the line of a manufacturing process
seam and is mainly caused due to seam insta- Yarn singeing
bility, due to high tension imposed during Sewing thread must be singed to ensure that the
sewing. Though currently available threads have projecting fibres do not interfere with downstream
a certain amount of controlled elasticity and processing. Percentage of singeing can be achieved
elongation they get over-stretched when the varied by varying the yarn collection speed. Hair
sewing tensions are high. During relaxation the removal efficiency at singeing machine is normally
thread recovers its original length, thus gather- 30 - 50%. Flame temperature is around 8000 C.
ing up the seam. Threads for use in apparel are Singeing is mainly done in Cotton Sewing Threads.
also required to have good stability to launder- Features
ing, ironing and other treatments since differen-

The heart of the machine - the burner, serves
tial shrinkage between the sewing thread and
to singe reliably the projecting fibres of yarn run-
the fabric of a garment can cause puckering.
ning through at high speed, without inflicting burns
Further, Seam pucker can be determined by on yarn itself. There is a choice between the gas
measuring the differences in fabric and seam burner and the electric burner. Gas burner are
thickness under a constant compressive load. widely used. The gas burner consumes about 55 gm
The seam-thickness strain is calculated by using of natural, propane or butane gas an hour, depend-
ing on singeing rate and yarn type.

Speed: 300 - 1,200 m/min.
Hank to cone winding

Conversion of hank into cone of suitable
weight.

Waxing for reducing co-efficient of friction in
sewing thread.
Features of new machines

Twin Input Rollers: At the front of the head are
the twin-input rollers, set to a fixed speed but
proportional to the winding speed. The main func-
tions of this unit are to eliminate unwanted tensions
prior to yarn entering waxing unit.

The speed of machine ranging from 400 - 700
mpm, with possible traverse from 150 - 200 mm.
Polishing
Some threads for special end-uses like leather
industries, bag stitching, kite flying are treated with
starch, softeners, whitener, etc, on this machine.
Cooked starch is mixed with other chemicals and
different recipes are made for different qualities
depending on the end-uses.
Main objectives of polishing are:

Extra ordinary smooth surface.

Thread becomes round.

Stiffness increases.

Increase in tensile strength (7 - 10%).

20 The Indian Textile Journal, August 2009

 Sewing Threads
Cross winding and lubrication

Winding in various types of sewing thread packages
like cone, cop, tube, ball, vicone and spool.

Threads are treated with special waxes for achieving
best workability during sewing operation.

Lick roller lubrication is applied on industrial sewing
thread where thread has to run on high-speed sewing ma-
chine; The basic ingredient of the most of the lubricants is
parafin wax. Although silicones are also used because of
their stability to heat and various additives are also included
to give some special properties.
Geometry of packages
Threads are wound in many forms. Small length spools
are employed in retail store distribution, whereas somewhat
larger spools are used to a limited extent industrially. Some
of the very fine soft threads are wound on cones, very
coarse soft threads are in skein form, but the largest propor-
tion by far is wound on the one-headed tube with base or
straight tubes. These packages in some instances are put on
a weight basis; However, the larger percentage is marked on
a length basis. Ready-wound bobbins in a number of styles
to accommodate the various sewing machines employed are
also available. Cross-winding threads are generally laid in
with traverse ratio 1:6 (one
double traverse = six
spindle revolution) and 1:4
for coarser counts.
The following types of
packages are used in
sewing threads (with commonly used dimensions).
Spool: Spools are small flanged plastic or wooden bobbins,
they are both with tapered (so-called Diabolo spools) and
straight flanges. Mainly parallel winding (because side
unwinding is easy) is done. Cross-windings are also possible
on the spools. They contain relatively short length of 100 -
500 meter thread. The length of traverse on spool is 2.9 -
3.8 cm.
End-uses: Upholstery, footwear, leather goods manufacturing,
and in hand sewing operations.
Cop: Cops are small cylindrical flangeless spools, with
precision cross-winding. They are mostly made of paper and
plastic. They are of two types, small cop (Tube) and medium
cop (Cop). The lack of flanges facilitates regular off winding
on industrial sewing machines although their small diameter
makes them less well suited to the faster thread take off
machines. Smaller cops are popular make-up in fashion
trades, where a variety of shades are used and production
runs for any one colour or style of garment. The length of
thread wound ranges from 100 - 2,000 m on small cop and
400 - 4,000 m
on cop. The
length of
traverse on small
cop is 5 - 6.3

The Indian Textile Journal, August 2009 21

cm and on cop is 10 cm.
End-uses: Kite flying, uphol-
stery, readymade garment,
tailoring, hosiery, umbrella, and
shoe stitching.
Cone: This is self-supporting,
m with length of traverse Different types of winding
cross wound conical package. It
6.5 - 9 cm. system
is easier to withdraw yarn over
end from a cone than from a End-uses: Embroidery, core- Precision winding:
cheese and because of this, spun, and filament threads.
Constant winding ratio.
cone is more widely used. They Prewound Bobbin: Prewound
Winding angle reduces
contain relatively long lengths bobbins are precision parallel with increasing diameter.
1,000 - 25,000 m with length of wound thread package designed
traverse ranging from 10 - 15 to replace metal bobbins on a
variety of lock stitch machines.
Skein: A very
small hank of
soft twisted plied
thread (around 8
m) of coarse
count, is parallel

No pattern areas.
wound with the
cm. They give trouble free help of rotating flyer, which
Good off-winding character-
thread unwinding at intermittent withdraws the thread from the istics.
or continuous high speeds. supply package cone.
High package density.
Cones are the most economical End-uses: Embroidery. Step precision or digicone
packages for conventional Ball: A typical ball like struc- winding:
sewing threads in situations where ture, wound with the help of
Almost constant winding
thread consumption is high and four types of different winding. angle.
production runs are long. They are: Rough base winding,
The wind ratio is reduced
End-uses: Readymade garment, form winding, surface layer
in steps.
tailoring, hosiery, leather stitch- winding, and circumference
ing, upholstery, shoe stitching, winding. The initial winding
Combines the advantage of
denim, embroidery, and kite provides firmness at the base. random and precision winding.
flying. Next winding process makes
No pattern areas.
Vicone or King Spool: Vicones space for placing the identifica-
Higher consistent package
tion ticket. The third stage of
winding provides firm
gripping of the ticket.
The last stage of
winding makes a band
over the ball, which
retains its shape. An
easy unwinding of density.
thread is possible.

Perfect unwinding charac-
are parallel tubes or low angled End-uses: Embroidery, fishing teristics.
cones with an additional base in net and bag closing.

Straight sided packages.
the form of a raised flange, Cocoon: Cocoons are self-
which may incorporate a small supporting ie, center-less thread Random winding:
tip. The build of vicone depends package specially designed for
on the exact conformity of the the insertion in the shuttle of
taper with the angle of vicone’s multi needle quilting and some
base. Coarse yarns require a types of embroidery. Cocoons
large traverse for the taper -- are used in the shuttle of multi
fine yarn a small one. They needle quilting and some types
contain lengths of 1,000 - 5,000 of embroidery machines.

22 The Indian Textile Journal, August 2009

 Sewing Threads

Winding angle is kept ance, look, and life of the
constant since the winding ratio garment in the long run, even
reduces with increasing diameter. though it usually represents

Stable packages. much less than 1% by mass of

Even density. a garment.
Pineapple winding: Now-a-days, a numerous

Winding traverse reduces to variety of sewing threads are
available in the market due to
produce packages with tapered
diverse demands from the
edges.

2. Form winding.
3. Surface layer winding.
4. Circumferencial winding.
Skein winding:

Required for filament

winding operations.

All three types of winding
Easy unwinding.
applicable.
Very small parallel strand
Parallel winding: of soft twisted thread. sewing industry, increasing use
of different types of fibres in the

Very high package density. Applications of sewing garment industry and expanding

Thread vertical to package threads application of textile materials
axis. Approximately 80% of all in various fields like apparels,

Relatively short lengths of sewing threads produced are technical applications as well.
thread. used by the
Table 2

Suitable for side unwinding. clothing indus-
tries. The main Approximate

No pattern areas5, 6. Class percentage of all
classes of cloth-
threads produced
ing requiring
Dresses and blouses 13
threads are as
shown in Table 2 Shirts and nightwear 5
and 3. Suits, coats and other outwear
Underwear 28
Conclusion 16
The sewing Knitwear
Ball winding: thread is of Work clothing

Very easy unwinding. considerable
Sportswear
importance,

Winding takes place in 4 playing a major
Footwear
stages: role in retaining Other clothing 21
1. Rough base winding. the fabric appear- accessories

Corrigendum
In some of the texts in the article – Life-cycle costs: Higher profits by anticipating overall costs
– that appears on Pages 40, 41 & 42 of the July issue of The Indian Textile Journal, the word
‘life-cycle’ has been mistakenly spelt as ‘life-style’. The inadvertent error is regretted.
- Editor

The Indian Textile Journal, August 2009 23

 Table 3: End-uses of different types of sewing threads
Cotton Spun Core Textured Air-jet Bonded Bonded
polyester spun threads textured fil (nylon) fil (PET)
Garment Shirts All apparel Slacks Jeans Automotive Rainwear
Embroidery Blouses (lingerie
Selvage Lingerie to jeans) Home Mattresses Interiors Furniture
Threads Slacks Furniture furnishing Slacks Seat belts Tents
Tea bag Knits Shoes Shirts Mops Air-bags Footwear
Strings Jeans Tents Blouses Flags Footwear Mattresses
Bag closing Mattresses Jeans Caps Leather Sporting
Embroidery T-shirts Canvass goods
Brief goods Embroidery
Fleece Luggage
Sporting
goods
Better understanding of the 4. K N Krishna Swamy: Prerequi-
sewing process and its require- sites for Manufacturing
ments as obtained through Sewing Thread -- I, The
studies by modern instrumenta- Indian Textile Journal, March
tion techniques has also greatly 1982, pp 103-111.
contributed to the development 5. H U Bhonde: Sewing
of new threads. It is also very Thread: Types and
much required and appreciable Some Recent Developments,
to have different types of MANTRA Bulletin, Manmade
sewing threads, which can suit Textiles Research Associa-
various applications, since tion, Vol 19/11, November
various end-uses demand spe- 2001, pp 5-10.
cific property requirements. 6. Pradip V Mehta, and Satish
It is beyond anybody’s doubt is possible by the correct K Bharadwaj: Managing
that the success of garment understanding of the type of Quality in the Apparel
manufacturing process mainly fibre used to manufacture, Industry, National Institute of
depends upon the operation of manufacturing processing se- Fashion Technology,
sewing, though a very better quence & properties of different New Delhi, India, New Age
quality of fabric is selected for types of sewing threads existing Publishers, 1998.
the garment manufacturing on earth, which was touched 7. K R Salhotra, P K Hari and
process. Again, the sewing upon in this technical article to G Sundaresan: Sewing
threads play a vital role in the a greater extent. Thread Properties, Textile
success of sewing operation, Asia, September 1994, pp
since a wrong thread may ruin References
46-57.
a very high quality fabric and 1. J O Ukponmwan, A
Mukhopadhyay and K 8. Walter Fung, and Mike
even a best sewing machine
N Chatterjee: Sewing Hardcastle: Textiles
used for the sewing, and the
Threads, Textile Progress, in Automotive Engineering,
whole process will fail. It can
The Textile Institute, Volume Woodhead Publishing, 2001.
add to waste of both time and
money. Hence, it is very much 30, No: 3/4, pp 1.
imperative to select a right type 2. S D Pai, V G Munshi and A
M Subramanian Senthil Kannan
of sewing thread which can suit V Ukidue: Cotton and
is with the Department of Textile
one’s requirements exactly. This Synthetic Sewing Thread -- Technology, PSG College of
I, The Indian Textile Journal, Technology, Coimbatore.
August 1984, pp 63-75. Email: senthilkannan@gmail.com.
Dr Akshay Kumar is with the
3. Alan Crook (information
Department of Textile Technology
updated by Ron Lioyd), Indian Institute of Technology
Sewing Threads, Textiles, New Delhi 110 016.
Issue No: 2, 1991, pp 14-16. Email: akshay.sardana@gmail.com.

24 The Indian Textile Journal, August 2009

View publication stats