Development of a Sewing Machine Controller for Seam Pucker Reduction using Online Measurement Feedback System

An automated sewing machine controller and a three-dimensional measurement system have been developed to find the optimum sewing condition that minimizes seam pucker. It is already known that there are various factors affecting the seam pucker. However, the selection of sewing conditions for reducing seam pucker has relied on the experience of skilled workers. In this study, thread tension, presser foot pressure, and stitch length were chosen as the parameters. Parameter settings were controlled by a computer, which enabled the automatic generation of samples with various combinations of sewing conditions. The seam pucker grade was determined from the scanned three-dimensional sample using a fractal dimension calculation. The optimum sewing conditions for a given sample can be determined from this result. The efficiency of the system was verified by comparing the newly developed method with the existing subjective evaluation method.