Terry Towel Manufacturing Process

In addition to what I have mentioned earlier, Terry Towelling is excellently described in this blog.
Replete with pictures, this post replies succintly the various process steps in manufacturing terry towel.

Sewing-7

Sewing Threads

Threads can be

Spun


Threads made from spun yarn have good sewing performance, good dimensional stability and good stitch locking properties in the seam due to their fibrous surface.

Monofilament


One filament of large size. It is harsh on machine and rather inflexible because the cross sectional shape never varies as it would with multifilaments.

Its cut ends are harsh on the wearer. It has virtually no seam grip and stitches tend to unravel easily.

Its good advantage is a translucency which reduces the need for shade matching.

Multifilament Form


Their fineness enables larger thread packages to be used, thus saving operator time changing them.

Corespun


In this a continuous multifilament core is wrapped around a sheath of spun fiber, two or three of these yarns are then plied together.

The majority of these corespun threads consist of a polyester core and a cotton cover.

Sewing-6

Sewing Threads

Selection of sewing threads depends upon the following factors:

1. Performance properties during sewing
2. Performance in the completed garment under conditions of wear and cleaning

Appearance and perfomance of the threads depends upon:

1. Fiber Type
2. Construction
3. Finish

1. Fiber Type

a. Linen- Useful in making strong, rather stiff threads for heavy sweing and also for button sewing.

b. Slk - Advantage- Good appearance and performance, Disadvantage- High Cost

c. Cotton - Good Sewing Performance, Disadvantages- Strength and abrasion resistance are inferior to synthetic threads of equal thickness.
It is more stable at higher, dry temperature than synthetics- less affected by hot needles during sewing.

d. Viscose- 1. Do not have the strength or durability of synthetic fibres. 2. Low tenacity and low strength when wet. 3. High lustre- can be used for embroidery.

Nylon/ Polyester Threads
1. Not affected by rot, mildew or bectaria
2. High Tenacity
3. High resistance to abrasion
4. Good resistance to Chemicals

2. Construction

When the fibres occur in short lengths, they must be twisted together, initially into a single yarn, and then that twist must be balanced by applying a reverse twist, as two or three such yarns are combined to form the thread construction.

- Twist in singles yarn consolidates the strenth and flexibility provided by the fibres themselves.

- Without the reverse twist, known as finishing twist, a conventional thread cannot be controlled during sewing. The individual plies would separate during their repeated passages through the needles and over the sewing machine control surface.

- Remember that the frictional forces acting on a thread during its passage through a sewing machine also tend to insert some twist, predominantly in one direction.

Sewing-5

Needle Point

These are divided into two parts- Cutting points and cloth points.

Cutting Points: These are needed for fabrics like leather where there are no gaps in the structure.

Cloth Points: These are needed for those fabrics where there are gaps in the structure.

Cutting point Neeedles

a. Wedge Point: It produces most durable seam on leather. It resists great stress, the incision lie at right angle to the seam direction and high stitch density can be achieved.

b. Cross Point: Here strength is considerably weakened. The material is likely to tear if stress is at the right angle. The incisions lie parallel to the direction of the seam.

c. Twist Point: The strength is intermediate and the incisions like 45 deg. to the direction of the seam.


Cloth Point Needles

These are used for sewing textile materials rather than the sheet material already described. The points have a round cross section.

The needles are different for the various woven and knitted fabrics.

Knitted fabrics consist of yarns with spaces between them and if a yarn in a knitted fabric is broken the knitted structure may begin to unravel. The requirement in sewing knitted fabrics is :

a. A needle which will slightly deflate the yarns and enter the spaces.

b. A needle of as small a size as possible consistent with needle strength and sewing thread size.

c. A fabric which is sufficiently lubricated that it has flexibility in relation to the movement of the needle.

The shape of the tip of the neele point which best achieves this deflation is a ball shape and the needle is referred to as a ball point needle.

Woven fabric consist of yarns which can have greater or lesser amounts of twist, interlaced with each other at various degrees of density.

For that a needle is needed that goes between the fibres and does not strike and break them.

The shape of the tip of the needle point which best achieves this penetration between the fibres has the appearance of being slighly cone shaped. It is usually referred to as a set point needle.