Magazine November 2019

Preserve the established and drive forward innovations

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On trend: Fine materials

Fashion and clothing made from fine fabrics are currently really on trend. Whether underwear, shirts, blouses, swimwear or sportswear – fabrics are becoming ever finer. For the consumer, the main priority is comfort and functional characteristics like breathability or high elasticity. For the manufacturer, on the other hand, processing these fine materials is a real challenge. This is due to the material damage that frequently occurs during sewing.

The most frequent problems:

Material damage and seam puckering

Just an imageExample of material damage

Sewing fine and ultra-fine fabrics is often extremely difficult. As the sewing needle is inserted into the material, the loops or the warp threads and weft yarns often experience significant displacement. With fine fabrics, this can result in loop breaks in extreme cases, particularly when the needle used is too thick.

Just an imageExample of seam puckering

Excessive displacement of the warp threads and weft yarns can also cause seam puckering. This problem also increases the greater the size of the needle.

Other problems:

Thread breakage, skipped stitches and needle breakage

Just an imageExample of skipped stitches

To prevent material damage and seam puckering, the needle used should be as thin as possible when sewing fine fabrics. However, if the needle is too thin, thread breakage or skipped stitches may occur. In the worst case scenario, the needle may break due to insufficient stability.

The solution:

Special application needle SAN® 10

Groz-Beckert has offered the special application needle SAN® 10 for processing fine knitted and woven fabrics optimally for many years now. The specially designed geometry of this needle means it is both gentle on the material and has sufficient stability.

Just an imageSmaller displacement cross-section in the eye area

Its slim design means that it has a smaller displacement cross-section in the eye area. This reduces the stress on the loops or the warp threads and weft yarns when the needle is inserted into the fabric. This protects the material and prevents damage.

Even more gentle on the material:

The new SAN® 10 XS

Groz-Beckert has re-designed the special application needle SAN® 10 XS to enable optimal sewing of ever finer fabrics. The geometry of the “thinner sister” of the SAN® 10 needle has been optimized and is now even more gentle on the material. In addition to its extremely slim design, it also has a cylindrical blade, which enables the needle to be inserted gently into the material. This helps to prevent or reduce damage even with ultra-fine or difficult to sew fabrics.

However, the extremely slim geometry of the new SAN® 10 XS does have an impact on its stability. This means that there is an increased risk of the needle breaking when using the SAN® 10 XS. So it is only advisable to use the SAN® 10 XS if the top priority is preventing material damage. It is also advisable to always keep the sewing thread as thin as possible when using the SAN® 10 XS.

More information?

Would you like to find out more about the special application needles SAN® 10 and SAN® 10 XS or test the new SAN® 10 XS? Our sales team will be happy to help.

  • Did you know?

    With ultra-fine knitwear, the gauge (E) can be up to 90 E. This means that there are 90 stitches in one inch of fabric. For woven fabric, E indicates the number of warp and weft yarns over one inch of fabric. Here, ultra-fine fabrics are between 200 and 300 E.

    With the new special application needle SAN® 10 XS, even this type of ultra-fine material can be processed with practically no material damage.