Alternative Method is a Method Which is Specially Used in Non Woven Fabric.

1. PRIMEASIA
UNIVERSITY
a mission with a vision
Department of Textile Engineering
Course Code: TXE-309
Course Title: Garments Manufacturing Technology-//
ASSIGNMENT ON:
Significanceof Alternative Method of Fabric Joining on
Bangladeshi Garments industry.
Noyon Chandra Roy Jafrul Fahid Khan
Lecturer ID: 173-016-041
Dept. of textile engineering Dept. of textile engineering
Primeasia University Primeasia University
Date of Submission: 22-04-2020

2. Introduction:
In readymade garments industry, fabrics are joined by using two methods for making
the apparel where one is sewing method and another is alternative method. Both methods
contain some features which shown in this article by using table.
Fabric joining method followed in apparel industry
Sewing Method:
It is the most used sewing process in garments manufacturing industry. Sewing is done by
using needle and thread. One of the important advantage of this method is that, fabrics can be
sewn again by opening defective stitch.
Alternative Method:
This process is not used as sewing process. Here, fabrics are joined by using adhesive, fusion
glueing, stapling and moulding. Here, fabrics cannot be joined again by opening defective stitch.
Methods of Fabric Joining:
The dominant process in the assembly of garments is sewing. Many attempts have been
developed to replace sewing but the required speed, flexibility, appearance and performance
which can be achieved only with sewing. So the alternative methods of fabric joining have their
uses confined to some limited situations.
Alternative Methods of Fabric Joining Applied in Apparel Industry
Alternative Methods of Joining Fabric:
To join the fabric, sewing process is done by using needle and sewing thread. It is the oldest and
widely used method in readymade garments industry. But there are some fabric joining process
comes by researching with a long time though those have some limitations such as seam

3. appearance, joining speed, seam performance etc. In case of some special cases, those
alternative methods have to apply for fabric joining in lieu of normal sewing method. Those
methods have discussed in this article.
Alternative Methods of Fabric Joining Applied in Garment Industry:
There are four methods which are normally applied for fabric joining in lieu of
normal sewing methods. Those are-
1. Fusing,
2. Welding,
3. Adhesive,
4. Molding.
All the above processes or methods have explained in the below:
1) Fusing
Fusing can be simply explained as the systematic process of bonding of fabric pieces. To launch
bonding process adhesives are commonly used. Adhesives are synthetic thermoplastic resins.
When two fabrics are joining together with adhesives must be proper controlled heat, pressure
and time. If have any of the condition unbalance following fusing problems can be seen.
· Strike back - Penetration of resin through the interlining substrate.
· Strike through - Penetration of resin to the face shell fabric.
· Differential shrinkage - puckering or raveling surface of shell fabric.
· Delamination - Can be seen bubbled appearance of shell fabric.
· Colour change - According to higher temperature colour patches can be seen.
· Bubbling - Bubbled and puckered area on the face fabric
· Boardiness - Too much resin and irregular resin placement.
To eliminate these problems can be proper controlled amount of adhesives, control correct
temperature, control fusing time and cooling time etc. And also skills of operator also directly

4. Fig: Fusing fabric joining method
affect to control fusing problems. Not only that to launch proper fusing operation specialized
fusing pressers, hand irons and steam pressers are used. In the specialized fusing process use
vertical action based pressing and scissor action techniques. We can identify as another fusing
system, continuous fusing system and this system has three heating system such as direct
heating, indirect heating and direct or indirect techniques. And this method process two
conveyer belt systems are used such as end to end feed and return feed. Using continuous fusing
system can be taken higher productivity. When we consider methods of fusing we can identified
three methods.
· Reverse fusing
· Sandwich fusing
· Double fusing
Shortly we can Explain
 Most widely used system and mostly used in case of joining interlining.
 In this process, the resin / polymer coated side of the base fabric of interlining are spread
on the underside of the garments fabric & joined by applying heat & pressure.
 Due to heating, the resin/polymer of interlining are melted & due to pressure, this
melted resin/polymer penetrate inside the construction of fibre of garments fabric & of
interlining base fabric. When they get cold, the melted polymer becomes hard &
interlining is joined with fabric.
 Limitation is, it only can be used for joining interlining, not suitable for general joining of
fabrics. Moreover this process cannot be used to join interlining to every kind of fabric

5. 2) Welding
Welding is a process in garments manufacturing, which involve the sealing together of
thermoplastic materials but heat is not applied externally. Uses of welding is limited but very
important where they are used. Their main areas of uses are:
The welding of decorative motifs to garments.
The sealing of the edges of sewn garments parts and other garments components to prevent
fraying and avoid the need for additional sewing.
The waterproofing of previously sewn seams in garments made from waterproof materials.
The materials to be welded must have at least 65% thermoplastic fibres. If two hard materials
are vibrated against each other they become hot at the point of contact. If plies of thermoplastic
materials are placed between the points of vibration, heat will be generated internally in the
materials where they touch and in sufficient heat applying in temperature range of 110 -170oC.
Fig : Fabric joining by welding

6. During welding thefollowing factorsarecarefully maintained:
 Amplitude of frequency
 Pressure applied
 Temperature
 Time period of vibration (practically it takes two seconds to complete welding).
The basic steps of welding are:
1. Heat applied on fabric
2. Melting of thermoplastic materials
3. Applying pressure on melted area
4. Creation of bonding
5. Cooling
6. Fabric joined
Amount of heat generation depends on:
 Amplitude of frequency
 Pressure
 Frequency
 Time of frequency
Advantage:
 Completely water proof seam can be prepared.
Disadvantages:
 Produced seam is stiff & rough so cannot be used in the seam which stays closely with
body
 Create discomfort feeling during wearing and used in cheap garments.
Note: The fabrics containing less than 65% thermoplastic fibers can also be joined by this method. In that case, a thin
polyethylene film should be used between two layers of fabric.

7. 3) Adhesives
The adhesives are of two types:
1. A coating of thin adhesive film on silicon paper which when transferred to fabric, the
plies of fabrics becomes joined.
2. One type of material which melts on applying heat and thus helps in joining plies of
fabrics.
The difference between the second type of adhesive and welding is that in the case of welding
heat is generated within the materials. When the fabric containing thermoplastic materials less
than 65%, adhesive is used instead of welding for joining fabrics.
Uses
 The use of an adhesive thread as one
of the looper threads in edge
neatening of hem. When the hem is
pressed the thread melts and holds it
in place without sewing.
 In the seams of waterproof garments. Fig: Fabric joining by adhesive
Differences between welding and adhesives
Applications
- For edge neatening of hems.
- Apply adhesives for in seams, to take no strain

8. 4) Moulding
Moulding is also another alternative method of garment assembly. The main objective of
molding can be explained as get the proper shape and remove the seams of the garment to
obtain comfortability. Moulding commonly causes the fabric to be permanently stretched or
shrunk effect .So it will do the both, by heating it until it just begins to soften. Finally it is
deformed in to the required shape and cooled so that new shape becomes permanent. To
achieve good moulding process, moulding functions are essential and that are namely,
· Shape
· Form
· Density
· Surface structure
And also heat, pressure, moisture and time
must be proper controlled. Under elements of moulding following points are controlled properly.
+ Use only heat
+ Use only moisture
+ Use only pressure
+ Use heat and moisture
+ Use moisture and mechanical pressure
+ Use heat and mechanical pressure
+ Use heat, moisture and mechanical process Example: Moulded Bra cups
Limitations Alternative Methods of Fabric Joining:
 Lower joining speed hence less production.
 Seam appearance is not so good.
 Seam performance is not satisfactory in some aspects compared to sewn seam
 Alternation of seam is quite difficult, also impossible in most of the cases.
 Comparatively less comfortable due to harsh feeling