An Application of Digital Filtering to Seam Pucker Grading in Clothing

Abstract

Seam pucker is an important quality control parameter in garment manufacture but until now has been measured by a subjective comparison method. Attempts have been made to measure pucker objectively but these have only been successful for flat seams laid on flat surfaces. The intention of the authors' work is to develop methods applicable to seams or actual garments. This paper demonstrates that by the use of laser profile measurement and the application of appropriate digital filters, objective measurements of pucker level can be made as accurately on curved surfaces as on flat. In the case of doubly-curved surfaces it was necessary to use a two-dimensional filter. It was also found that the logarithm of the chosen parameters, the variance and the mean error, were linearly related to the pucker grade. This is a case-study of a novel appilcatlon of a well-known engineering technique in a non-engineering area.