Investigation of Seam Pucker in Lightweight Synthetic Fabrics as an Aesthetic Property Part I: A Cognitive Model for the Measurement of Seam Pucker

Seam pucker is an area which is now receiving particular attention especially with the development of microfibre fabrics which are inherently prone to deformations during garment manufacture. Although fabric properties can be related to seam pucker, the aesthetic judgement is still left to subjective assessment which is based upon ranking the stitched fabric samples by judges having compared them with photographic ‘standards’. The shortcomings of this procedure are obvious; judges do not always agree, they need to be trained, the procedure is time consuming and non standardised. This paper reports upon the development of a new measuring procedure which is based on the use of a computer and a camera, ie computer ‘vision’. This procedure is objective and is focused on the aesthetic property of the seam assembly, by ‘modelling’ the cognitive process involved in seam pucker assessment The results are organised in two parts: Part I reports on the development of a cognitive ‘model’ for the measurement of seam pucker and Part II on the model implementation using the computer ‘vision’ system.