Fabric Spreading Techniques

• The different forms of piece goods packaging are
1. Open face rolled
• Most fabrics are rolled as a single ply on to a disposable tubular
cardboard core about 7 to 8 cm in diameter.The packages are suitable
for spreading by machine.
Fabric is flat open with
the face to the inside of
the roll
Fabric Packages

2.Tubular knitted fabric rolled
• This is usually used for the manufacture of garments such as sports shirts or t-
shirts
Tubular Fabric from a circular
knitting machine is rolled up.
Face is to the inside of the tube,
and there is a fold at each end
of the roll

3. Folded fabric rolled
• This form is traditional with the woolen fabrics used in tailored
garments

•This form occurs usually with check fabric to avoid the
distortions which may ensue from tight rolling.
•The doubled fabric is folded accurately backwards and
forwards in lengths of approx. 80-90 cm.
•The ends of piece being wrapped around the pile of folds.
4. Folded fabrics

5.Velvet-hanging
•Some velvets may be delivered wound on specially
constructed frames to prevent the pile becoming crushed

Face of Fabric
• Right Side: refers to the fabric side one sees when wearing the
garment.
• Wrong Side: refers to the fabric side that faces towards the body of
the wearer. The inside side of the fabric in a garment is wrong side
unless it covered with linings
• The side of the fabric facing towards the body is not the wrong side
in some parts of the fabric, e.g. collar, cuffs and facings

Spreading is the process of unwinding large rolls of
fabric onto long, wide tables and laying them in
superimposed plies of specified length.
SPREADING
Spreading is the process of superimposing lengths of
fabric on a spreading table, cutting table, or specially
designed surface in preparation for the cutting
process.

 The shape of the fabric that is attained as per as spreading
of fabric , is called the ‘’fabric lay’’ .
 A spread may consist of a single or multiple plies.
 The maximum cutting width is the usable fabric width
minus selvedge or needle marks caused by stencil marks.
 The cutting marker is laid on the topmost layer.

Quality Requirements of fabric
spreading
I. Alignment of the fabric plies:
 Fabric plies should be aligned according to the marker length and
marker width. All the plies edge one side of the spread
superimposed perfectly in vertical line.

II. Correct ply tension:
 To prepare the lay of the fabric, during fabric spreading its base
condition to maintain the correct ply tension.
• Tensioned spread cause
• Snap back: smaller garment parts if cut immediately after spreading or
• If spread is supposed to relax, the spread may be shorter than the marker
• Slack tension cause:
• Create billow and ridges in the spread
• Oversized pieces
• In accurate assembly
• Time waste for correction pattern shape and size

III. Elimination of static electricity: it is the problem of man-
made fibers.
 In fabric spreading static charge may produced due to friction
specially the fabric containing the man-made fiber like
polyester, nylon etc.
 It cause distortion of spreads
 Humidity increase, decrease the friction contact of the plies and
spreading surface, static eliminators are the solution

To overcome the problem we should take following
steps:
i. To use the antifriction paper
ii. To increase the moisture of cutting room,
iii.To use silicon finish in cutting blade.

IV. Spreading information
 Style Type
 Time Taken to Spreading
 Length, Width, Size to be Cut From One Spread.
 Identification marks

V. Defect free spreading
Uneven Spreading: Front edge of lay is not even, resulting in front or back
edge of marker not catching all plies.
Narrow Material: Bolts or rolls of material too narrow to cover marker
width.
Missed Sectional Breaks: Sectional marker breaks too long or too short.
Parts in lay will be short or material wasted.
Improper Tension: Cloth spread too tight or too loose, causing parts not to
fit in sewing or distorting dimensions of garments.

Mismatching Plaids: Material spread too loose or too tight, causing plaid
lines to run diagonally or bow.
Miss-directed Napping: Air pockets not removed. Napped material reversed
in spreading.
Improper Matching of Face of Material: Not spread face down, face up or
face to face as required.

Types of fabric lays:
There are two types of fabric lays :
Straight lay
Stepped lay
Straight lay

Setup for spreading
Verifying cutting orders
Positioning materials
Preparing cutting tables
Preparing machines
Loading machine
Reloading and delay time may use up to 70% of the time required
for the entire spreading operation.

• A spread or lay-up is the total amount of fabric prepared for
a single marker.
• The length of the spread determined by Marker Length
• The height of a lay-up or spread is limited by the following
factors
Spreading

Factor affecting lay height:
Thickness of fabric
 The greater the fabric thickness and greater lay height.
 The lower the fabric thickness and lower lay height
Volume of production
 The greater the fabric volume and greater lay height
Length of cutting knife
 The cutting knife length have must be 70% .
Nature of fiber
 Cotton and seed fibers are natural fibers.
 Cotton fiber thickness is very higher
 Seed fiber thickness is very lower

Spreading
•The spreading table may be covered with a paper that can
protect the lay from any rough spot
•The paper facilitate easy movement of lay if it is to be cut in
different table
•It also prevent distortion of lower plies by the base of the
cutting knife
•Some fabric (synthetic) may need additional layer of paper in
between plies to prevent slippery of the fabrics or in certain
interval of plies

 The final step of spreading is placing the marker on
the lay unless to be cut by CNC
 The marker to be held in place with an adhesive,
weighted, or stapled to prevent shifting

Method of spreading
 Manual spreading
 Machine spreading
 Semi-automatic
 Fully automated

Manual Spreading
 Two people runs from sides of the table holding one end of
the fabric
 The fabric should be cut when the required length is
spread
 Two or more people required unless the spread is too
short
 If the fabric roll is from one end of the table on rotating
beam or the fabric should be in fold
 The productivity of manual spreading depends on the skill
of spreaders, type of fabrics and defect pattern, and
required quality, frequency of fatigue

Manual Spreading
• Time consuming method
• Require operator on each side of table
• But necessary for spreading some typical fabrics, like
• Checked fabrics
• Fabrics with crosswise stripes
• Fabrics with regular repeating patterns
• Fabrics with a repeating design at intervals of a garment length

Semi-automatic spreading machines
• Carrying and moving of fabric is carried out using a machine
but controlling spreading quality is the responsibility of
spreader
• Edge alignment, ply counting, end cutting, tension controlling
may be responsible of the responsible of the spreader
• Some semi-automatic are manually driven but others are
motor driven
• Motor driven machines are more productive than manual
driven machines as manual driven machine can spread in a
speed equal to the spreader speed

Automatic spreaders
•It spreads automatically controlling all the factors that affect
spreading quality
•Automatic end catcher
•End cutter
•Automatic ply counter
•Alignment controlling device (edge guide)
•Tension controlling mechanism
•Turn table

Automatic Spreading Machines Components
•Spreading surface
•Flat, smooth and leveled surface is preferable
•Some surfaces have vacuum
•Some have air floatation system
•Some have pins
•Spreading Machine
•Used to carry and spread fabric
•100-150 yard/min

Automatic Spreading Machines Components
• Fabric Control devices
• Control fabric as the machine carried up and down the table
• Tensioning Mechanism: synchronize rate of spreading with
speed of unrolling.
• Positioning Device: monitor, position and control fabric
placement
• Width Indicator: control width of the fabric and alarm in
narrower width
• EndTreatment: end catcher or end cutter

How to spread
1.Mount the bolt on the machine
2.Pull the fabric to far end position
3.Position the fabric at the far end ( with our without weight or pins)
4.Align the ply ( width on one side)
5.Cut the ply after each lay
6.Repeat this process from 2-5 until the entire bolt is spread.
7.Check ply count
8.Repeat a and then 2-7 till the decided number of ply are spread
9.Mark the remnants of the bolts with length in meters and bolt number
and stack separately at the given place.

Assignment
• Prepare a report on the following automatic spreader manufacturer.
a) Cosmotex b) Lectra
c) Eastman d) Gerber
• The report should contain
• Introduction to the manufacturer
• Available models of spreaders
• Technical Specification
• Features of the spreaders
• Application of the spreaders
• Submission Date

 The defects in pieces which are cut into patterns are highly
undesirable.
 To avoid this, the spreading operator must identify and cut
out defects as the material is being spread on the table.
 However, if the material is cut in the mid of the pattern, it
will lead to more material wastage.
Introduction to Splicing

 To avoid this, zones are defined called splice zones, where
cuts can be made by the spreading operator. Also it is
also required to decide about the overlap of the next
section of cloth.
 Thus there are two lines in a splice zone: One line shows
how far the previous piece of cloth must extend, and one
line shows where the next piece of the cloth must begin,
i.e. how much overlap is needed.

Splicing
 Splicing refers to the overlapping of two plies end when
piece goods changed or defects cut out in order to
minimize material wastage.
 When a flaw is encountered, the spreader is stopped, the
operator moves back to the nearest splice point, cuts the
flaw out and moves the spreader back to overlap the cut
line with the required overlap

There are two types of splicing methods
•Interlock splice: is pattern pieces are placed inside splicing
marks. There are two lines connected with two diagonal lines
•Straight line splice: Pattern pieces are placed away from
splicing marks. There is only single line that spreader
automatically understand splicing marks are 2” on each side of
the line.

1. When the ends of the patterns in a marker are joined on both sides
by straight line then use the single line splicing. Make sure that
overlapping at this point should be about 2”
2. When the ends of the patterns in a marker interlock at a common
vertical line across the width then use two line marking with a
diagonal indicating common area that must be overlapped when
patterns in a marker interlock at a common vertical line across the
width.
How to Splice

Question
Spreading fabric using splicing system. Three rolls which are going to be spread has
the following defect pattern. Each rolls has 35m length. Splicing allowance 2cm
Roll1: has defect in 3, 11, 23 meters
Roll2: has defect in 7,13, 19 and 27th meter
Roll3: has defects in 5, 16, 22 and 31st meter
Length of the lay is 6mt and there are two splice areas in 2nd and 4th meter from
one end. The splicing allowance is 2cm.
1. What is the splice loss of the fabric? And how much fabric saved if it were
spread without splicing?
2. What will be the answer if it is spread using interlock splicing system? 5cm
interlocking area.

Fabric spreading tables
 Pin Table
 Air floatation
 Turntable and
 Vacuum

Mechanism for matching stripes, checks and other designs while
spreading
•Uses Pins from underneath the table
•Pins and pintables are becoming common for layingaligning of
yarn dyed checks and stripes while laying fabric in long layer, is
either at both ends of lay or at specified intervals along side
selvedges.
Introduction to Pin Table

Basic Construction of Continuous Pin Table
•A table having a supporting, perforated/slotted top structure
•A plurality of pin/needle mechanisms distributed over at least a
portion of said supporting surface
•Each pin mechanism includes a generally vertical pin with a
pointed upper end portion
•The height of the pins can be adjusted with the turn of a hand-
wheel. So the spreading and pinning is convenient, fast and avoids
tension in the lay package.
•Needle bars for longitudinal movement of a set of pins on the bar.
Individual pins may be deactivated.

Need of pin tables in cutting room
•To handle dimensionally unstable fabric like crape, georgette
etc..
•Laying of yarn dyed checks and stripes.
•for reducing slippage while layer cutting by straight knife.
•For relaying during block cutting.
•For aligning stripes and checks while laying along selvedges

The fabric is pinned from the
centre to the outside.
Each ply is cut with the
cutting device at the end

The final lay is fixed with the
NEEDLE-PLATES from above.
The fine-cut can be done with a
CNC-Cutter or manually by hand

• Different fabrics with different
sizes of the repeat can be
spread in the same lay.
• Immediate net cut.
NO BLOCKING –
NO RELAYING

Pin Table For Knitted Fabric
Spreading knitted fabric on a
PIN-TABLE
After spreading, each ply is
cut at the end by the
CUTTING- DEVICE

Before moving the finished lay to
the automatic cutter, it is fixed
with help of the NEEDLE-PLATES
Cutting a lay on the automatic
cutter.

Advantages
Saving of fabric
Save cutting time by 50 %
Unique needle bar inclination can accommodate spiral stripes
of circular knit fabrics
Improve your quality.
Spread and match in one step.
Do the fine cutting after spreading without relaying.
Prepare your lay for CNC-Cutting

Construction of pins in PBT
TABLE TOP
NEEDLE HOLDER
 NEEDLE

Needle Plate
Needle Plate is a very useful utility, which helps you
to fix lays including the MARKER or the PATTERN.
Its needles - coming from above - keep the whole
lay from distortion of its single ply.
The cutting quality is improved when employing the
Needle Plate, as it stays in the lay during the cutting
operation.
Its simple handling allows a quick setting as well as
changing of position.

Air floatation, Turntable and Vacuum
• Turntable used
 turn the fabric 180 degree when the spreader performs from both ends of
the spreading and FOW or other spreading modes
• Air Floatation table
It used to push the lay upward when the lay required to move to cutting
table
• VacuumTable
It is used to compress the lay and retain the lay in position during cutting
It covered with plastic sheet on the top

Fabric Spreading Techniques

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