Manual Cutting Process

By
Lecture # 05 Khurram Iftikhar
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Introduction
 The manual cutting process
ensures cutting of all kinds of
textile materials.
 In comparison with automated
cutting, its productivity is much
lower, but the equipment is
much less expensive and the
repair and maintenance costs are
small.
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Introduction
 For these reasons, the manual
cutting process is widely used in
small production units.
 It is also used in medium and large
manufacturing enterprises when
working with complex fabrics.
 The accuracy of cutting depends on
the type of equipment used and on
the skills and experience of the
cutting operators.
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Characteristics of the Manual Cutting
Process
 Taking into account the technical
limitations of the cutting equipment, a
fabric spread is processed by different
cutting machines performing
sequential cutting steps. These are:
 Dividing large spreads into smaller
parts using movable cutting machines.
 Rough cutting of the components by
movable cutting machines, leaving a
fabric allowance around their
contours.
 Characteristics of the Manual Cutting
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Process
 Placing drill marks to mark dart ends,
pocket placement points and other
marks in the inner area of the
components.
 Specialized drilling machines are used.
 Fine cutting of the components,
simultaneously cutting notches using
movable and static cutting machines.
6 Notches and Cloth Marking Drills
 Notches and drill marks are placed at
significant points on components to
guide succeeding sewing operations.
 They provide accurate and correct
joining of components, edge foldings
and formation of pleats, correct
sewing of darts and the precise filing
of added components such as patch
pockets, flaps, and so on.

Pattern piece with marked

notches and drill marks.
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Notches placed on the edges of components
 Notches help in the correct and
accurate joining of components during
the sewing process.
 They are also used to fold edges, form
pleats and determine the placement of
darts.
 To ensure the precise joining of
components, notches are placed at
important levels of construction - at
the waist, hip, knee, elbow levels and
in between. Components with
their notches
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Notches placed on the edges of components
 To form edge foldings and pleats,
notches are placed where the fabric
has to be folded.
 Notches are cut indirectly at the edge
of a component.
 The cutting depth depends on the
fabric (its structure and tendency to
unravel) and the width of the seam
allowances.

Components with
their notches
 Notches placed on the edges of components
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Notches placed on the edges of components
 For components cut from non-
fraying fabrics, the notches must be
3–5 mm deep.
 For components cut from knitted
fabrics, the notches need to be only
2–3 mm deep as the edges of the
notch roll up, making it sufficiently
noticeable.

Fraying Fabrics
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Drill Marks Placed in Cut Components
 Drill marks, which are round
holes, are placed in cut
components to show the ends
of darts and the placement
points of added components
(patch pockets or flaps).
 These marks must be drilled
so that after the darts are
sewn, the marks remain in
the material sewn into the
dart or under patch pockets.
Drill marks to show the end of a dart (a)
and the placement of a patch pocket (b).
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Drill Marks Placed in Cut Components
 Drill marks are made in bundles of cut
components, using a special drill machine.
 The drilling may be done with either a
heated or unheated steel needle.
 A heated needle is used to drill fabrics
made from natural fibers.
 The heat burns the fibers and prevents the
displacement of fabric plies during the
drilling process.

Drill Machine
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Drill Marks Placed in Cut Components
 Unheated needles are used to drill fabrics
made from synthetic fibers.
 Heat fuses the synthetic fibers, causing
them to stick to the needle or, after cooling,
may glue several plies together.
 Drilling may be performed with different
diameter needles according to the size of
hole required.
(1) and (2) Handles
(3) Needle
(4) needle guide
(5) base plate Drill Machine Parts