Vetron Auto Seam

What is a Vetron Auto Seam I hear you say, and what does it have to do with quilting?!

This article is just a snippet about how technology touches everything we do, including quilting. I’d never heard of Vetron sewing machines until I found a news article about an automated sewing machine that works by using cameras to track the movement of the fabric.

Vetron Auto Seam

This page here tells you a little about Vetron and what their brand stands for.

Last year,  the International Trade Fair for Processing Textile and Flexible Materials Vetron demonstrated their latest innovation, the Vetron Auto Seam. This is an upgrade from their standard machine and is capable of true automated sewing. Vetron was awarded the Texprocess Innovation Award.

“The idea was to invent a machine without operator and to make simple process steps cheaper”, says Labes. The new Vetron Auto Seam machine is globally the first of its type to work automatically. Until its market launch next year, it will be only a little bit more expensive than a traditional sewing machine. It’s made to sew medium and heavy materials generally used in the furniture, leather or automotive industry”

There are 2 cameras positioned  in front of the needle which monitors the edges of the two layers of material being sewn, this is for every stitch that is made. The edges remain aligned by the wheels correcting the position. The top wheel is lifted after the needle penetrates the material during the feed of the stitch. Then, the material is clamped between the moving foot and the feed dog and moved for the length of the stitch.

Before the needle exits, the top wheel is lowered onto the material again and the cameras transmit any corrections. These are carried out by the two turning wheels before the needle penetrates the material again to restart the stitching process. This way, the machine follows the aligned edges of the material.

Although I love the solid builds of the old sewing machines, (I have a Bernina Record 730) I also love to see new technology and this video blew me away when I watched it.

There’s a lot of complicated technology behind building systems like this which is beyond the scope of this article. If you want to read more, pop over to this technology site, it makes interesting reading.

What does it mean for us domestic sewers? Well, at the moment, it’s really aimed at the industrial sewing market to provide more automation. It’s designed to replace the need for workers to feed and handle the fabric during stitch and seam formation.

For quilters, lot of the pleasure is about handling the fabric under the machine, it’s a very tactile hobby, certainly for me. If you are a hands-on seamstress, where’s the fun in watching your machine do the sewing?

I still find the whole concept fascinating though, using cameras to automate the sewing process, but I’m not looking for that much automation anytime soon!

What do you think of the Vetron Auto Seam? Would it find a place in your sewing room? Leave your comments below!

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