Machines Needed for Making Basic T-Shirts

I am often asked this question - What kind of sewing machines are required for making t-shirts. To reply to this question I have written this post. As you know t-shirt is a common apparel product and easy to make compared to other apparel products. To make quality t-shirt with good finishing inside and outside of the garment, you need over lock (for edge stitch), flat lock (for cover stitch) and single needle lock stitch machines.

Within the machine types there are various technology levels. You can decide which machine you need to purchase based on your requirement. Your machine supplier can advise you better. A same machine can be shared for multiple operations when you have few machines and you have low production requirement.

In the following table a machine requirement plan has been shown for production of 800 T-shirts in 8 hours shift (from a typical factory). Machine types and machine requirement in each operation has been also given in the following table.

Table-1: Operation wise machine types and machine requirement

Seq. No.	Operations	M/c Type	No. Of Machines
1	Shoulder join	4 Thread Over Lock	1
2	Neck rib Tuck	1N Lock Stitch	1
3	Neck Join	4 Thread Over Lock	2
4	Label Make	1N Lock Stitch	1
5	Back Neck Binding	Flat lock/1NLS	1
6	Front Neck Top	Flat lock	1
7	Back Neck Top	1N Lock Stitch	2
8	Sleeve Hem	Flat lock	1
9	Sleeve Join	4 Thread Over Lock	2
10	Side Seam	Flat lock	2
11	Sleeve tuck	1N Lock Stitch	1
12	Body Hem	Flat lock	1
Total			16

Disclaimer: The machine types and number of machines mentioned here are based on particular situation and shared here for information purpose only. This machine quantity may not match for your set-up.