Sewing Machine Operator

Operate or tend sewing machines to join, reinforce, decorate, or perform related sewing operations in the manufacture of garment or nongarment products.

O*NET reports this occupation under titles such as: Line Closer; Machine Operator; Prototype Sewer; Sample Maker; Seamer; Seamstress; Sew On Operator; Sewer; Sewing Machine Operator; Zipper Machine Operator

Tasks

• Monitor machine operation to detect problems such as defective stitching, breaks in thread, or machine malfunctions.
• Place spools of thread, cord, or other materials on spindles, insert bobbins, and thread ends through machine guides and components.
• Position items under needles, using marks on machines, clamps, templates, or cloth as guides.
• Guide garments or garment parts under machine needles and presser feet to sew parts together.
• Remove holding devices and finished items from machines.
• Match cloth pieces in correct sequences prior to sewing them, and verify that dye lots and patterns match.
• Fold or stretch edges or lengths of items while sewing to facilitate forming specified sections.
• Cut excess material or thread from finished products.
• Select supplies such as fasteners and thread, according to job requirements.
• Examine and measure finished articles to verify conformance to standards, using rulers.
• Start and operate or tend machines, such as single or double needle serging and flat-bed felling machines, to automatically join, reinforce, or decorate material or articles.
• Record quantities of materials processed.
• Turn knobs, screws, and dials to adjust settings of machines, according to garment styles and equipment performance.
• Attach tape, trim, appliques, or elastic to specified garments or garment parts, according to item specifications.
• Repair or alter items by adding replacement parts or missing stitches.

Skills

• Monitoring

Abilities

• Arm-Hand Steadiness
• Manual Dexterity
• Control Precision
• Near Vision
• Finger Dexterity
• Information Ordering
• Multilimb Coordination
• Rate Control
• Problem Sensitivity
• Deductive Reasoning
• Visualization
• Reaction Time
• Visual Color Discrimination