Characterizing fabric filling by using image-analysis techniques - Part I: Pill detection and description

Software was developed to detect and describe pills on solid-shade fabrics after being imaged with conventional personal-computer-based hardware. Information provided by the software included: the total number, total area, and total volume of pills present; distributions of pill size, shape, orientation angle, and contrast; and the uniformity of pill spatial distribution on the fabric. Usefulness of the hardware/software tool was evaluated by: assessing the accuracy of pill detection; measuring the reproducibility of pilling measurements; visualizing the influence of abrasive motion on pilling; comparing pilling on fabrics abraded by different laboratory-abrasion testers; and evaluating the effects of the number of laboratory-abrasion cycles, fiber content, and durable-press finish on pilling.