the collarette material in tension between the rollers 63 and the sewing head 40 the controller then advances to step 207 where a first total stitch count n 1 from the start of a sewing operation is determined by controller 36 by adding each stitch count signal from stitch counter 90 next a determination is made at step 209 as to whether the first total stitch count n 1 is greater than or equal to the predetermined number of stitches to count before detecting the shoulder seam n u2267 n s if false the controller returns to step 207 to continue counting stitches if true the controller advances to step 211 where it activates the seam detector 83 and commands the seam deflector 79 and label guide 78 to move down into the sewing area the controller then advances to step 213 where its checks whether the garment body shoulder seam has been detected by the seam detector means if no seam is detected the system returns to step 207 to continue counting stitches in a preferred embodiment the value of n s is reduced by a predetermined value to allow the seam deflector time to advance into the sewing area and to create a 34 window 34 of time for seam detection once the seam is detected the controller advances to step 215 where the.