the left guide plate 77 may include the graduations g which are calibrated to correspond with different desired band lengths thus when a particular band length is desired the stop member 80 is moved to register with one of the graduation marks g and a band 21 having the indicated length will be produced by the apparatus 20 as the hydraulic cylinder 72 causes the measure rod 66 to descend the block 64 will continue to travel until it engages the stop flange 82 such as illustrated in phantom in fig7 to stop the measure rod 66 at its lowermost position to form the open loop 62 of the desired depth the stop flange 82 engaging the block 64 will override any further movement of the cable 68 even though the hydraulic cylinder 72 is still actuated with reference to fig6 13 and 14 a loop loading mechanism 86 is located slightly below the measuring path p of the fabric strip 22 and astride the open loop 62 for clamping and loading the upper ends of the open loop 62 upon the sewing machine head 25 the loop loading mechanism 86 includes a cylinder mounting bar 87 fixed to a portion of the frame 23 the cylinder mounting bar 87 supports a pair of stop cylinders 88 and a pair of clamp cylinders 90 these pairs of cylinders are disposed symmetrically about the axis of the vertical path of reciprocation of the measure rod 66 the piston rods 91 actuated by the fluid clamp cylinders 90 are fixed to a transverse clamp carriage 97.