Abstract: In an automatic sewing machine for sewing bands onto fabric parts, a metering device (3) which meters the band is electronically coupled to the sewing machine via a position sensor (6) in the form of a pulse generator, a signal processing circuit (8) and a motor, for example a stepping motor (SM). The amount of band per unit time delivered by the metering device depends on the speed. On the other hand, the stitch length of the sewing machine is, however, not independent of the speed but becomes greater with increasing speed. The resulting, undesired tensions between the fabric part on the one hand and the band on the other hand are avoided by a correction means (10) between the pulse generator (6) and the sewing machine (2) and the driver circuit (12) of the stepping motor (SM) of the metering device (3). The correction device ensures that control signals reaching the driver circuit (12) result in corrected, excessive metering of the band at higher sewing machine speeds.