Purpose Knitted fabrics have been widely used in a wide range of applications such as apparel industry. Since these fabrics are continuously subjected to the long-term tensile stresses or tensile creep in real conditions, investigation of viscoelastic behavior of sewn knitted fabrics would be important especially at the seamed area. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach A lockstitch machine was used to produce sewn samples by knitted fabric. Factors such as stitch per inch (SPI), thread tension and thread type were variables of the model. Tensile creep tests under constant load of 200 N were conducted, and creep compliance parameter D(t) of samples was obtained as a response variable. A successive residual method (SRM) was also used to characterize viscoelastic properties of sewn-seamed fabrics. Findings The instantaneous elastic responses of the seamed samples were less than those of the neat fabric (fabric with no seam). An increase in sewing thread strength increases the instantaneous elastic response of the sample. SPI and thread tension have an optimum value to increase E0. High tenacity polyester thread, due to its higher elastic modulus, caused a larger E0 than polyester/cotton thread in sewn knitted fabric. Characteristics of seam including sewing thread type, SPI and sewing tension have significant influence on T0. Sewn-seamed fabric by high modulus thread shows less viscous strain T0 than the neat fabric (fabric with no seam). Viscous strain T0 decreases as SPI changes from 8 to 4 and/or 12. SPI and thread tension have an optimum value to increase the viscous strain T0. E1 is the same for optimum seamed fabric and fabric sample but T1 is about two times greater for seamed fabric. Retarded time for creep recovery increases by sewing process but characteristics of seam have significant influence on E1 and T1. All sewn knitted fabric samples used in this study could be described by Burger’s model, which is a Maxwell model paralleled with a Kelvin one. Originality/value This paper is going to use a different method named successive residuals to model the creep behavior of seamed knitted fabric. On the whole, this paper paved a way to obtain viscoelastic constants of sewn-seamed knitted fabrics based on different sewing parameters such as the modulus of elasticity of the sewing thread, SPI and sewing thread tension.