Abrasion and hydrolysis resistant joining means for fabric seams

Means for joining the ends of a flat woven heat sensitive industrial fabric into an endless papermaker's belt, said means comprising at least two fabric connecting elements, having a heat set temperature different from the heat set temperature of the interwoven threads of said flat woven industrial fabric and greater than 400.degree. F., and a joining element, each of said connecting elements being a preformed and heat set coil of polyetheretherketone continuous filament having a preformed and heat set final height dimension which is no greater than the maximum thickness of the final finished papermaker's belt, whereby the connecting elements are secured to the respective ends of the flat woven fabric and are intermeshed to form a passage way for receiving the joining element therethrough and establishing the endless papermaker's belt, said connecting elements being heat set and preformed prior to use as a connecting element so as to avoid damage to said fabric from heat setting.