Patent Application
20180310634
The present disclosure relates to arm hosiery, more specifically, arm tights or arm stockings that provide a wearer's arms with the same advantages that legs have long received by the wearing of tights or stockings. Arm hosiery can add warmth, modesty, an attractive covering, and shaping to the arms of a wearer. The present disclosure describes arm hosiery garments and methods of making these garments. More particularly, the garments as described provide seamless and attractive arm coverings that can be worn as a foundation garment under other garments, for example, tops, dresses, and the like.
Hosiery has been around for centuries, and generally refers to garments that are worn directly on the legs and feet. More recently however, hosiery has been used to refer to lightweight garments, like tights and pantyhose, that sheath the body from the waist to the toes. Tights and pantyhose are typically worn for one or more of the following reasons: to keep warm, for modesty, to conceal cellulite or other skin appearance issues, to create the appearance of tan skin or otherwise alter skin shade, to prevent skin dryness, to improve circulation and minimize the development of varicose veins, or as a way of accessorizing one's outfit.
Women's hosiery changed over time, and what were once delicate and expensive silk leg coverings soon gave way to the disposable nylon or polymer based alternatives that we see today. As the industry developed, hosiery went from being seamed and sewn to being knitted on a circular knitting assembly. The advent of both circular knitting and stretch fibers, such as nylon and spandex, allowed hosiery to be made sheer and seamless to provide women with attractive leg covers.
Despite the fact that sheer stockings and pantyhose have been around for half a century, no one has heretofore considered using a hosiery machine to make a garment having sheer sleeves that can provide the arms of the wearer with the same advantages that tights or pantyhose provide to the legs of the wearer.
Dancers have long known the benefits of tights and have sought to provide their arms with the same benefits of warmth that have been enjoyed on one's legs. To that end, dancers have cut the feet off and the crotch out of their used leg tights to make a shrug that may be worn across the back of the shoulders, keeping the arms and upper body warm. Of late, teenagers, on YouTube, are cutting the crotch out of leg tights to create a garment that uses the legs of the tights to cover the arms of the body. There clearly exists a need for a garment that can be worn around the body and provide the wearer with an attractive seamless arm cover.
With current circular knitting equipment (commonly referred to a weft knitting), it is not possible to make an appropriately sized seamless tube or sleeve to cover the arm and concurrently produce a seamless tube that will also fit around the body. Heretofore, seamless machines (large diameters circular knitting machines) have been used to create garments that have seamless bodices. However, in order to fit the sleeves to the arms of the wearer, the knitted tube has to be slit along the arm so that the amount of material can be reduced to thereby reduce the diameter of the knitted tube. The sleeve is then formed by sewing the two sides of the slit tube together. These garments have been available as compressive garments with seamed arms for a number of years.
More recently warp knitting has been developed by CIFRA SPA out of Italy, which allows a seamless garment to be made at different diameters, thereby allowing the body of a garment and the arms to both be knitted without seams. The process developed by CIFRA SPA is used predominately to produce active wear and high end clothing since it is very expensive. While the arm hosiery as described herein could be produced on a machine like that developed by CIFRA SPA, the product would likely be prohibitively expensive, but it could nonetheless be made in that manner.
Much like expensive seamed silk stockings, that were replaced as the technology developed, the garment as described herein overcomes disadvantages associated with the prior products, by providing a cost-effective, lightweight, disposable, seamless, compressive or non-compressive, garment including arm tights as described herein.
The present disclosure relates to a garment comprising seamless hosiery sleeves bonded to a bodice that surrounds the torso of the wearer.
The present disclosure relates to a garment for the arms and torso of the body including a hosiery bodice comprising a front and a back, wherein the front of the bodice is sewn to the back of the bodice, and two non-compressive seamless hosiery sleeves are connected to the bodice, one on the right side and the other on the left side.
The present disclosure further relates to a garment for the arms and torso of a body including a first hosiery tube comprising a right sleeve and a right half of a bodice, a second hosiery tube comprising a left sleeve and a left half of a bodice, wherein the right half of the bodice is sewn to the left half of the bodice to create a bodice having a seam down the front and a seam down the back and a pair of hosiery arms.
The present disclosure still further relates to a garment for the arms and torso of the body including a bodice comprising a seamless tube, and two non-compressive seamless hosiery sleeves connected to the bodice, one on the right side and the other on the left side.
The present disclosure also relates to a garment comprising seamless hosiery sleeves sewn to a body via stitching, wherein the seamless sleeves comprise anti-run lines proximate the stitching.
In another embodiment, the disclosure relates to a method of making a foundation garment comprising, forming a first hosiery tube on a hosiery machine having a marked arrangement of cut lines for a left sleeve, forming a second hosiery tube on a hosiery machine having a marked arrangement of cut lines for a right sleeve, forming a third hosiery tube on a hosiery machine having a marked arrangement of cut lines for a bodice front, forming a fourth hosiery tube on a hosiery machine having a marked arrangement of cut lines for a bodice back, cutting the first hosiery tube according to the marked arrangement of cut lines to form a first left sleeve, cutting the second hosiery tube according to the marked arrangement of cut lines to form a first right sleeve, cutting the third hosiery tube according to the marked arrangement of cut lines to form a bodice front, cutting the fourth hosiery tube according to the marked arrangement of cut lines to form a bodice back, attaching the bodice front to the bodice back to form a bodice, attaching a left sleeve to the bodice, and attaching the right sleeve to the bodice.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
The following discussion is directed to various embodiments of the invention. Although one or more of these embodiments may be preferred, the embodiments disclosed should not be interpreted, or otherwise used, as limiting the scope of the disclosure, including the claims. It is to be fully recognized that the different teachings of the embodiments discussed below may be employed separately or in any suitable combination to produce desired results. In addition, one skilled in the art will understand that the following description has broad application, and the discussion of any embodiment is meant only to be exemplary of that embodiment, and not intended to intimate that the scope of the disclosure, including the claims, is limited to that embodiment.
Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular features or components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, different persons may refer to the same feature or component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components or features that differ in name but not structure or function.
In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including,” “comprising,” and “is,” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to.”
As used herein “hosiery” refers to a knitted tube of fabric that has been produced on a hosiery machine.
As used herein “hosiery machine” refers to a circular knitting machine having a defined tube diameter of 6 inches or less and a needle count of between about 72 and 624.
As used herein “seamless machine” refers to a circular knitting machine having a defined tube diameter of 11 inches or more and a needle count of more than 960.
Compressive body wear, i.e., shapewear, has become a big part of many women's wardrobes. In an attempt to look attractive, women have used compressive garments to improve the way clothes look on them. Likewise tights and pantyhose are generally worn to create an attractive appearance or limit one's view of the skin of the legs. The garment as described herein, provides another opportunity for women to improve their appearance or limit one's view of their arms.
The garment as described herein, in its simplest form, comprises two seamless hosiery sleeves that are attached to a body. The sleeves are attached to the body, usually by sewing, but they may be attached by any other art-recognized manner. For example, the sleeves may be knitted directly to the body as would be the case if one were using a warp knitting assembly. These seamless sleeves on the garment provide significant advantages when it comes to comfort and attractiveness. As used herein, body refers to any garment that can be worn on the torso that can include seamless hosiery sleeves. A bodice, like a body, refers to any garment that can be worn on the torso but it would generally have some stretch property. For an understanding of the invention body and bodice are interchangeable.
As seen in
Seamless sleeves are produced using a hosiery machine. The hosiery machine produces a preform tube that can be cut and sewn together with the bodice to form a final product. Hosiery machines are circular knitting machines that have a small diameter tube, i.e., less than 6 inches. There are three general type of hosiery machines, single cylinder machines, cylinder and dial machines, and double cylinder machine. The machines are automated to initiate mechanical and electrical operations and are computer controlled to knit the desired type of hosiery. According to one embodiment, the hosiery machine used in the described method is a single cylinder machine with hold-down sinkers. Hold-down sinkers are attached to the preform tube as it leaves the hosiery machine to maintain tension on the preform tube as it exits the machine.
Hosiery machines for use in the described method will generally have from 4 to 6 feeds and operate at a speed in excess of about 1000 rpm. The hosiery as produced herein is produced on a fine gauge machine, e.g., on the order of 40 gauge or above, for example, 72 gauge. The hosiery machine is automated and and can be programmed to knit the seamless sleeve, including both run lines and cut lines.
The seamless sleeves may be produced, for example, on a 3″ to 6″ hosiery machine, for example, having a diameter of from about 3 ½″ to about 5″, with a needle count of from about 215 to about 450. The pattern of run lines and cut lines are programmed into the machine and a left and right arm tubes are produced. According to one embodiment, the left and right arms are produced as a single tube with two finished ends that form the end of each sleeve. Along the tube body, cut lines and/or run lines have been patterned into the tube indicating where the tube is to be subsequently cut to form a left arm preform and a right arm preform. Unlike the straight cut lines associated with the production of leg tights, the arms must be cut in a curved manner to form proper arm openings. The cuts used to create the left arm are the mirror image of the cuts used to form the right arm.
If one were to use the more expensive warp knitting machine to produce the product as described, there would be no need for either run lines or cut lines as the garment could be produced as a single seamless piece off the machine, and warp knitting has less of a tendency to run. In such a garment, the sleeves would be continuous with the body so the transition between the arms and the body could take any form. The bodice could be as sheer as the arms, or it could take the shape of a racer back or other configuration that may be reinforced.
According to one embodiment, the bodice is also produced from tubes that are formed on a hosiery machine. In this embodiment, the bodice tubes are produced using the same diameter hosiery machine, or using a larger diameter hosiery machine. The bodice is produced from two tube, each of which is slit and laid open to form either the front or the back of the bodice. As with the sleeves, the hosiery machine can be programmed to finish the bottom edge of the bodice tube and to knit cut or run lines in the hosiery tube during production. The hosiery tubes exit the knitting machine as performs for the bodice of the final garment. Examples of a hosiery bodice 20 that takes the form of a banded crop top can be seen in the
Once the sleeves and bodice have been produced, the preforms are cut to prepare the garment for sewing. The sleeves are cut using a hot knife and/or an overlock machine that is devoid of thread. The overlock machine is a sewing machine that can connect two or more pieces of fabric using an overlock stitch. The machine includes a cutting implement to simultaneously sew and trim the seams.
As used herein, run lines refer to areas knitted into the tube using a varied density, yarn, denier, or knitting pattern to provide protection against the fabric running. Such run lines and areas are well understood in the art and the skilled artisan, with knowledge of the desired garment, could provide appropriate run protection using one or more of the techniques described above.
By contract, cut lines are areas that are knitted into the hosiery tube to designate where the tube must be split or cut to produce the desired garment. Cut lines are often severed by a hot knife which can cut and melt the material at the same time, making the cut end of the hosiery tube more stable.
According to one embodiment, the run lines and the cut lines may be the same pattern. According to this embodiment, the cut would be made at a position within the run line to realize anti-run protection in the sleeve or bodice component.
The system can also be automated to provide finishing on the end of the arm. According to one embodiment, the arm finishing can comprise a folded hem, a double layer folded hem, a trim or ruffle, a cuff, a thumb or finger hole, a thumb or finger loop, and the like.
The products as described herein may be non-compression, support, or compression or a combination thereof. As used herein, non-compression refers to a material that clings to the shape of the wearer, but doesn't compress the body. As used herein, support (which is a type of compression) refers to simple support, like one would find in control top pantyhose i.e., smooths out minor bumps and bulges. As used herein, compression refers to a material that has sufficient constriction to modify the shape of the body. Garments as described herein may have graduated compression or compression zones depending upon the style of the garment. Shapeware are common compression garments and include everything from mild constriction to very firm constriction.
Fibers for use in the production of the seamless sleeves can include one or more of nylon, polyester, spandex, cotton, wool, rayon, carbon, lures, modal, tencel, or any other art recognized fiber that is used in the production of leg tights or stockings. The arms can be knitted to include any type of design that is available in the art. Example of designs might include, cable knit, Swiss dot, polka dot, sparkling or metallic effects, stripes, chevrons, fishnet, distressed, floral, argyle and the like. According to one embodiment, the pattern may be applied to the fabric via fabric printing.
Fibers for use in the production of the bodice can include one or more of nylon, polyester, spandex, cotton, wool, rayon, carbon, lures, modal, tencel, or any other art recognized fiber that is used in the production of garments. According to one embodiment, the bodice may be non-compression as many women prefer not to have their breasts compressed. The bodice may be constructed seamed or seamlessly. For example, the bodice may be constructed using a hosiery machine to produce tubes that may be opened and sewn or connected to form the portion of the garment that surrounds the torso of the wearer. Alternatively, a seamless bodice could be produced, not on a hosiery machine, but instead on a seamless machine. Finally, according to yet another embodiment, the bodice can be made from flat fabric using a standard cut and sew method.
The products as described herein may be a combination of compression and non-compression. For example, according to one embodiment, the garment has non-compression arms and a non-compression bodice. According to anther embodiment, the garment has support arms and a non-compression body. According to yet another embodiment, the arms are compression, and the bodice is not. According to yet another embodiment, the non-compression hosiery arms are part of a shapewear compressive garment. Additional combinations would be readily apparent to the skilled artisan.
The bodice of the garment may have a variety of silhouettes including, but not limited to, an open bust, a crop top, waist length, hip length, slip length, body suit, body suit with short shaper, cat suit and the like. The bodice can include a variety of necklines, for example, crew neck, v-neck, scoop neck, low cut, turtleneck, open bust, binding, decorative trim and/or embellishments.
The garment may include a variety of styling options, including one or more of the following: center back seam only, performance finishes, knit-in patterns or embellishments, plated yarns, plush yarns, side seams, no seams, front and back seams, princess seams, posture support, center front closure, center back closure, sew on bottom hem. As illustrated in
After the garment is produced, it may be subject to other processing, including but not limited to dyeing, boarding, finishing. Dyeing is usually carried out once the garment is assembled, however, in the embodiments where the bodice and sleeves have fundamental differences in yarn, weave, weight, etc., it may be desirable to dye the arms and the bodice before assembly to achieve a closer color match in the final garment. Boarding is a process that is used to heat and smooth hosiery and is used in the production of tights and stockings. Boarding of the current product will use an “arm board” which has been specifically developed to hold the hosiery arms of the garment as described. Finally, the garment as described can be treated with one or more performance finishes, for example, wicking, cooling, warming, anti-microbials.
Once the garment is complete, it can be packaged using any art recognized packaging. According to one embodiment, the arm tights will be sold in pouches. According to another embodiment, one sleeve may be loaded on a cardboard sleeve blank and the garment will be sold in windowed envelopes similar to those that regular pantyhose or leg tights are sold in.
As used herein, “about” is meant to account for variations due to experimental error. All numerical measurements are understood to be modified by the word “about”, whether or not “about” is explicitly recited, unless specifically stated otherwise. Thus, for example, the statement “an amount of 1 gram,” is understood to mean “an amount of about 1 gram.”
Specific embodiments of the invention include those set forth below. The skilled artisan would select from one each category and one or more from the optional items as described.
The invention includes a garment for the arms and torso comprising a body portion and a seamless hosiery sleeve connected to each side of the body portion.
A. The body portion can be non-compression, support, or compression.
B. The sleeve can be non-compression, support or compression.
C. Connection between the sleeves and body portion(s) can be knitted or sewn and if sewn, an overlock stitch may be used.
D. The sleeves on any of the garments may be opaque, sheer or semi-sheer.
E. The body portion may be opaque, sheer or semi-sheer.
F. The sleeves may be capped, short, elbow length, three-quarter, or long.
G. The sleeves may be raglan, set-in or cold shoulder.
H. The sleeves may be unhemmed or hemmed.
I. The body portion may be seamless, seamed front and back, or seamed on the sides.
J. The body portion neckline may be crew neck, v-neck, scoop neck, low cut, turtleneck, or open bust.
K. The neckline in the front may be the same or different from the neckline in the back.
L. The body portion may be a crop top, waist length, hip length, a slip, or form a portion of a body suit, a body shaper or a cat suit.
M. The sleeves can have anti-run lines, or no anti-run lines.
N. The sleeves can have cut lines or no cut lines.
O. The body can have anti-run lines, or no anti-run lines.
P. The body can have cut lines or no cut lines.
Q. The garment may be a foundation garment or may not.
R. The garment may be reversible or not reversible.
S. Optionally, the garment may include one or more of binding, decorative trim, or embellishments; sleeves may include a double layer folded hem, a cuffed hem, a trimmed or embellished hem, or a finger or thumb hole; and the garment may be subject to one or more finishing treatments;
According to one embodiment the invention comprises a garment for the arms and torso of a body comprising a first non-compression hosiery tube comprising a right sleeve and a right half of a bodice; a second non-compression hosiery tube comprising a left sleeve and a left half of a bodice; wherein the right half of the bodice is sewn to the left half of the bodice to create a bodice having a seam down the front and a seam down the back and a pair of hosiery arms. This embodiment, can further include all of the features defined in paragraphs C-G and J-S. Paragraph A and B are chosen as non-compressive, and paragraph I is selected as a seam down the front and back.
According to one embodiment, the garment as described comprises seamless hosiery sleeves sewn to a body via stitching, wherein the seamless sleeves comprise anti-run lines proximate the stitching. This embodiment, can further include all of the features defined in paragraphs A-B, D-N, and P-S. This embodiment may also use an overlock stitch as the stitching. Paragraph C is selected as seamless and paragraph O is selected to include anti-run lines.
Another embodiment according to the instant invention comprises preforms for use in the production of the garment as described in paragraphs A-S above. The preforms comprise a first hosiery tube wherein one end of the tube is finished and the other end of the tube is cut to attach to the left side of a torso garment; and a second hosiery tube wherein one end of the tube is finished and the other end of the tube is cut to attach to the right side of a torso garment. According to one embodiment the preforms are cut from a single hosiery tube that is finished on both ends. The embodiments comprise cut lines. According to one embodiment, these preforms are produced on a hosiery machine having a diameter of less than 6″.
According to one embodiment, a method of making a foundation garment is described. The method comprises forming a first hosiery tube on a hosiery machine having a marked arrangement of cut lines for a left sleeve, forming a second hosiery tube on a hosiery machine having a marked arrangement of cut lines for a right sleeve, forming a third hosiery tube on a hosiery machine having a marked arrangement of cut lines for a bodice front, forming a fourth hosiery tube on a hosiery machine having a marked arrangement of cut lines for a bodice back, and cutting the first hosiery tube according to the marked arrangement of cut lines to form a first left sleeve, cutting the second hosiery tube according to the marked arrangement of cut lines to form a first right sleeve, cutting the third hosiery tube according to the marked arrangement of cut lines to form a bodice front, cutting the fourth hosiery tube according to the marked arrangement of cut lines to form a bodice back, sewing the bodice front to the bodice back to form a bodice, attaching a left sleeve to the bodice, and attaching the right sleeve to the bodice. This embodiment can be used to make any of the embodiments described in paragraphs A-S, when N and P are selected to have cut lines and paragraph I is selected to have seams. This embodiment may further comprise one or more steps of dyeing, boarding and chemically finishing the garment.
Another embodiment of the invention as described includes a method of smoothing arm hosiery to improve its character, comprising, placing an arm of a garment comprising seamless hosiery sleeves over a board specially adapted to the shape of an arm; and treating the hosiery with steam to improve the character of the hosiery sleeve. This embodiment can be used with any of the garments as defined in paragraphs A-S.
According to one embodiment, the garment has non-compressive arms and a non-compressive body portion where the body portion is sewn together down the front and back using an overlock stitch. This embodiment, can further include all of the features defined in paragraphs C-H and J-S. Paragraph A and B are chosen as non-compressive, and paragraph I is selected as a seam down the front and back.
According to another embodiment, non-compression raglan sleeves are attached to a non-compressive body portion that is seamed down the sides. According to this embodiment, the raglan sleeves and the body seams may be produced using an overlock stitch. This embodiment, can further include all of the features defined in paragraphs C-F and H-S. Paragraph A and B are chosen as non-compressive, and paragraph G is selected as a raglan sleeve.
Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any arrangement configured to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown, This disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62492261 | Apr 2017 | US |
