The present invention relates to a curved pleated product having a curved pleat and a method for manufacturing the curved pleated product.
There are garments such as a skirt, a one-piece dress, a blouse, and slacks or fabric products such as curtains known in the art that have a gather called a pleat. The pleat is one of popular decoration because of its beautiful impression due to the shade or its wearing comfort due to the looseness in size.
Methods for forming a pleat in a product such as a garment that have been proposed so far include those of folding a cloth fabric like paper folding to form a wrinkle and sewing a folded over fabric.
For example, Japanese Patent No. 2504931 proposes a processing method for forming a pleat in which a semi-finished product after sewing is subjected to a pleating machine to be machine-pleated, the semi-finished product is then wrapped by a soft sheet having excellent breathability and heat-resistance, the soft sheet is twisted and bound up with string, and the semi-finished product is put into heat treatment equipment (Patent Literature 1). This processing method enables a variety of designs and easily provides high value added pleated products.
Most pleats applied to conventional pleated products have linearly formed gathers and lack variation. On the other hand, a wrinkled pleat called a twist pleat can be formed by using the invention described in Patent Literature 1. The twist pleat, however, is formed by wrapping a semi-finished product that is machine-pleated or hand-pleated with a soft sheet, twisting the soft sheet, bound it up with string, and heat-treating the semi-finished product, so that the method provides the entire pleated product with wrinkled and disordered pleat. Such a pleat undesirably impairs a sense of luxury of the product, and also, is not an orderly pleat with neatness, elegance, nor gracefulness. In particular, the invention of Patent Literature 1 cannot manufacture, for example, a loosely waving curved pleat nor a tidily-aligned curved pleat.
In addition, the conventional pleated products are each formed from a single fabric, and thus, cannot have gathers each of which differs from the other in color, pattern, nor material. Accordingly, the conventional pleated products can only give a beautiful impression due to the shade, and are undesirably limited to monotonous designs.
The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and aims to provide a curved pleated product that has dramatically improved flexibility of pleat design and thus can be rolled out in a wide variety of variations and that can have new value, like clothing provided with a pleat that gives a graceful or sensual impression, and also aims to provide a method for manufacturing the curved pleated product.
A curved pleated product according to the present invention has a curved pleat including a plurality of fabric pieces with longitudinally curved opposite side edge portions, the fabric pieces including a plurality of outer pleat pieces and a plurality of inner pleat pieces formed narrower than the outer pleat pieces, the curved pleat being formed by alternately arranging the outer pleat pieces and the inner pleat pieces, joining each adjacent fabric pieces along contours of opposing side edge portions, and alternately forming a mountain fold and a valley fold along the contours.
In an aspect of the present invention, the fabric pieces may include different colors, different patterns, different materials, or combinations thereof.
A method for manufacturing a curved pleated product according to the present invention includes cutting a plurality of outer pleat pieces and a plurality of inner pleat pieces out of a desired fabric, the outer pleat pieces each having longitudinally curved opposite side edge portions, the inner pleat pieces each having side edge portions that conform with the shapes of the side edge portions of the outer pleat pieces and being formed narrower than the outer pleat pieces, forming a curved pleat by alternately arranging the outer pleat pieces and the inner pleat pieces, joining each opposing side edge portions along contours of the opposing side edge portions, and alternately forming a mountain fold and a valley fold along the contour of each side edge portion, and attaching the curved pleat to a desired position of the product to manufacture the curved pleated product.
The present invention dramatically enhances flexibility of pleat design to allow the pleat to be rolled out in a wide variety of variations, and can add new value to a pleated product, such as clothing provided with a pleat that gives a graceful or sensual impression.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of an invention according to the present invention will be described using the drawings.
A curved pleated product 1 has a curved pleat structure, and is a garment such as a skirt, a one-piece dress, a blouse, a party dress, or slacks or a product such as curtains that is decorated with a curved pleat 2.
In the embodiment, a curved pleated garment 1 will be taken as an example curved pleated product 1, as shown in
As shown in
The fabric pieces 21 of the curved pleat 2 are made of a cloth fabric of cotton, silk, or other material, which can be used for garments, curtains, or other products, or made of a leather fabric including natural leather or synthetic leather, for example. The fabric is cut into a predetermined shape using a pattern, or the like, to have the opposite side edge portions formed in longitudinal curves, as shown in
The outer pleat pieces 22 are fabric pieces 21 each having longitudinally curved left side edge portion A and right side edge portion B. The contour of either right or left side edge portion A or B appears on the outer side of the finished garment to give a beautiful impression. In the embodiment, the contour of the left side edge portion A appears on the outer side, as shown in
Similarly to the outer pleat pieces 22, the inner pleat pieces 23 are fabric pieces 21 each having longitudinally curved left side edge portion a and right side edge portion b that respectively conform with the shapes of the side edge portions A and B of each outer pleat piece 22. In the embodiment, the outer pleat pieces 22 and the inner pleat pieces 23 are formed such that the left side edge portions A of the outer pleat pieces 22 and the left side edge portions a of the inner pleat pieces 23 have the same contour, and also, the right side edge portions B of the outer pleat pieces 22 and the right side edge portions b of the inner pleat pieces 23 have the same contour, as shown in
In the embodiment, the inner pleat pieces 23 are formed to be narrower than the outer pleat pieces 22, as shown in
In the embodiment, the curve shape appearing on the outer side of the curved pleat 2 in
The width of the inner pleat piece 23 is determined to meet the needs of, for example, how high the curved pleat 2 rises or how softly it flutters. For example, wider inner pleat pieces 23 as shown in
The fabric pieces 21 may include different colors, different patterns, different materials, or combinations thereof. For example, the color of the inner pleat pieces 23 may be different from that of the outer pleat pieces 22. In that case, the inner pleat pieces 23 are hidden inside when a wearer is standing still, while they appear when the wearer moves, providing an excellent accent in design. Also, a lace fabric may be used for some of the plurality of outer pleat pieces 22, achieving a gorgeous or fascinating design.
The curved pleat 2 is formed by joining the plurality of fabric pieces 21 described above. Now, a description will be made of a method for manufacturing the curved pleated product, including how the fabric pieces 21 are joined together, taking a garment as an example.
First, the longitudinally curved outer pleat pieces 22 and inner pleat pieces 23 are cut out of a desired fabric. In the embodiment, as shown in
Next, the outer pleat pieces 22 and the inner pleat pieces 23 having the side edge portions a and b that conform with the side edge portions A and B of the outer pleat pieces 22 are aligned alternately, and each opposing side edge portions are sewed together along their contours. In the embodiment, each right side edge portion B of the outer pleat pieces 22 and the corresponding right side edge portion b of the inner pleat pieces 23 are sewed together along their contours and each left side edge portion A of the outer pleat pieces 22 and the corresponding left side edge portion a of the inner pleat pieces 23 are sewed together along their contours, as shown in
The side edge portions A, B, a, and b of the fabric pieces 22 and 23 may be stitched together in any ways as long as they will not frayed, and the stitch type is appropriately selected from, running stitch, reverse stitch, overcast stitch, blind stitch, and other stitches. A core such as wire may be inserted along the contours in order to prevent the pleat from losing its curved contour. The fabric pieces 21 may be joined together by crimping using an adhesive, instead by sewing.
Next, the joined outer pleat pieces 22 and inner pleat pieces 23 are folded along the contours of the sewed side edge portions A, B, a, and b. Here, the joined fabric is folded to alternate between mountain folds and valley folds. Thus, the outer pleat pieces 22 are arranged on the outer side and the inner pleat pieces 23 are arranged on the inner side as shown in
The joined fabric may be folded such that the stitches are hidden on the inner side or appear on the outer side according to the design. The outer pleat pieces 22 and the inner pleat pieces 23 are sewed together and then the joined fabric is folded along the contours in the embodiment, while the fabric may be folded as needed every time an outer pleat piece 22 and an inner pleat piece 23 is sewed together along the contour.
Finally, the formed curved pleat 2 is sewed on the garment at a desired position to manufacture the curved pleated garment. In this way, the curved pleat 2 can be arranged on a garment freely at a desired position without any design constraints. For example, in the embodiment, a slit is formed at the front center of the skirt section 11, and the curved pleat 2 is sewed to the right of the slit, as shown in
Now, operation of each configuration in the curved pleated product 1 of the embodiment will be described.
In the curved pleat 2, the curved contours of the left side edge portions A of the outer pleat pieces 22 appear in a laterally aligned manner, as shown in
In addition, the height of the rising each gather of the pleat can be changed by increasing or decreasing the width of the inner pleat pieces 23 as shown in
The curved contours of the left side edge portions A in the outer pleat pieces 22 appearing on the outer side have a role to define the pleat design and the outer pleat pieces 22 may be designed to have any desired contour. As a result, a manufacturer can easily achieve a desired design image.
Also, while not shown in the figure, the outer pleat pieces 22 and the inner pleat pieces 23 may include different colors, different patterns, different materials, or combinations thereof, thereby improving the aesthetic effect of the curved pleat 2. For example, when a see-through material is used for one of the fabric pieces 21, the effect is that the curved pleat 2 looks as if it was provided with a slit. Alternatively, when a color of the outer pleat pieces 22 is different from that of the inner pleat pieces 23, the three-dimensionality of the curved pleat 2 is emphasized.
Further, as shown in
The above embodiment provides the following effects.
1. The shape, color, pattern, material, and the like of each fabric piece 21 may be selected freely, and thus this dramatically enhances the pleat design flexibility, allowing the curved pleat 2 to be rolled out in a wide variety of variations.
2. The arrangement position of the curved pleat 2 can be selected freely, and thus this makes the curved pleated product 1 highly flexible in kind, shape, and the like, allowing the curved pleated product 1 to be rolled out in a wide variety of variations.
3. The curved pleat 2 can add new value to the curved pleated product 1, including various beautiful impressions like a neat impression, a charming impression, or a graceful and sensual impression, and a sense of luxury.
4. It is possible to appropriately adjust how much each gather of the pleat flutters or how high it rises, by appropriately selecting the width of each fabric piece 21, and accordingly, the curved pleated product 1 can also be provided with functionality such as ease of mobility.
The curved pleated product according to the present invention and the method for manufacturing the same is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be changed as appropriate.
For example, the embodiment has been described taking a dress as an example curved pleated garment, while the curved pleated product 1 is not limited to a garment and can be applied to a variety of products, such as curtains. Also, in addition to the cloth fabric or the leather fabric, fabrics of other materials may be employed.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2013-188375 | Sep 2013 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2014/073087 | 9/2/2014 | WO | 00 |