Patent Application
20230172299
This invention relates to a decorative knot for use as a component of an article of apparel, for example, a head covering known as a turban, worn by a woman either as a fashion article or for personal care.
Turbans have been worn by men for many years, in most cases for religious reasons. More recently, turbans have been used by women to protect their hair while sleeping or while engaged in activities that tend to disturb their hair. Many women also use turbans as fashionable portions of their wardrobes.
Especially in the case in which the turban is worn as fashion item, it is typically formed with a decorative knot. In some cases, the turban is suppled in the form of a length of fabric which is wrapped around the head one or more times and tied by the wearer to form the knot. In other cases, the turban is formed in such a way that it can be simply fitted onto the wearer's head without the need for tying. In the latter cases, a pre-formed decorative knot is typically included as a component of the turban. The decorative knot can be a unitary part of the fabric that forms the head covering. Alternatively, the head covering can be formed with a loop, and a separate, elongated piece of fabric is passed through the loop and then tied to form a decorative knot.
The version in which the user ties the knot is deficient in that it is difficult for a user to tie a suitable decorative knot. The version in which the turban is supplied with a pre-formed knot is similarly deficient in that it is difficult to form a suitable decorative knot from a unitary part of the fabric of the head covering, and it is also difficult to form a suitable decorative knot from an elongated piece of fabric passed through a loop formed in the head covering.
An object of this invention is to provide an attractively appearing decorative knot that can be formed readily and inexpensively, and that can be readily attached to a head covering or other article of apparel.
The decorative knot in accordance with the invention comprises a length of flexible core material, preferably a length of solid polyethylene foam having a uniform circular cross section. A length of fabric, preferably a polyester fabric, fits over, and covers, the exterior surface of the length of core material from one end to the opposite end. The fabric may include two overlapping layers extending laterally from the length of core material and sewn together. The fabric-covered length of core material is formed into a spiral consisting of multiple turns proceeding around an axis. The turns have a progressively increasing radius and are progressively axially displaced from one another. Adjacent turns of the spiral touch, and are secured to, one another, preferably by sewing. The overlapping layers of fabric that are sewn together preferably extend inward toward the axis of the spiral from the length of core material. The decorative knot can be secured to a article of headwear or another article of apparel by stitches that pass through the portion of the overlapping layers of fabric that extend inward from the largest turn of the spiral.
The width of the fabric strip 12 preferably exceeds the circumference of the core so that overlapping layers 14 and 16 of the fabric can be sewn together by a line of stitches 18 extending lengthwise along the fabric strip adjacent the core 10. The overlapping fabric layers can be secured to each other by machine stitching.
As shown in
The completed knot 32, shown in
The cross-sectional view in
Various other modifications can be made to the knot depicted in the drawings. For example, the core can be composed of a material other than a foam, and its cross-sectional shape can be other than circular, e.g., elliptical or polygonal. These and other modifications that will occur to persons skilled in the art can be made to the knot described herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.
