Patent Application
20130042797
An appliqué design is typically a smaller ornament or swatch of cloth applied to another surface. In the field of sewing, appliqué refers to a needlework technique in which pieces of fabric, embroidery, or other materials are sewn onto another piece of fabric to create a visual effect in the form of designs, patterns or pictures.
In creating an appliqué on a fabric using the embroidery technology currently available, there is no easy way for a user to create an appliqué design onto another piece of fabric. Specifically, the user is required to apply the appliqué manually. For instance, the user would either have to sew on the fabric by hand. This would be very time consuming and difficult, if not impossible, to accurately replicate. Alternatively, the user could use a computer to generate the appliqué design. However this would require the user to create and shape the design by-hand. This also would be a very time consuming task, and a desired appliqué design may be too complex for the user to create. Thus, a simpler and more efficient method is desired for decorating garments and fabrics using appliqués.
A method for sewing, by a sewing means, an alignment stitch pattern into a base material, sewing, by the sewing means, an attachment stitch pattern into a top material that covers the alignment stitch pattern, the attachment stitch pattern attaches the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern and sewing, by the sewing means, a border stitch pattern around the edges of the top material.
A automatic appliqué system having a user input element configured to receive a selection of an alignment stitch pattern, an attachment stitch pattern and a border stitch pattern, a processor executing a set of instructions corresponding to the selection received by the user input element and a sewing element being controlled by the processor based on the set of instructions to sew the alignment stitch pattern into a base material, sew the attachment stitch pattern aligned over the alignment pattern of the top material thereby attaching the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern and sew the border stitch pattern around the edges of the top material.
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including a set of instructions that are executable by a processor. The set of instructions being operable at least to receive a first selection of an alignment stitch pattern, instruct a sewing machine to sew the alignment stitch pattern onto a base material, receive a second selection of an attachment stitch pattern the attachment stitch pattern being a substantial duplicate pattern of the alignment stitch pattern, instruct the sewing machine to sew the attachment stitch pattern into the top material, attaching the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern and instruct the sewing machine to sew a border stitch pattern around edges of the top material.
The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description of exemplary embodiments and the related appended drawings, wherein like elements are provided with the same reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments are related to systems and methods for decorating material such as garments and fabrics. Specifically, the exemplary embodiments described herein relate to automatically creating an appliqué design using a sewing machine.
As will be described in greater detail below, the exemplary systems and methods of appliqué creation provide a quick and efficient process of decorating materials such as garments, fabrics, etc. using a sewing machine, such as a computerized processor-based sewing machine. In addition, this decorative process may be performed in conjunction with a shape creator mode (e.g., shaping feature) of the sewing machine. For instance, an example of such a shape-creating program may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/675,518 entitled “Positioning of Stitch Data Objects” assigned to VSM Group AB, incorporated here by reference. The shaping feature may provide a user with a unique way to customize and use built-in decorative stitches, sequences, and/or embroidery designs to form new shapes. Specially, shaping operations may include selecting of a stitch pattern or sequence, adjusting dimensions (e.g., width, length, stitch density, etc.) of the selected pattern, and sewing the stitch pattern onto the material according to the adjusted dimensions. The selection of the stitch patterns, sequences and designs may be from a plurality of shaping tools stored in a memory of the sewing machine. Alternatively, a stitch shape may be created “by-hand” by a user using a stitch creator program to generate new and unique stitches.
There are several benefits to the use of automatic appliqué creation over conventional appliqué creation by hand. As opposed to the time-consuming process of conventional hand-made appliqué creation, the systems and methods described herein utilize the shaping feature of a computerized sewing machine to create customizable appliqué designs on fabric that resemble a user-selected shape. The properties of the user-selected shape (e.g., location, dimensions, rotation, angle, etc.) may be under the control of the user. Therefore, the shape creation feature combined with the automatic appliqué feature makes it possible for the user to easily create and modify unique designs on fabric that would otherwise take a great deal of time and effort.
Furthermore, these features also allow for easy duplication of user-generated designs. Specifically, each of the shapes used and modified by the user may be stored within the memory of the computerized sewing machine for future use. As opposed to creating each design by hand (e.g., “from scratch”), the shaping feature allows for easy reproduction of previous designs for automatic, repeated creation of appliqué designs on fabric. Manual reproduction of the shapes would be time-consuming and lack the accuracy of a computer-assisted shape-creating feature. Thus, the exemplary systems and methods described herein for automatic appliqué allow the user to create, and accurately recreate, unique decorative appliqué designs on any type of material.
The processor 130 may be any type of electronic circuit or component capable of performing the functions described herein for the processor 130. Examples include processors, microprocessors, controllers, application specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), integrated circuits, etc. Similarly, the memory 120 may be any type of electronic circuit that is capable of storing the data described herein. Examples include hard drives, flash memory, arrays, dynamic random access memory (“DRAM”), etc. Moreover, the user interface 140 may be any component that allows the user to receive feedback from the sewing machine 110 and/or input commands to the sewing machine 110. Examples include depressible buttons or levers, a selection grid, a touch-screen, etc.
The memory 120 may store any number of pre-programmed stitch shapes (e.g., patterns, sequences and/or designs) that may be performed by the sewing machine 110. Each of the pre-programmed shapes may include a set of instructions executable by the processor 130. In addition, the memory 120 may also store user-generated shapes and user-modified shapes based on input received from a user using a shape-creating program. Accordingly, the stored or created stitch shapes may be displayed to the user via the user interface 140
The user may place the base material 190 into the embroidery hoop 185 as shown in
The pre-programmed, or “built-in,” stitch shapes of the system 100 may include universal symbols such as letters, clouds, flowers, ribbons, generic shapes, etc. With either these pre-set designs or after user modifications, there is no limitation as to the types of shapes that may be supported by the system 100. Furthermore, the user may also choose to create unique shapes using a drawing tool of the user interface 140. According to the exemplary embodiments described herein, the functionality of the shaping program may be combined with the automatic appliqué program to provide the user with an expansive range of customizable appliqué designs.
In a specific example, if the user selects a ribbon stitch shape (e.g., an “awareness ribbon” template), the processor 130 may provide the user with shape-editing tools, via the user interface 140, to adjust the ribbon shape (e.g., expand or elongate the ribbon shape). Once the stitch shape is selected and modified, the exemplary system 100 may store the altered shape in the memory 120 for current and future use. The dimensions (e.g., width, length, etc.) for each of the selected shapes may also be adjusted automatically by the processor 130 based on a prior user adjustment. For instance, if the user modifies the shape of one alphanumeric character within a selected font family during a project, the processor 130 may automatically adjust each of the remaining characters according to the user's changes.
Beginning with step 210, the base material 190 to which the appliqué is to be applied is positioned within the embroidery hoop 185 that is then positioned within the embroidery unit 180 of the computerized sewing machine 110. Specifically, the user may place the base material 190 in relation to the embroidery hoop 185 based on the desired location for the appliqué.
In step 220, the processor 130 may receive a selection of a stitch shape. The stitch shape may be stored within the memory 120 as a pre-programmed stitch pattern, or, alternatively, may be a user-generated custom design. The processor 130 may receive the selection of the stitch shape via the user interface 140.
In step 230, the processor 130 may receive an adjustment to the stitch shape. The adjustment may include an adjustment to the dimensions of the stitch shape, stitch spacing, stitch density, etc. For example, the user may use the user interface 140 to adjust the length and/or the width of the selected stitch shape. In addition, each of the stored shapes may include pre-set control points for defining the appearance of the shape. Accordingly, the user may adjust location and/or the number of control points within the selected shape via the user interface 140. It should be noted that by adjusting the control points, the user may adjust the selected shape within unlimited possibilities. Examples of some appliqué stitch shapes are provided below and these exemplary shapes show that the same shape may be used in each step towards the final appliqué design.
It should be noted that, in addition to adjustments in control points, the user may also adjust the position of the shape relative to a reference line. For example, the stitch shape may be positioned above, below or across the reference line. The stitch shape may be rotated to place the top, bottom, right or left side along the reference line. The stitch shape may be angled to adjust alignment to the baseline. Thus, in the same way that a user may define the design of the stitch shape, the user may define the orientation and alignment of the shape prior to sewing the shape onto the base material 190. Again, the processor 130 may receive these selections and adjust the stitch shapes as needed.
Returning to the method 200, in step 240, the processor 130 may instruct the sewing machine 110 to sew the selected stitch shape as an alignment stitch pattern onto the base material 190. This sewing is a conventional sewing stitch where the needle 160, sews the thread 170 from the spool into the desired pattern on the material 190. As the sewing machine 110 sews the alignment stitch pattern onto the base material 190, the system 100 may automatically reposition the base material 190 during the process to create the desired pattern based on the selected stitch shape and the other parameters entered at step 230, e.g., length, width, stitch density, etc.
In step 250, the top material 195 may be aligned over the alignment stitch pattern on the base material 190. Specifically, the alignment stitch pattern on the base material 190 may allow the user to configure the top material 195 in such a way that the top material 195 covers the shape of the stitch pattern, in its entirety. Furthermore, if the top material 195 includes any patterns or designs, the alignment stitch may allow the user to select specific portions of this design to be included in the finished appliqué design.
In step 260, the processor 130 may instruct the sewing machine 110 to baste the selected stitch shape as an attachment stitch pattern through the top material 195 onto the base material 190, thereby attaching the top material 195 to the base material 190. Those skilled in the art will understand that basting generally refers to stitching fairly large temporary stitches. The attachment stitch pattern may be of substantially the same shape as the underlying alignment stitch pattern to secure the top material 195 to the base material 190.
In step 270, excess material from the top material 195 may be removed (e.g., trimmed) to create a raw shape for the attached appliqué design. For instance, the user may trim the excess material as close to the attachment stitch line as possible. This removal may define the rough edges of the appliqué design of the top material 195. It should be noted that the removal of the excess material does not need to be extremely thorough, as these rough edges of the appliqué will be covered with a border stitch of step 280.
In step 280, the processor 130 may instruct the sewing machine 110 to sew the selected stitch shape as the border stitch pattern through the material 195 onto the base material 190, thereby creating a decorative border along the edges of the trimmed top material 195. Again, the border stitch pattern may be of substantially the same shape as the underlying alignment stitch pattern. The border stitch pattern may be, for example, a high-density satin stitch that is broad enough to cover the edges of the top material 195 as well as the attachment stitch pattern.
It should be noted that the method 200 merely provides an example for performing automatic appliqué creation using a computerized sewing machine. Any number of steps in the exemplary method 200 may be duplicated or eliminated to allow for alternative variations to the method 200 within the scope of the invention.
Finally,
Finally,
Each of the above examples includes the characteristics of the automatically creating an appliqué design on a base material to provide a unique decorative design. However, these characteristics are not requirements. That is, it is possible to include any number of stitch patterns and designs along the border stitch pattern. For example, in the exemplary border stitch pattern illustrated in
In the above exemplary embodiments, an embroidery unit and embroidery hoop was used in the automatic creation of appliqués. However, in instances where the appliqué is a simple appliqué, the exemplary embodiments may be used to manually sew the appliqué to the base material. In such an embodiment, the computerized sewing machine will not include the embroidery unit or embroidery hoop, but will operate in the normal sewing mode. Upon selection of the desired stitch shape, the user interface 140 may display the shape with its corresponding stitches with stitch direction indicators (e.g., hash-marks and/or arrows). The user may then sew the desired stitch shape in the base material to create the alignment stitch pattern using the computerized sewing machine 110 in the normal sewing mode, rather than the embroidery mode. Similarly, after placing the top material over the alignment stitch pattern in the base material, the user may again sew the attachment stitch pattern using the computerized sewing machine 110 in the normal sewing mode. Finally, the user interface may show the selected border stitch pattern and the user may sew the border stitch pattern using the computerized sewing machine 110 in the normal sewing mode. Thus, the exemplary systems and methods are not limited to the embroidery mode, but may also be accomplished in the normal sewing mode of the computerized sewing machine 110.
According to the exemplary embodiments of the automatic appliqué systems and methods, any combination of stitch shapes and border stitch patterns may be utilized in the creation of a completely unique pattern. The customization tools available to the user in modifying both the overall shape of the appliqué design and the decorative effects of the border stitching give the user more creative freedom over how the finished appliqué product will appear.
Those skilled in the art will understand that the above-described exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any number of manners, including, as a separate software module, as a combination of hardware and software, etc. For example, stitch creation tools and the above described sewing methods may be a program containing lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that, when compiled, may be executed on a processor.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the present invention, without departing from the spirit or the scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
