Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
2067542
BACKGROUND OF THl~ INVENTION
Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of pleating
unfinished garments, thereby to manufacture pleated garments
such as pleated skirts, pleated dresses, pleated blouses,
and pleated slacks.
Description of the Prior Art
Methods of manufacturing pleated garments such as
pleated skirts, are known. Skirts having pleats are
classified into flared skirts, gathered skirts, and pleated
skirts Processes of forming pleats on skirts, dresses,
blouses, slacks, and the like are generally called
"pleating."
When pleated, garments attain appropriate shades
and has a visual effect, or a specific aesthetic impression.
Further, the pleats impart a garment flexibility, which
makes the wearer feel not tightened up and enables the
wearer to move well, even if the nominal size of the garment
is too small for the wearer.
The pleated garment, such as pleated skirts,
pleated dresses, pleated blouses, and pleated slacks, are
usually manufactured in the following steps in most case:
(1) First, selected cloth is cut into several parts having
predetermined shapes and sizes (cutting).
5 (2) The parts, thus prepared, are pressed in preparation
for the next step, i.e., pleating (pressing).
(3) The parts are pleated by a pleating machine or by human
-- 1 -- *
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-
labor (pleating).
(4) The pleated parts are placed in a heat-treatment
apparatus, and heated with saturated steam, thus
- fixing the pleats (heat treatment).
(5) The parts, each now having fixed pleats, are pieced
together by means of a sewing machine, thereby
production a pleated garment (sewing).
As described, a pleated garment is produced,
usually by first cutting cloth into parts, then pleating
cloth parts, and finally sewing these parts together. In
some cases, however, it is made by first pleating cloth,
then cutting the pleated cloth into parts, and finally
sewing the parts together. In either case, buttons are
fixed during the sewing step.
Recently, first cloth parts are sewed together
into an unfinished garment, and then the unfinished garment
is processed to have pleats. This process of forming pleats
on an unfinished garment, which can be called "post pleats
process," is disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese
Patent Application 2-269866.
In the post pleats process, first cloth parts are
sewed together, and then the resultant unfinished garment is
pleated. Hence, the finished product, i.e., the pleated
garment has sufficient flexibility, and can have various
designs, acquiring different aesthetlc impressions.
As pointed out, the conventional method of
manufacturing pleated garments comprises many steps, i.e.,
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cutting, pressing, pleating, heat-treating, and sewing. The
method further comprises the step of placing the pleated
garment in a package case. Much time is required to
manufacture pleated garments by the conventional method.
Obviously, the method fails to meet great demand for pleated
garments.
Pleating process consists in clamping a cloth
part to be sewed to another part, or an unfinished garment
(i.e., cloth parts sewed together), between an upper mold
~o having grooves and a lower mold having projections
complementary to the grooves of the upper mold Most upper
and lower molds, generally known as "pleats molds," are made
of metal. A pair of molds are attached to a pleating
machine, which is operated to form pleats on unfinished
garments.
Ordinary pleats, or simple pleats, can be formed
by the pleating machine equipped with metal pleats molds.
Complex pleats, such as tapered-side pleats, accordion
pleats, pattern-matching pleats, and the like, cannot be
formed by the machine, however. They are formed manually,
with assistance of pleats molds made of paper. As well
understood, much time is consumed to form complex pleats.
No matter whether pleats are formed by the
machine or hand, pleats molds need to be used. Inevitably,
pleats can have but limited designs. Consequently, it is
difficult to produce garments having pleats of various
designs, in large quantities.
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To form pleats of any new designed, a pair of
pleats molds, i.e., an upper mold and a lower mold, must be
prepared. In the case where an unfinished garment needs to
be pleated at a time, it is necessary to make an upper mold
and a lower mold, either consisting of many mold elements.
Needless to say, it takes a long time to prepare such pleats
molds, which hinders the prompt large-scale manufacture of
pleated garments.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present
invention to provide a method of pleating unfinished
garments at high speed, thereby to manufacture garments
having various types of pleats.
It is another object of the present invention to
provide garments having various types of pleats.
To achieve the object, in a method according to
the present invention, no pleats molds (neither an upper
mold nor a lower mold) are used; an unfinished garment is
first rolled, then twisted, and finally heat-treating.
As the twisted unfinished garment is heat-
treated, it comes to have pleats having specific shapes to
the way the garment has been twisted. Hence, the unfinished
garment can be pleated and heat-treated at the same time.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figs. l(A) to l(D) are diagrams, explaining how
an unfinished garment is folded, rolled, and twisted;
Fig. 2 is a diagram, explaining how the
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unfinished garment, twisted as shown in Fig. l(D) is
inserted into a heat-treatment apparatus;
Fig. 3 shows the pleated garment (blouse) made by
unfolding the unfinished garment after the garment has been
heat-treated by the heat-treatment apparatus;
Figs. 4(A) to 4(E) are diagrams, explaining how
an unfinished garment is folded, rolled, and twisted in a
different way;
Fig. 5 shows the pleated garment (blouse) made by
unfolding the garment twisted as shown in Fig. 4(E) after
this garment has been heat-treated;
Figs 6(A) and 6(B) are diagrams, explaining how
a sleeved unfinished garment is twisted in a specific way;
Fig. ~ shows the pleated garment (shirt) prepared
by unfolding the garment twisted as shown in Fig. 6(B) after
the twisted garment has been heat-treated;
Figs. 8(A) to 8(F) are diagrams, explaining how
an unfinished garment is folded, rolled, wrapped with an
urethane-resing sheet, and then twisted;
Fig. 9 shows the pleated garment (dress) made by
unfolding the garment twisted as shown in Fig. 8(F) after
the twisted garment has been heat-treated; and
Fig. lO(A) shows a unfinished garment to be
pleated;
Fig. lO(B) is a diagram explaining how the
garment shown in Fig. lO(A) is sewed temporarily before it
is pleated; and
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- Fig. lO(C) shows the pleated garment prepared by
unfolding the temporarily sewed garment which has been
twisted and heat-treated.
- DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Embodiments of the invention will now be
described in detail, with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
A method of pleating a blouse 10 shown in Fig.
lA, which is a first embodiment of the invention, will be
described first. The blouse 10 comprises two sleeves llL
and llR, two front parts 12FL and 12FR, and a back part 12B -
- which have been cut of cloth and sewed together by a
sewing machine. The blouse 10 has two pockets 15 sewed to
the front parts 12FL and 12FR, respectively, and several
buttons 16 sewed to the left front part 12FL.
The blouse 10, i.e., an unfinished garment 14, is
folded at the dot-dash line as indicated by arrow ~ in Fig.
l(A). Next, the unfinished garment 14, thus folded, is
rolled as indicated by arrow ~ in Fig. l(B), forming a roll
which illustrated in Fig. l(C). Then, the rolled garment 14
is twisted, as shown in Fig. l(D). Alternatively, the
unfinished garment 14 shown in Fig. l(A) can be rolled,
without being folded as shown in Fig. l(B). Further, the
rolled garment 14 (Fig. l(C)) can be twisted to have a node
or nodes.
Thereafter, the twisted garment 14 is attached to
a holder 21, and the holder 21 is inserted into a heat-
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treatment apparatus 20, as illustrated in Fig. 2. Theholder 21 comprises a rigid plate 22 and two sets of clips
23, secured to the opposing two sides, respectively. An end
of the twisted garment 14 is clamped by one of the clips 23
of the first set, whereas the other end of the garment 14 is
clamped by one of the clips 23 of the second set. The
holder 21, which holds the twisted garment 14, is suspened
in the heat-treatment apparatus 20. The holder 21 can be
replaced by any other type that can hold the unfinished
garment 14 and maintain it in twisted condition.
The heat-treatment apparatus 20 is of the known
type, which is filled with saturated steam. The saturated
steam permeates deep into the twisted garment 14. As a
result, the unfinished garment 14 come to have permanent
folds, or pleats, which have specific patterns and lengths,
according to the way the garment 14 is folded, rolled, and
twisted.
At last, the holder is removed from the heat-
treatment apparatus 20, and the heat-treated, twisted
garment 14 is detached from the holder 21. The twisted
garment 14 is untwisted, unrolled, and unfolded, thus
obtaining a finished garment 14 shown in Fig. 3. As evident
from Fig 3, the finished garment 14 (i.e., the blouse 10)
has permanent pleats.
A method of pleating another blouse 30 shown in
Fig. 4(A), which is a second embodiment of the invention,
will be now described. The blouse 30 comprises two sleeves
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31L and 31R, two front parts 32FL and 32FR, and a back part
32B -- which have been cut of cloth and sewed together by a
sewing machine. The blouse 30 has several buttons sewed to
the left front part 12FL.
First, the left sleeve 31L and the right sleeve
31R are folded onto the left front part 32FL and the right
front part 32FR, respectively, as indicated by arrows ~ in
Fig. 4(A) The blouse 30, i.e., an unfinished garment 34,
thus folded is further folded double as indicated by arrow
in Fig 4(B). Next, the unfinished garment 34, thus folded,
is rolled as indicated by arrow ~ in Fig. 4(C), forming a
roll illustrated in Fig. 4(D). Then, the rolled garment 34
is twisted, as shown in Fig. 4(E).
Thereafter, the twisted garment 34 is attached to
the holder 21, and the holder 21 is inserted into a heat-
treatment apparatus 20 tFig. 2). In the apparatus 20, the
saturated steam permeates deep into the twisted garment 34.
As a result, the unfinished garment 34 comes to have pleats
of specific patterns and lengths, according to the way the
garment 34 is folded, rolled and twisted.
Next, the holder 21 is removed from the heat-
treatment apparatus 20, and the heat-treated, twisted
garment 34 is detached from the holder 21 The twisted
garment 34 is untwisted, unrolled, and unfolded, thus
obtaining a finished garment 34 shown in Fig. 5. As evident
from Fig. 5, the finished garment 34 (i.e. the blouses 30)
has permanent pleats.
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In the conventional pleating process, either a
cloth part to be sewed to other cloth parts or an unfinished
garment is first clamped between an upper mold having
grooves and a lower mold having projections, then is
subjected to pleating, and finally is heat-treated, whereby
the cloth part or the garment is permanently pleated.
By contrast, in the present invention, the
twisted garment 14 or 34 is heat-treated, thereby having
pleats having specific shapes and lengths, according to the
way the garment is folded, rolled, and twisted. The heat
treatment and the pleating process are accomplished at the
same time. Obviously, the method of the invention comprises
less steps than the conventional method, and thus serves to
pleat unfinished garments at higher speed. Hence, the
method according to the present invention meet the demand
that pleated garments be manufactured in large quantities.
The pleat molds used in the conventional method,
i.e., the upper mold and the lower mold, are large and
cannot be prepared fast or at low cost. In contrast, no
pleat molds are used in the method of the present invention.
In view of this, too, the method of the invention makes it
possible to manufacture pleated garments in large
quantities.
In the conventional method, cloth parts or
unfinished garments are clamped, one by one, between the
upper mold and the lower mold. Apparently, the cloth parts
or the unfinished garments cannot be pleated at high speed.
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The process of pleating unfinished garments, thus time-
consuming, would inevitably decrease the efficiency of
manufacturing pleated garments. In contrast, in the method
- of this invention, the unfinished garment 14 or 34 can be
twisted manually at high speed. Further, since the
unfinished garment is pleated at the same time, it is heat-
treated, making it unnecessary to heat the garment longer
than otherwise. Thus, the pleating step makes no bar to
high-speed manufacture of pleated garments.
Moreover, since the pleating step is carried out
after the sewing step, the pleats can be designed, not
restricted by the conditions of sewing cloth parts together
Rather, by changing the position at which to start rolling
the unfinished garment, the direction in which to roll the
garment, the degree to which to twist the garment, and the
force with which to twist the garment, the unfinished
garment can have various visual effects, or various
aesthetic impressions, as evident from the pleated blouses
10 and 30 shown in Figs. 3 and 5. Hence, the garment
pleated by the method of the invention acquires an added
value easily.
Since the cloth parts are sewed together before
they are subjected to the pleating step, the restoring force
of the cloth need not be taken into account, and the cloth
parts need not be held while being sewed together into a
garment. This makes it possible to sew the cloth parts at
high speed. Also, since the cloth parts are sewed before
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20675~2
.
they are pleated, they do not overlap greatly. Therefore,
they can easily be sewed by a sewing machine.
Since the cloth parts are sewed together before
they are pleated, the pleated garment has flexibility as
high as is demanded of pleated garments.
In the conventional method, cloth parts are
clamped between the upper mold and lower mold. If the cloth
parts have buttons sewed to them before they are subjected
to pleating step, there is the possibility that the buttons
are clamped by the pleat molds and subsequently broken.
Hence, the buttons must be sewed to the garment after the
garment has been pleated.
By contrast, buttons can be sewed to unfinished
garments before the garments are subjected to pleating step.
This is because, the unfinished garments, whether having
buttons or not, are pleated by being folded, rolled and
twisted and by being heat-treated, using no pleat molds
whatever. For the same reason, pockets can be sewed to the
unfinished garment before the garment is pleated. If
buttons and pockets are sewed to the unfinished garment
before the garment is pleated, the garment can be put to
sale immediately after it has been heat-treated and
packaged.
A method of pleating a shirt 50 shown in Fig.
6(A), which is a third embodiment of the invention, will be
now described. The shirt 50 comprises two sleeves 51L and
51R, a front part 52F and a back part 52B -- which have been
2067542
cut of cloth and sewed together by a sewing machine. The
shirt S0 has a pocket 55 and three buttons 56 sewed to the
front part 12F.
-- First, the left sleeve 51L and the right sleeve
51R and the lower half of the shirt 50, or the unfinished
garment 54, are twisted, leaving the collar 58`and the upper
half untwisted, as shown in Fig. 6(B). Then, the ends of
the three twisted parts of the unfinished garment 54 are
clamped by three clips 23 of the holder 21. This done, the
holder 21 is inserted in the heat-treatment apparatus 20
(Fig. 2). In the apparatus 20, the saturated steam permeates
deep into the garment 54. The unfinished garment 54 thereby
comes to have pleats of specific patterns and lengths,
according to the way the three parts of the garment 54 are
twisted.
Next, the holder 21 is removed from the heat-
treatment apparatus 20, and the heat-treated, twisted
garment 54 is detached from the holder 21. The twisted
garment 54 is untwisted, unrolled and unfolded, thus
obtaining a finished garment 54 shown in Fig. 7. As evident
from Fig. ~, the finished garment 54 (i.e. the shirt 50) has
permanent pleats.
The conventional method of pleating garments
cannot be used to pleat an unfinished garment which has,
like a shirt, a part or parts that should not be pleated.
In other words, such a garment cannot be pleated by a
pleating machine; it needs to be pleated by hand. In the
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method of the present invention, an unfinished garment can
easily be pleated, except for a specific part or parts, by
twisting and heat-treating the other parts of the garment.
A method of pleating a dress 70 shown in Fig.
8(A), which is a fourth embodiment of the invention, will be
now described. The dress 70 comprises two sleeves 71L and
71R, a front part 72F, and a back part 72B -- which have
been cut of cloth and sewed together by a sewing machine
First, the left sleeve 71L and the right sleeve
71R are folded onto the front part 72F, as indicated by
arrow ~ in Fig. 8(A). Then, the lower half of the dress 70,
or the unfinished garment 74, is folded minutely and
gathered as shown in Fig. 8(B). Next, as illustrated in
Fig. 8(C), the unfinished garment 74 is laid on a soft sheet
76 made of air-permeable material such as urethane resin.
Further, the sheet 76 is rolled, taking in the unfinished
garment 74, as shown in Fig. 8(D). The roll of the sheet 76
containing the garment 74 is twisted as shown in Fig. 8(E),
and is further twisted and tied with strings 77 and 78 at
the ends as illustrated in Fig. 8(F).
Thereafter, the ends of the twisted garment 74
wrapped with the sheet 76 are clamped by the clips 23 of the
holder 21. The holder 21 is inserted into the heat-
treatment apparatus 20 (see Fig. 2). In the apparatus 20,
the saturated steam permeates deep into the twisted garment
74. The unfinished garment 74 thereby comes to have pleats
of specific patterns and lengths, according to the way the
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2067542
three parts of the garment 74 are folded, gathered, and
twisted.
Next, the holder 21 is removed from the heat-
- treatment apparatus 20, and the heat-treated, twisted
garment 74 is detached from the holder 21. The twisted
garment 74 is untwisted, unrolled, and unfolded, thus
obtaining a finished dress 70 shown in Fig. 9. As evident
from Fig. 9, the dress 70 has permanent pleats
In the fourth embodiment, the unfinished garment
74 is wrapped with a soft sheet 76 made of air-permeable
material such as urethane resin, and is heat-treated, with
the wrapping tied with the strings 78 Therefore, the
garment 74 has such complex pleats as shown in Fig. 9.
Since the lower half of the unfinished garment 74 is
gathered and folded as shown in Fig. 8(B), it will have
straight pleats. By contrast, the sleeves and upper half of
the garment 74 will have complex pleats since they are
folded, rolled, and twisted.
Thus, the garment 74 has complex pleats since
some parts of its have been folded, rolled together with the
soft sheet 76 (e.g., an urethane resin), thereby wrapped
with the sheet 76, and twisted, whereas the other part of it
is gathered, folded, together with the soft sheet 76, and
twisted. In the first to third embodiments, too, some part
of the unfinished garment can be gathered, folded, rolled
together with a soft sheet, and twisted.
Any narrow part of a garment, such as an waist,
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is formed of a cloth part smaller than the other cloth
parts. The more narrow parts the garment has, the more
difficult it will be to cut cloth and sew cloth parts
together to form the garment. According to the present
invention, a garment having some narrow parts can easily be
manufactured by pleating an unfinished garment in a specific
manner which will be described below.
A method of pleating a raincoat 90 in Fig. lO(A),
which is a fifth embodiment of the invention, will be now
described. In the first step, as shown in Fig. lO(B), the
unfinished garment 94 are temporarily sewed at both
shoulders, at the middle of either sleeve, and at both
cuffs. Further, it is temporarily sewed at the waist, and
the two portions below the waist. As shown in Fig. lO(C),
the threads forming the temporary stitches 97 are pulled
thereby narrowing the shoulders, the middle portion of
either sleeve, both cuffs, the waist, and the two portions
below the waist. Then, the unfinished garment 94 is pressed
by a press machine, rolled around a hollow cylinder 98, and
heat-treated. As a result, the garment 94 has permanent
pleats. After the garment 94 is heat-treated, the stitches
97 are cut, and the threads are pulled from the garment 94.
Even after the threads have been removed from the garment
94, the narrowed portions thereof remain narrowed or
squeezed. Thus, the raincoat 90 is pleated and has narrowed
portions as illustrated in Fig. lO(C).
As described above, the unfinished garment 94 can
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-
have any desired portion narrowed or squeezed, by
temporarily sewing that portion, pulling the thread forming
the temporary stitches, heat-treating the garment, thereby
- pleating it, and cutting the temporary stitches. That
portion can be narrowed as much as desired, merely by
pulling the thread by the proportional distance. In the
fifth embodiment, each desired portion of the garment 94 is
temporarily sewed all around -- from the front to the back
Alternatively, the portion can be temporarily sewed partly
only, and will, therefore, be pleated partially
In the method explained with reference to Figs.
lO(A) to lO(C), any portion of a garment can be narrowed no
matter which cloth parts the portion consists of. No
particular measures need to be taken in cutting cloth into
parts, or to sew the resultant cloth parts together into the
unfinished garment. That is, the unfinished garment can be
squeezed at any portion and to any desired degree. This
ensures a variety of designs for pleated garments.
The unfinished garment 94 is pressed and rolled
around the hollow cylinder 98 in the method according to the
fifth embodiment. The raincoat 90 can be packaged before it
is unrolled from the cylinder 98. If this is the case, the
raincoat 90 can be put to sale at once. Rolled around the
cylinder 98, it remains intact, not slackening, while being
transported. Hence, its pleats remain neat and steady.
In the embodiments described above, the blouses
10 and 30, the shirt 50, the dress ~0, and the raincoat 90
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-
were pleated. Nonetheless, the method of the invention can
be applied to the manufacture of other types of pleated
garment, such as T-shirts, skirts, slacks, cocktail dresses,
and the like.
The specific ways of folding, rolling, twisting,
tying with strings, temporarily sewing unfinished garments --
all performed in the embodiments described above -- are
nothing more than examples. According to the present
invention, the unfinished garments can be folded, rolled,
twisted, string-tied, and temporarily sewed in other various
possible manners.
The invention is not limited to the embodiments
described above, which are no more than examples. Needless
to say, various changes and modifications can be made,
without departing the spirit and scope of the invention.
As described above, according to the present
invention, as a twisted unfinished garment is heat-treated,
it has pleats having sizes and shapes determined by the way
it has been twisted. Obviously, any method of the invention
comprises less steps than the conventional method wherein
the pleating step and the heat treatment are carried out
sequentially. The method of the invention can thus serve to
pleat unfinished garments at a higher speed, meeting the
~e ?n~ that pleated garments be manufactured in large
quantities.
In the method of the invention, the unfinished
garment can be twisted by hand, both easily and fast.
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Although the garment is pleated while it is being heat-
treated, the time required for the heat treatment is not so
long. Further, no pleat molds are used, unlike in the
- conventional method. Hence, the method of the invention has
no bar to mass-production of pleated garment.
- Since the pleating step is carried out after the
sewing step, the pleats can be designed, not restricted by
the conditions of sewing cloth parts together. Rather, by
changing the way of rolling the unfinished garment, the way
of twisting the garment, and the way of folding, if
necessary, the garment before it is rolled, the garment can
have various visual effects, or various aesthetic
impressions. Hence, the garment pleated by the method of
the invention acquires an added value easily.
As pointed out, the cloth parts are sewed
together before they are subjected to the pleating step.
Hence, the restoring force of the cloth need not be taken
into account, and the cloth parts need not be held while
being sewed together into a garment. This makes it possible
to sew the cloth parts at high speed. Also, since the cloth
parts are sewed before they are pleated, they do not overlap
greatly. They can therefore be sewed easily by a sewing
machine.
Since the cloth parts are sewed together before
they are pleated, the pleated garment has flexibility as
high as is demanded of pleated garments.
In the method of the invention, buttons can be
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sewed to unfinished garments before the garments are
subjected to pleating step. This is because, the unfinished
garments, whether having buttons or not, are pleated by
being folded, rolled and twisted and by being heat-treated,
not using no pleat molds whatever. If buttons and pockets
are sewed to the unfinished garment before the garment is
pleated, the garment can be put to sale, immeditely after it
has been heat-treated and packaged.
According to the present invention, an unfinished
garment can easily be pleated, except for a specific part or
parts, by twisting and heat-treating the other parts of the
garment.
Further, an unfinished garment can have complex
pleats in a speci~ic method, in which some parts of it are
folded and twisted, whereas the other part of it is
gathered, folded, and twisted. As a result, the garment
will have pleats of complex design.
In still another method of the invention, an
unfinished garment is wrapped with a soft sheet made of air-
permeable material such as urethane resin, and is heat-
treated, with the wrapping tied with the strings.
Therefore, the garment has pleats which are complex due to
the string-tying process.
In another method according to the invention, an
unfinished garment can be narrowed can be squeezed at any
portion by temporarily sewing that portion and pulled the
thread forming the temporary stitches. Hence, as the
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garment lS heat-treated, it will have pleats at the squeezed
portion, which have sizes and shapes determined by how much
the thread has been pulled. This ensures a variety of
-- designs for pleated garments.
As described above, in the method of the
invention, an unfinished garment is not only twisted before
it is heat-treated, but also wrapped with a soft sheet of,
for example, urethane resin, and then tied with strings, or
folded and rolled, or temporarily sewed at any desired
portion to squeeze that portion The garment can therefore
be pleated in various designs, at high speed. The method of
the invention can, thus, provide pleated garments which are
utterly different in concept from the pleated garments
hitherto manufactured.
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