P/00/01I Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Invention Title: Knitted garment The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing It known to us: 2 Knitted garment Field of the invention The present invention relates to a knitted garment and particularly to a knitting method for creating such knitted garment. 5 Background of the invention A lace fabric is a delicate lightweight open weblike fabric, patterned, either by machine or by hand, with open holes in the work. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often lace is built up from a single thread and the open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Such lace 10 fabric is delicate and can be easily damaged, however the look is very popular, particularly in intimate apparel, including hosiery such as stockings. Due to the delicate nature of lace fabric, stockings have been created using standard knitting techniques, with a lace pattern being printed on their surface. This therefore creates the appearance of lace, but without the delicate nature of the fabric. However, 15 as with all printing on fabric, fading occurs in areas subject to greater use or contact, such as the heel or knee area of a stocking. It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternative knitted garment. Summary of the invention Accordingly, the present invention provides a knitted garment having a main body and 20 at least one decorative portion, wherein two different coloured yarns, a primary yarn and a secondary yarn, are used, with the main body being knit such that the primary yarn is visible from a front surface and the secondary yarn is visible from a rear surface and the at least one decorative portion being knit such that the primary yarn is selectively floated across the rear surface allowing the secondary yarn to be selectively visible from the 25 front surface to create a decorative pattern in the decorative portion(s).
3 Advantageously, the decorative pattern created resembles lace. The entire garment is typically a plain weft knit, using two different types of plating techniques. Preferably, the main body is knit using a plain plate knit. The decorative portion(s) is preferably knit using a float plate knit. 5 Advantageously, the garment is a seam free garment, being made using tubular knitting techniques. The garment is typically an undergarment, preferably hosiery, such a stockings, however the garment may also be briefs or any other suitable garment. The primary yarn may be a Nylon yarn, such as 70D/68F. The secondary yarn may be a polyester/elastane yarn, such as a 20/30 blend. 0 The two different coloured yarns are preferably contrasting, such as the primary yarn being black, whilst the secondary yarn is white. According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of knitting a garment, whereby a primary yarn and a secondary yarn of different colours are knit together throughout a body of the garment using a plain plate knit, such that the primary 5 knit is visible from a front surface and the secondary yarn is visible from a rear surface, wherein, at the beginning of a decorative portion, the knit is switched to a float plate knit, such that the primary yarn is selectively floated across the rear surface to create a decorative pattern with the secondary yarn being selectively visible to the front surface, and whereby, at the end of the decorative portion, the knit is switched back to a plain 20 plate knit. Brief description of the drawings The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an illustrative view of the rear surface of a decorative portion of a knitted 25 garment according to the present invention; 4 Figure 2 is an illustrative view of the front surface of a knitted garment showing a decorative portion according to an embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 3 is an illustrative view similar to Figure 2 of the rear surface of a knitted garment showing the decorative portion shown in Figure 2. 5 Detailed description of the embodiments A knitted garment 10 is shown in Figure 1 taking the form of the leg of a pair of stockings. The garment 10 has a body 12 and a decorative portion 14, which would typically extend around the leg of a wearer in the upper thigh region. Two different coloured yarns are used to create the material. In the embodiment shown in Figures 2 10 and 3, a primary yarn 16 is shown as being black and a secondary yarn 18 is shown as being white. In Figure 1, the wider line is depicting the primary yarn 16 and the thinner line is depicting the secondary yarn 18. The entire garment 10 is knitted using a plain weft knit, using two different types of plating techniques. The primary yarn 16 and the secondary yarn 18 are used in the 15 same loop throughout the body 12, as shown in the upper and lower sections of Figure 1, with the secondary yarn 18 being positioned behind the primary yarn 16, such that in each knitted loop only the primary yarn 18 is shown on the front surface 20, with the secondary yarn 16 showing on the rear surface 22. Figures 1 and 3 are showing the rear surface 22, whilst Figure 2 is showing the front surface 20. As can be seen in 20 Figure 2, the body portions 12 are black, as it is only the primary yarn 16 that is visible from the front surface 20. Correspondingly, as can be seen in Figure 3, the body portions 12 are white, as it is the secondary yarn 18 that is visible from the rear surface 22. The primary yarn 16 is commonly referred to as the main yarn, facing yarn or face loop. 25 The secondary yarn 18 is commonly referred to as the ground yarn, plating yarn or back loop. They may be any colour, but are preferably contrasting colours. In the decorative portion 14, a float plate knit is used, where the primary yarn 16 is mis knitted or 'floated' as a float loop 26 across a number of loops 24 across the rear 5 surface 22 of the garment to allow the secondary yarn 18 to appear on the front surface 20. The secondary yarn 18 is consistently knit throughout the entire garment, the unique technique lies in the switching of knitting technique from plain plating to float plating at 5 the decorative portion 14 by moving of the primary yarn 16 from the front surface 20 to the rear surface 22 that exposes the secondary yarn 18. At the end of the decorative portion 14 the knitting is switched back from float plating to plain plating moving the primary yarn 16 back to the front surface 20 so that the secondary yarn 18 can no longer be seen from the front surface 20. 10 As can be seen from Figure 2, the resulting decorative pattern 28 in the decorative portion 14 resembles lace. Such application may be in the leg of a pair of stockings to create a lace panel around the upper thigh of the stockings. It will be understood that the invention disclosed and defined in this specification extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features 15 mentioned or evident from the text or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the invention.