AU734128B3

AU734128B3 - A sewing method

Info

Publication number: AU734128B3
Application number: AU21234/01A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Chang Jae Han
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-04-19
Filing date: 2001-02-15
Publication date: 2001-06-07
Anticipated expiration: 2002-06-07

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION PETTY PATENT Invention: A sewing method The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: J J c' 22232450.d~~cAh S:\USERS\RECCGA\2223245_PP.doc 1 A Sewing Method Field of the invention The present invention relates to a sewing method and to garments and the like made using that method.

Background of the invention In the manufacture of garments, pieces of material of different shaped cloth are sewn together to form a clothing article. At the juncture where the pieces of cloth are joined together, it is common for a portion of the joined material that is overlapping to extend outwardly from the planar surface of the material and hence, the garment will be worn so that the outside of the garment shows the side in which the material does not extend or 'jut' outwardly from the surface. In this situation, the garment is not a reversible garment as the extension of overlapping material of the stitching looks aesthetically displeasing.

Currently in reversible garments, such as reversible jackets, an inner lining is inserted to cover the inner side of the jacket and consequently cover the part of the overlapping part of the jacket material that extends outwardly from the surface. Additionally, the edges of the material where the two parts join may be exposed and this can be unsightly. To overcome this problem, an additional inner lining to the garment jacket is required to cover the edges and this results in more work having to be performed on behalf of the garment manufacturer, which also increases the material cost of manufacture.

Animal skin with fur on one side and a smooth reverse side is popular for use in the manufacture of garments, however animal skin is particularly difficult to work with given the thickness of the material and-the presence of the fur or hair. The thickness and toughness of animal skin makes sewing seams difficult and such seams typically have exposed edges. This is not only unsightly but is also unsuitable for the production of reversible garments. Applicant believes that allowing fur from the fur side to protrude through the seams of the garment will create an aesthetically pleasing effect but the creation of a seam with this effect is not easy to achieve, particularly a seam which is of low profile and is uniformly neat.

S:\USERS\RECCGA\2223245_PP.doc 2 Summary of the invention According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a sewing method for joining two sheets of animal skin or other sheet material together, said sheets each having a fur side and a non-fur side, said fur side being defined by a multiplicity of filaments covering the surface of the sheet, said method comprising the steps of: positioning an edge of a first sheet of material substantially parallel to an edge of a second sheet of material, with the fur sides of the two sheets in face to face contact with each other, such that said edge of said first sheet of material is set back from said edge of said second sheet of material; sewing a first seam adjacent and parallel to the two said edges to fix said first sheet of material to said second sheet of material thereby defining first and second edge strips on said first and second sheets of material respectively; separating said first and second sheets of material so that the two sheets extend laterally to opposite sides of said first seam and the tywo edge strips stand proud of the laterally extending sheets; folding said edge strips about said first seam such that said second edge strip overlies the non-fur side of said first sheet of material, thereby enclosing the first edge strip between the fur side of the second edge strip and the non-fur side of the first sheet; and sewing a second seam substantially parallel to said first seam through said second edge strip and said first sheet of material to hold said second edge strip against said first sheet of material.

Preferably filaments from the fur side of said second edge strip are combed or otherwise guided outwardly so as to form a fringe of filaments projecting out between the underside of said second edge strip and said first sheet of material prior to step being undertaken.

In an alternative embodiment the filaments from the fur side of said second edge strip are removed prior to step being undertaken.

Preferably the sheet material comprises animal skin and said multiplicity of filaments comprise animal hair or fur. The animal skin may comprise sheepskin or lambskin.

S:\USERS\RECCGA\2223245_PP.doc 3 In the description and claims of this specification the word "comprise" and variations of that word, such as "comprises" and "comprising" are not intended to exclude other features, additives, components, integers or steps but rather, unless otherwise stated explicitly, the scope of these words should be construed broadly such that they have an inclusive meaning rather than an exclusive one.

Brief description of the drawings Notwithstanding any other forms which may fall within the scope of the present invention, preferred forms of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. IA is a schematic illustration of a first sheet of material joined to a second sheet of material sheet by a first seam; Fig. 1B is a cross-sectional view of the two sheets of material of Fig. 1A joined together; Fig. 2 is another cross-sectional view of the first and second sheets of material of Fig.

1A and 1B joined together; Fig. 3A is another cross-sectional view of the two joined sheets shown in Fig. 2 with a second seam; and Fig. 3B is a schematic illustration of the two joined sheets shown in Fig. 3A.

Detailed description of the embodiments The sewing method allows animal skin to be sewn to form a garment in which either the fur or fur-like side or the polished leather side of the material can be worn as a garment. The juncture along the region where the material joins doesn't extend outwardly or 'jut-out' from the surface of the material. The result is a garment which is aesthetically pleasing and may be worn with the leather side or fur or fur-like side outermost. Furthermore, the fringe of fur which extends out from the polished leather side of any garment provides an interesting and aesthetically pleasing effect.

S:\USERS\RECCGA\2223245_PP.doc 4 The preferred embodiment relates to a method to sew animal skin, in which a material such as sheep or lamb skin may be joined. One face of lamb skin comprises the polished leather surface while the other surface comprises fur. Other animal skins may also be used.

Referring to Fig. 1A, there is shown a first sheet of animal skin 16' having a polished leather side 19'. The opposite face of the first sheet of animal skin 16' has an array of filaments constituting a fur side. A second sheet of animal skin 10' also has a polished leather side 18' (not shown) and a fur side 11'. The first animal skin sheet 16' has an edge 20' which is placed adjacent and parallel to an edge 12' of the second animal skin sheet 10' such that the fur sides of the two animal skin sheets 16' and 10' are in face to face contact with one another and the edge 20' of animal skin sheet 16' is set back from the edge 12' of animal skin sheet 10'. A first seam 22', is sewn parallel to the edge 20', to thereby join the animal skin sheets 10' and 16' together. The distance between the first seam 22' and the edge 20' of animal skin sheet 16' is shorter than the distance between the first seam 22' and the edge 12' of animal skin sheet This provides an edge strip 13' on animal skin sheet 10' and an edge strip 14' on animal skin sheet 16' between the first seam 22' and the edges112' and 20' of the sheets 10' and 16' respectively.

Fig. 1B shows the two animal skin sheets of Fig. 1A joined by a first seam 22' in cross sectional view. In this figure the two sheets of material are shown lying adjacent to one another with the polished leather sides 18' and 19' facing outwards. The edge strip 13' of the second animal skin sheet 10' is shown with filaments of fur protruding from the fur side of sheet The width of edge strip 13' is about 5 mm from the distal edge 12' of the second sheet of animal skin 10' to the first seam 22'. It will be appreciated that in other embodiments, the strip width is chosen by the garment manufacturer according to the particular garment requirements, but typically the strip width will extend from 5mm to 20mm when the method is applied to an article of clothing.

Once the material 10' and 16' are joined together as shown in Figs. 1A and 1B, animal skin sheet 10' and animal skin sheet 16' are separated from one another by moving each animal skin sheet in the direction of the arrows in Fig. 1B so that the sheets 10' and 16' extend laterally away from each other, as shown in Fig. 2.

S:\USERS\RECCGA\2223245-PP.doc Referring now to Fig. 2, it can be seen that the edge strips 13' and 14' stand proud of the polished leather sides 18' and 19' of animal skin sheets 10' and 16'. To complete the sewing operation, the edge strip 13' is folded by an operator manufacturing the garment, by bending or folding the edge strip 13' in the direction of arrow 25' so that the edge strip 13', lies flush against the polished leather side of animal skin material 16' enclosing edge strip 14' as shown in Figs. 3A and 3B. Also, the filaments A on the underside of the sheet 10' will be combed or otherwise coaxed outwardly, that is in a direction away from the seam 22'. The operator then sews a second seam 24' through the edge.strip 13' and animal skin sheet 16', to thereby permanently encapsulate the edge strip 14'. The result is that a fringe of fur filaments A of the animal skin sheet 10' protrudes from the edge strip 13' and lies flush along the polished leather side 19' of the animal skin sheet 16'.

To the person viewing a garment constructed by this method, no threads can be seen from the fur side of the joined material, whilst on the polished leather side 18', 19', two parallel seams 22', 24' and the fringe of fur A are visible (Fig. 3B). This fringe of fur A provides a unique effect because a neat 'line of fur' is seen extending through the garment along the length of the seams at the point where the animal skin pieces are sewn together.

Alternatively, prior to the joining of materials 10' and 16', the filaments of fur on the fur side 11' of animal skin sheet 10' may be partially or completely removed; by shaving or other suitable mechanism. In this case edge-strip 13' does not include protruding filaments of fur.

Thus, after folding the edge strip 13' such that edge strip 13' lies flush against the polished leather side 19' of sheet 16', the fringe of fur A (shown in Figs. 3A and 3B) is absent.

It will be appreciated that the material used to create a jacket by stitching animal skin garments in this way allows .the jacket to be worn with either the fur side outermost or the leather side outermost. On the fur side of the jacket, the seams can not be seen and therefore smaller pieces of material can be used to create a single garment while giving the appearance of the garment being composed of a single continuous piece of material. Furthermore, this reduces wastage of the animal skin as smaller pieces can be used. It will also be appreciated that the maximum thickness of the seam is three layers of sheet material so that the seam, whilst neat and aesthetically attractive, is of minimal thickness.

S:\USERS\RECCGA\2223245_PP.doc 6 It would be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the present invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are therefore, to be considered in all respects to be illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims

1. A sewing method for joining two sheets of animal skin or other sheet material together, said sheets each having a fur side and a non-fur side, said fur side being defined by a multiplicity of filaments covering the surface of the sheet, said method comprising the steps of: positioning an edge of a first sheet of material substantially parallel to an edge of a second sheet of material, with the fur sides of the two sheets in face to face contact with each other, such that said edge of said first sheet of material is spaced back from said edge of said second sheet of material; sewing a first seam adjacent and parallel to the two said edges to fix said first sheet of material to said second sheet of material thereby providing first and second edge strips on said first and second sheets of material respectively; separating said first and second sheets of material so that the two sheets extend laterally to opposite sides of said first seam and the two edge strips stand proud of the laterally extending sheets; folding said edge strips about said first seam such that said second edge strip overlies the non-fur side of said first sheet of material, thereby enclosing the first edge strip between the fur side of the second edge strip and the non-fur side of the first sheet; and sewing a second seam substantially parallel to said first seam through said second edge strip and said first sheet of material to hold said second edge strip against said first sheet of material.

2. A sewing method according to claim 1, wherein filaments from the fur side of said second edge strip are combed or otherwise guided outwardly so as to form a fringe of filaments projecting out between the underside of said second edge strip and said first sheet of material prior to step being undertaken. S:\USERS\RECCGA\2223245 PP.doc 8

3. A sewing method according to claim 1 wherein the filaments from the fur side of said second edge strip are removed prior to step being undertaken. Dated this 15 t h day of February 2001 Chang Jae Han by his attorneys Freehills Carter Smith Beadle