EP1132515A1

EP1132515A1 - Shrinking clothing utilising tying techniques

Info

Publication number: EP1132515A1
Application number: EP01302089A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Norichika Kondo
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-03-10
Filing date: 2001-03-07
Publication date: 2001-09-12

Abstract

A method of processing a garment, comprises the steps of:

(a) reducing the dimensions of the garment by subjecting the garment to a tying process;

(b) subjecting the tied garment obtained from step (a) to a process that stabilises the reduced dimensions of the garment, and

(c) releasing the ties.

The stabilising processing treatment may be carried out simultaneously with a dyeing step. Alternatively, a dyeing step may be carried out between the stabilising processing step (b) and the step (c) of releasing the ties.

Description

The present invention relates to garment processing and manufacture and, in particular, to methods of shrinking clothing utilising tying, most especially hand tying. The invention also includes methods of dyeing clothing, either simultaneously with or following the tying and shrinking step.
It is known in the art to form tie-dyed products by various methods. For example, the fabric to be dyed may be tied by various means such that dyestuff does not enter individual portions of the fabric, such as those portions tied by various tying processes or portions otherwise covered by dye-resistant means. For example, wax may be applied to the fabric to repel dyestuff, or portions of the fabric may be enclosed in an impervious membrane, such as a polythene bag, sleeve or the like, to ensure that dyestuff does not reach certain portions of the fabric. As a result of the aforementioned techniques, the undyed portions are expressed as patterns. Several dyeing steps may be carried out sequentially after altering the tying or changing the arrangement of the other means for preventing dyestuff ingress. In this way, a complex pattern can be built up in several colours. Fabrics produced in this way have a very striking appearance. It is well-known that methods of expressing patterns, and dyeing methods are quite various.
In the present invention, known tying and tie-dyeing techniques can be adopted and it is not the purpose of this document to teach new tying techniques or new dyeing processes. The traditional technical art of hand tie-dyeing is generally applied to raise the ornamental quality, the aesthetic sense and elegance of tie-dyed articles.
As described above, the traditional technical art of hand tie-dyeing can be applied to fabrics to improve their visual appearance, with the advantage that a sense of high quality is imparted to the fabric. However, the potential of traditional hand tying processing has yet to be fully exploited.
Japanese Patent Application No. JP-A 54-68484 entitled "A Process of Applying Tie-Dyeing Patterns with Flexibility to Clothing" and Japanese Patent Application No. JP-A 54-68500 entitled "A Process of Forming Undyed Sections with Flexibility on a Fabric" disclose techniques of tightly binding fabric with thread, cutting out the tied fabric and sewing pieces together to manufacture clothing. By virtue of the tying, sections of the clothing are provided with flexibility. Thus, garments can be assembled such that suitable sections of the clothing can be expanded or shrunk corresponding to bending and stretching motion of the wearer. However, since the clothing manufactured by these prior art techniques involves cutting and sewing tied or bound fabrics, a problem arises in that tying in the sewn sections may be broken during manufacture. The tendency towards such breakage causes an inferior product.
It is therefore an object of the invention to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art by providing a garment that has a lowered susceptibility to breakage of the tying in the sewn sections. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method of shrinking clothing and eliminating the breakage of tying in sewn sections of garments. It is a further object of the invention to provide clothing with increased flexibility, whereby the physical properties of the clothing fabric may be utilised effectively without risk of damaging the garment as a result of flexure. It is a further object of the invention to improve the value of garments as articles of commerce and to develop their field of utilisation.
Tying processing is utilised as a means of changing the size of the clothing, and garments (such as a blouse with flexibility) are manufactured in a state in which the pre-worn size of the clothing is shrunk significantly. However, the garment is capable of being fitted to the wearer's body and can express the line of the wearer's body gently without producing creases and unsightly folds. Also, utilising the small dimensions of garments manufactured in accordance with the present invention, clothing can be accommodated compactly. This is useful, not only for a journey, but also for general storage in the home. It is also advantageous in the factory or warehouse because the shrunk garments take up less room, so garment storage space can be utilised more effectively.
According to a first aspect, the invention is a method of processing a garment, comprising the steps of:
(a) subjecting the garment to a tying process to reduce the dimensions of the garment;
(b) subjecting the tied garment obtained from step
(a) to a process for stabilising the reduced dimensions of the garment, and
(c) releasing the ties.
Preferably the tying process in step (a) is a hand-tying process using threads, and the step (c) of releasing the ties involves removal of the tying threads.
Preferably, the stabilising step (b) is effective to cause permanent shrinking of the garment. Preferably, the stabilising step (b) is a heat treatment step. Without wishing to be bound by theory, it is thought that heat treatment fixes the puckers that are formed in the fabric of the garment by the tying process. After the ties are released, some relaxation of the puckering occurs, but the garment remains significantly smaller overall than its untreated counterpart. Hence, the reduced dimensions of the garment can be regarded as "stabilised".
Optionally, the stabilising step may be carried out simultaneously with a dyeing step such that, after releasing the ties, a tie-dyed and shrunk garment is obtained. Alternatively, a dyeing step may be carried out between the stabilising step (b) and the release of the ties step (c). This results in a plain dyed and shrunk garment.
If required, a number of tie-dyeing steps may be carried out independent of the stabilising step, whereby a tie-dyed garment is obtained which has a complex tie-dyed pattern of various colours. The stabilising step will still be carried out in accordance with the first aspect of the invention described above, i.e. after tying the garment, so as to effect shrinkage of the garment.
The heat treatment step may be a fulling treatment step. Alternatively, the stabilising treatment may be a chemical processing step, such as treatment with alkali.
The invention will now be particularly described with reference to the drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a diagram showing an assembled garment;
Figure 2 is a diagram showing a garment with marks;
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a tying apparatus used in miura tying;
Figures 4(a) to (f) are schematic diagrams illustrating the respective steps of miura tying;
Figure 5 is a diagram showing a tied and shrunk garment obtained by miura tying processing;
Figure 6 is a diagram showing a tie-dyed and shrunk garment obtained by miura tie-dyeing processing;
Figure 7 is a diagram showing miura tie-dyeing by another method;
Figure 8 is a schematic perspective view of a tying apparatus used in dapple tying;
Figures 9(a) to (h) are schematic diagrams illustrating the respective steps of dapple tying;
Figure 10 is a diagram showing a tie-dyed and shrunk garment obtained by dapple tie-dyeing processing;
Figure 11 is a diagram showing a tie-dyed and shrunk garment with variation;
Figure 12 is a diagram showing an example in which the tie-dyed and shrunk garment shown in Figure 5 is worn by a child;
Figure 13 is a diagram showing an example in which the tie-dyed and shrunk garment shown in Figure 5 is worn by an adult;
Figure 14 is a diagram showing dimensions of a tie-dyed and shrunk garment such as that shown in Figure 5;
Figure 15 is a diagram showing dimensions of a tie-dyed and shrunk garment such as that shown in Figure 5 in an enlarged state;
Figures 16 and 17 show enlarged views of part of a garment in the region of a projection produced by the tying process;
Figure 18 is a side view showing an example in which the garment shown in Figure 10 is worn by an adult, and
Figure 19 is a block diagram showing variations in the method of the present invention.
Referring now to Figure 1, this shows an assembled garment 1 prior to processing in accordance with the present invention. Typical dimensions are given for a garment that would fit an adult wearer.
Figure 2 shows the garment 1 with marks 111 applied to it denoting sections of the garment that are to be tied. The marks may be applied by printing and are preferably removable, for example by washing. The marks 111 are applied in a systematic fashion to successive garments and provide guidance to the personnel who carry out hand tying (to be described below) of the garment. This ensures that successive garments are tied in a consistent fashion so that a consistent product is obtained after processing.
Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view of a tying table such as might be used by a person skilled in the art of fabric tying. The tying table comprises a base portion 31, an upright post 32 and a hook 33. The base portion may be clamped or otherwise secured to a work bench or other suitable horizontal surface, according to the preference of the skilled person carrying out the garment tying.
The act of miura tying will now be explained with reference to Figures 4(a) to (f). As shown in Figure 4(a), garment fabric 1 is draped to cover a fingertip H of the person carrying out the hand tying. Thread 112 is then loosely passed around the portion of the garment overlying the tyer's fingertip H for one turn. Then the portion of the garment overlying the tyer's fingertip H is attached to the hook 33 of a tying table and the fingertip H is gradually withdrawn. During this withdrawal process, sections of the fabric 1 are tightly bound by pulling the thread 112 in sequence (see Figures 4(b) and (c)). After the fingertip H has been fully withdrawn, the fabric 1 is subject to further tight binding (Figures 4(d) and (e)). Finally, as shown in Figure 4(f) the garment is released from the hook 33 of the tying table to leave a section which is tightly bound by the thread 112, and an unbound projection 113. The projection 113 may be near-conical in shape.
Hand tying in the above fashion is executed across substantially the entire garment and, when projections 113 are formed across the entire garment uniformly, a tied and shrunk garment 2 is formed as shown in Figure 5.
At this point, the garment is considerably smaller than the original garment depicted in Figure 1. Hence, it is convenient to refer to the garment 2 as a tied and shrunk garment. In the next stage of processing, the tied and shrunk garment 2 may be subjected to a dyeing step by immersion or an alternative dyeing method, to produce a tie-dyed and shrunk garment 3 as shown in Figure 6. The tie-dyed and shrunk garment 3 is then subjected to stabilising processing, for example by heat treatment, which has the effect of "fixing" the shrunk state of the garment. In other words, when the threads 112 are removed and the ties are released, the garment remains in a shrunk condition.
By means of this processing, the tie-dyed and shrunk garment that results is substantially equal in dimensions to that of the tied and shrunk garment 2 obtained after the tying step and depicted in Figure 5. Flexibility in the garment fabric is secured, yet the garment is smaller than the unprocessed original depicted in Figure 1.
The tying technique described above in relation to Figure 4 is usually referred to in Japan as miura tying and, as discussed above, can be combined with a dyeing step. However, the dyeing step is not essential and, if the garment is subject to stabilising processing, for example by heat treatment, without dyeing, a plain colour shrunk garment is produced.
It is not essential to use the tying technique described above in relation to Figure 4, wherein sections of the garment fabric are first draped over a tyer's fingertip. Instead, the garment fabric 1 may be directly bound and projections 113 may be formed without first draping the fabric over a fingertip. This alternative approach to tying is illustrated in Figure 7. After the garment as a whole has been tied in this alternative way, subsequent treatment may be applied similar to that described above. That is to say, the garment may be dyed or may be subjected to stabilising processing, for example by heat treatment, without dyeing, to produce a tie-dyed shrunk garment or a plain dyed shrunk garment, as desired.
Referring now to Figure 8, this shows an alternative tying table comprising a base portion 81, an upright post 82, and a substantially horizontal guide rod 84 having a hook 83 at its end remote from the upright post 82. This alternative tying table may be used when a tying technique is to be used which is different from miura tying. This alternative tying table is for the technique known as dapple tying. Dapple tying is another hand tying technique and, as before, the garment fabric may have a printed pattern applied to it to assist in ensuring that the dapple ties are applied to the garment uniformly across its entirety. The pattern marks are preferably removal, for example by washing.
As shown in Figure 9(a) a section of the garment fabric 1 is folded by a fingertip H, and a leading portion of the fold is attached to the hook 83 of the tying table. In this condition, thread 112 is passed around the attached section of the garment fabric 1 in one turn utilising the guide rod 84 (see Figure 9(d)). Subsequently, the thread 112 is wound in single turns, utilising the guide rod 84, in a similar manner to that described above, and tying is performed by overlaying the thread windings (see Figures 9(e) to (g)). The number of windings of the thread 112 is arbitrary but, for a consistent dapple effect, the same number of windings should be applied to each fabric projection 113. Projections 113 are tied off across substantially the entire garment. Thereafter, subsequent processing steps can be applied as described above in relation to the first embodiment of miura tying. That is to say, the dapple-tied garment may be dyed or may be subjected to stabilising processing, for example by heat treatment, without dyeing, to produce a dapple tie-dyed and shrunk garment or a dapple-tied and shrunk garment, as desired.
The stabilising processing, in the case of a polyester fabric for example, may be carried out by heat treatment performed at a temperature of 130°C to 140°C for between 30 and 40 minutes in a boiler. This has the effect of "fixing" the shrinkage in the garment size achieved by the tying process. After the stabilising treatment, finishing processing may be carried out as appropriate. When the ties are released, for example by cutting the threads 112, a shrunk garment is obtained. Shrinkage effected in this way imparts flexibility to the garment fabric through substantially 360° (in the plane of the fabric) and the dimensions of the finished garment are substantially equal to that of the tied garment described above. As indicated above, the dyeing step is optional. If dyeing is carried out, it may be performed before the garment is tied and stabilisation treated. Alternatively, dyeing may be performed at the same time as the stabilising treatment step. In yet another alternative approach, dyeing may be carried out after the stabilising treatment step. It is also possible to carry out the dyeing step in a number of discrete stages to obtain a desired pattern or effect. Tie-dyeing or batik techniques may be adopted to achieve the desired pattern or effect according to the designer's taste or the prevailing fashions of the day. An example of a garment tied in an alternative pattern is depicted in Figure 11.
Returning now to Figure 1, this shows a garment prior to processing in accordance with the present invention. The unprocessed garment has typical dimensions of 55cm across the shoulder width, 70cm across the breast and body, a width of 150cm across the extended sleeves and a length of 80cm. After processing in accordance with the present invention, such a garment as depicted in Figure 14 may have dimensions as follows: shoulder width 16cm, breast/body width 20cm, width across sleeves 33cm, and length 25cm. By virtue of the flexibility imparted to the fabric of the garment by the process according to the present invention, the garment 4 depicted in Figure 14 can be easily stretched to the dimensions depicted in Figure 15: shoulder width 52cm, breast/body width 63cm, width across shoulders 105cm, and length 75cm.
Consequently, a garment in accordance with the present invention has sufficient flexibility in its fabric that a single-size garment may be worn by a child or an adult. This is shown in Figures 12 and 13.
Figures 16 and 17 are enlarged views of part of a garment in the region of a projection 163 produced by the tying and subsequent stabilising treatment processing. In Figure 16, the projection is a tight column but, if it is necessary for the garment fabric to be stretched so that it may be worn by an adult, for example, the fabric in the projection can "give" by virtue of its flexibility, and may take the raised dimple form depicted in Figure 17. When the garment fabric is no longer required to be stretched, it reverts to the compact form depicted in Figure 16.
Referring now to Figure 18, this shows a side view of a garment such as that depicted in Figure 10, which has been subjected to tie-dyeing and shrinking processing. In Figure 18, the garment is shown as worn by an adult. The tied patterns or designs D can be clearly obtained even at the seams E of the garment by subjecting fabric to the tying and stabilising treatment processing of the present invention after assembling the fabric into a garment.
Referring now to Figure 19, this block diagram summarises the alternative approaches that may be followed in executing the method of the present invention. At step 190, an assembled garment is subjected to tying processing across substantially its entire surface. This results in a reduction in size of the garment, i.e. the garment is shrunk (step 191).
In step 192, the garment is subjected to a stabilising treatment. This has the effect of fixing the shape of the garment and imparting elasticity to the constituent fabric (step 193). In step 194, the ties are released to give a plain tied and shrunk garment (step 195).
Alternatively, after release of the ties (step 194), the garment may be subjected to a dyeing step or steps (step 196). This results in a coloured tied and shrunk garment (step 197).
In yet another alternative, the garment may be subjected to stabilising treatment and dyeing processing at the same time (step 198). This fixes the shape of the garment and imparts elasticity to its constituent fabric, as well as providing a tie-dyed pattern (step 199). In step 200, the threads are removed. This alternative process results in a tie-dyed and shrunk garment (step 201).
Although the invention has been particularly described above with reference to specific embodiments, it will be understood by persons skilled in the art that modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the claims which follow.

Claims

A method of processing a garment, comprising the steps of:

(a) reducing the dimensions of the garment by subjecting the garment to a tying process;

(b) subjecting the tied garment obtained from step (a) to a process for stabilising the reduced dimensions of the garment, and

(c) releasing the ties.
A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stabilising processing treatment is carried out simultaneously with a dyeing step.
A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a dyeing step is carried out between the stabilising processing step (b) and the step (c) of releasing the ties.
A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the tying process in step (a) is a hand-tying process using threads and the step (c) of releasing the ties involves removal of the tying threads.
A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the stabilising processing step is a heat treatment step.
A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the heat treatment step comprises treating the garment at 130°C to 140°C for 30 to 40 minutes.
A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the stabilising processing step is followed by finishing processing.
A method of imparting flexibility to the fabric of a garment, comprising:

(a) subjecting a garment to tying processing for effecting garment shrinkage;

(b) subjecting the tied garment to stabilising processing;

(c) releasing the tying to form a garment of puckered fabric;
whereby the dimensions of the thus-processed garment are substantially equal to those of the garment after the tying step (a), and wherein the fabric of the garment is capable of being stretched across the length and breadth of the fabric by straightening the puckering.
A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the stabilising processing treatment is carried out simultaneously with a dyeing step.
A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein a dyeing step is carried out between the stabilising processing step (b) and the step (c) of releasing the ties.