EP1616987A1

EP1616987A1 - Embroidery lace material, method for producing embroidery lace, and embroidery lace

Info

Publication number: EP1616987A1
Application number: EP05015296A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Tetsuya Sawamura
Original assignee: Miyagi Lace Co Ltd
Current assignee: Miyagi Lace Co Ltd
Priority date: 2004-07-16
Filing date: 2005-07-14
Publication date: 2006-01-18
Also published as: CN1721593A; JP2006028685A

Abstract

There is provided a method for producing an embroidery lace that can favorably adjust the tint of color at the time of producing an embroidery lace in which a plurality of colors are mixed, while realizing a clear colored pattern, and that causes little damage to threads other than those that are to be dyed at the time of dyeing.

An embroidery lace material including patterned portions, wherein a front thread and a back thread forming each of the patterned portions are constituted by threads having the same dyeability, wherein different threads are used for at least two of the patterned portions, with the different threads having different dyeability to different dyes, and wherein all of the embroidery threads forming the at least two patterned portions are inserted in an undyed state.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to embroidery laces, which are also called embroidered laces.

2. Description of the Related Art

An embroidery lace is formed by embroidering a base fabric in a desired pattern using embroidery threads serving as front threads and back threads. Since embroidery laces can be produced in any desired pattern, they are used in a very large number of fields.
For embroidery laces of this kind, embroidery threads of different colors are used according to a pattern that is to be formed. In the case of forming a floral pattern for example, the pattern is formed using two threads of a darker and a lighter shade of a color for the petal portion, and a thread of green color for the calyx and the leaf portion. While the problems with the conventional art are described below for products for which three colored threads are used as the front threads, the technical concept of the present invention can also be applied to products that require different colored threads (at least two colors) as the front threads of the final products.
Embroidery laces of this kind that are patterned with three or more kinds of colored threads are classified into those for which embroidery threads are used in a dyed form (each of the embroidery threads is dyed before it is inserted through the base fabric, and the dyed threads are used for embroidering) and those for which embroidery threads are used in an undyed form (each of the embroidery threads is inserted through the base fabric as an undyed raw thread, and the embroidery threads are dyed thereafter).
For the embroidery laces for which embroidery threads are used in a dyed form, a single kind of thread such as a rayon or polyester thread is dyed into three colors to be used as the front threads. On the other hand, the embroidery laces for which embroidery threads are used in an undyed form, a polyester thread, a rayon thread and an acrylic thread, for example, are used in combination as the front threads. These threads are embroidered as undyed threads, and thereafter dyed one after another.
In the case of using dyed threads, a polyester thread, which is most versatile, or a cotton thread has been used as the back thread over the entire surface, as in the case where the embroidery is colored by dyeing threads after embroidering.
However, when an embroidery lace in which a plurality of different colors are mixed is produced with embroidery threads in a dyed form as described above, the resulting product is naturally produced as a colored product. Therefore, for example, when plural clients require different tints of colors (e.g., the degrees of dyeing), it is necessary to carry out the manufacturing process all over again for each of the clients, resulting in the problem of not being able to meet the demand for the product promptly. At the same time, there is also a problem in that it is impossible to control the tint of color of the finished products (referred to as "first problem").
Therefore, it is conceivable to color the embroidery threads by dyeing them after embroidering, as described above. However, in the case of conventional embroidery laces, even when three kinds (three colors) of threads (a polyester thread, a rayon thread and an acrylic thread), for example, are used as the front threads, a different kind of thread (e.g., a polyester thread) is used as the back thread for a site where a rayon or acrylic thread is used as the front thread. That is, the kinds of the front thread and the back thread are not matched, so that the colored pattern appearing on the front side is strongly affected by the back thread. As a result, when viewed from the front, the resulting lace is strongly affected by the color of the back thread , resulting in the problem that it is difficult to realize a clear colored pattern (referred to as "second problem").
Further, in the case of dyeing the embroidery threads after embroidering, there is a problem in that when a polyester thread is used in combination with a rayon or nylon thread as the embroidery threads, it is necessary to dye the polyester thread under high pressure, damaging the rayon or nylon thread (referred to as "third problem").

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing an embroidery lace that can favorably adjust the tint of color at the time of producing an embroidery lace in which a plurality of colors are mixed, while realizing a clear colored pattern, and that causes little damage to threads other than those that are to be dyed at the time of dyeing.
In order to achieve the above-described object, in the present invention, an embroidery lace material is produced first, and this material is dyed to obtain a lace, which is the final product.
Hereinafter, the embroidery lace material, the method for producing an embroidery lace and the embroidery lace according to the present invention will be described in this order.

Embroidery lace material

An embroidery lace material for achieving the above-described object includes a plurality of patterned portions that are formed by inserting embroidery threads serving as front threads and back threads through a base fabric in a desired pattern,
wherein, in each of the patterned portions, the front thread and the back thread that form the patterned portion are constituted by threads having the same dyeability,
wherein different threads are used for at least two of the patterned portions, with the different threads having different dyeability to different dyes, and
wherein all of the embroidery threads forming the at least two patterned portions are inserted in an undyed state.
Since the present invention employs a piece-dyeing technique, this material is largely a white lace material. However, the base fabric or a portion of the embroidery threads may be in a dyed state.
For each of the patterned portions, the front thread and the back thread are constituted by threads having the same dyeability, so that the problem of an unclear colored pattern due to the color difference between the front thread and the back thread will not occur.
Furthermore, for at least two of the patterned portions, the material is formed by inserting the embroidery threads in an undyed state, so that it is possible to readily fulfill the client requirements, for example, by performing operations such as adjusting the tint of color resulting from dyeing according to the client requests, after manufacturing the material in a large volume.
As the threads used for the embroidery lace according to the present invention, two threads selected from a first thread that is a polyamide fiber, a second thread that is a cation-dyeable polyester and a third thread that is at least one selected from the group consisting of a regenerated cellulose fiber, a refined cellulose fiber and a natural plant fiber may be selected as the different threads.
Further, two threads selected from an acidic dye-dyeable thread that can be dyed with an acidic dye, a basic dye-dyeable thread that can be dyed with a basic dye and a reactive dye-dyeable thread that can be dyed with a reactive dye may be selected as the different threads.
More specifically, it is preferable that, for at least three of the patterned portions, all of the embroidery threads forming the at least three patterned portions are inserted in an undyed state, and
that the embroidery threads forming the at least three patterned portions include a nylon thread, a cation-dyeable polyester thread and at least one selected from the group consisting of a regenerated cellulose fiber, a refined cellulose fiber and a natural plant fiber.
It is also preferable that the base fabric is a base fabric made of a nylon thread

Production of embroidery lace

To produce an embroidery lace according to the present invention, a material production step of producing the above-described embroidery lace material in such at manner that, for said at least two patterned portions, a desired pattern is formed using the embroidery threads in an undyed state is performed; and
a dyeing step of successively dyeing, for the embroidery threads in an undyed state, each of the different threads of the embroidery lace material obtained through the material production step is performed thereafter.
Thus, an embroidery lace having a colored pattern can be produced as a final product. Although the final product has already been dyed, the dyeing condition can be controlled again by showing a finished sample to the clients and asking them to make an evaluation of the tint of color of the final product, thus making it possible to appropriately fulfill the client requirements according to the condition of the embroidery lace material of the present invention.
The dyeing step is performed at atmospheric pressure, using an acidic dye for a nylon thread when this thread is used as an embroidery thread used for the patterned portions, a basic dye for a cation-dyeable polyester thread when this thread is used as the embroidery thread and a reactive dye for at least one selected from the group consisting of a regenerated cellulose fiber, a refined cellulose fiber and a natural plant fiber when this thread is used as the embroidery thread.
This allows each of the threads to be successively dyed favorably. At the same time, since the dyeing is performed under atmospheric pressure, it is possible to reduce, for example, the damage caused to the rayon thread at the time of dyeing the cation-dyeable polyester thread.
Thus, it is possible to provide an embroidery lace including a plurality of patterned portions that are formed by inserting, embroidery threads serving as front threads and back threads through a base fabric in a desired pattern,
wherein, in each of the patterned portions, the front thread and the back thread that form the patterned portion are constituted by threads having the same dyeability,
wherein different threads are used for at least three of the patterned portions,
wherein three threads forming the at least three patterned portions are a combination of a nylon thread, a cation-dyeable polyester thread and a rayon thread or a thread having the same dyeability as the rayon thread, or
a combination of a nylon thread, a cation-dyeable polyester thread and a cotton thread or a thread having the same dyeability as the cotton thread, and
wherein the three threads are inserted in an undyed state, and thereafter dyed by piece-dyeing.
As a result, it is possible to produce an embroidery lace having a clear colored pattern and being able to be promptly customized in accordance with the client requirements for the tint of color.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an embroidery lace according to the present invention, viewed from the front.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the order of embroidering various threads used for the embroidery lace.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the embroidering process.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embroidery lace

Structure

The structure of an embroidery lace 100 according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of the embroidery lace 100 viewed from the front, and FIG. 2 shows how embroidery threads "a", "b", "c" and "d" are inserted at the time of producing the embroidery lace 100 shown in FIG. 1.
As is well known, the embroidery lace 100 is formed by inserting embroidery threads "a", "b", "c" and "d" serving as front threads 2 and back threads 3 through a base fabric 1 in a desired pattern, and, as shown in FIG. 3(f), it has a structure in which the front threads 2 are fixed by the back threads 3 on the back of the base fabric 1.
This embodiment describes an example in which the base fabric 1 is a tulle lace.
As shown in FIG. 3(a), a lace machine 200 for producing the embroidery lace 100 is provided with a needle row 201 on its front side, and shuttles 5 corresponding to embroidery needles 4 on its back side. The shuttles 5 move along surface S of the base fabric in accordance with the movements of the embroidery needles 4 being inserted through or withdrawn from the base fabric 1, thereby fixing the front threads 2. FIGS. 3(b) and (c) show how the embroidery needle 4 is inserted, and FIG. 3(d) show how the embroidery needle 4 is withdrawn. As shown in FIG. 3(e), after a loop of the front thread 2 is formed on the back side, the back thread 3 is inserted by the shuttle 5, and thereby the front thread 2 is fixed (see FIG. 3(f)).
The lace machine 200 is configured such that the position of the needle row 201 for operating the front threads 2 and that of the shuttles 5 for operating the back threads 3 are fixed, and that the base fabric 1 is movable in the upper, lower, left and right directions of the lace machine, as indicated by the arrows shown in FIG. 3(a). Accordingly, by specifying the relative position of the base fabric 1 to the needles 4, the positions of the embroidery threads "a", "b", "c" and "d" operated by the needles 4 are determined in the base fabric 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, the embroidery lace 100 that is produced according to the present invention includes a plurality of patterned portions A, B, C and D.
The portions that are indicated by different letters A, B, C and D in FIG. 1 are the patterned portions, and typical four patterned portions are shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 shows the movement paths of the embroidery threads "a", "b", "c" and "d" that are used for producing the patterned portions A, B, C and D.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show the embroidery lace 100 viewed from the front. However, according to the present invention, in the patterned portions A, B, C and D, each of the front threads 2 ("a", "b", "c" and "d") forming the patterned portions and the back thread 3 corresponding thereto are made of threads having the same dyeability.
In the structure shown in FIG. 1, the thread "a" forming the patterned portion A is a nylon 66 thread, the thread "b" forming the patterned portion B is a cation-dyeable polyester thread and the thread "c" forming the patterned portion C is a rayon thread. Further, a polyester fiber thread (TEC (manufactured by ASAHI KASEI FIBERS CORPORATION)) is used as the thread "d" forming the patterned portion D. The base fabric 1 is a tulle fabric made of a nylon 66 thread.
A final product form of the embroidery lace 100 according to the present invention has been described above. In the following, the production process of the embroidered lace 100 will be described.
This process is made up of a material production step and a dyeing step.

Material production step

In the material production step, threads of the same kind between a corresponding pair of needle 4 and shuttle 5 (in this embodiment, one of a nylon 66 thread, a cation-dyeable polyester thread and a rayon thread) are passed through the needle 4 and set within the shuttle 5 corresponding thereto, respectively, in the lace machine 200.
Further, program data for operating the lace machine in which an insertion procedure as shown in FIG. 2 is set for the threads "a", "b", "c" and "d" corresponding to the patterned portions A, B, C and D is prepared according to the design of the embroidery lace, and the data is input in advance.
The embroidery lace machine 200 operates in accordance with the above-described data, thus producing a material on which a predetermined pattern has been formed.
In an embroidery lace material formed in this manner, for at least three patterned portions A, B and C, all of the embroidery threads "a", "b", and "c" forming the at least three patterned portions A, B and C are inserted in an undyed state, and the threads forming the at least three patterned portions A, B an C include a nylon 66 thread, a cation-dyeable polyester thread and a rayon thread.
The paths of the threads at the time of embroidering are indicated by different types of lines in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 shows the movement positions, namely, knitting start position P1, intermediate standby position P2 and final position P3, for each of the embroidery threads "a", "b", "c" and "d". However, the intermediate standby position P2 has been omitted for the threads "a" and "d".
The embroidering operations proceed, for example, in the following order: the embroidering operation of the nylon 66 thread "a" from the knitting start position P1 through the final position P3; the embroidering operation of the cation-dyeable polyester thread "b" from the knitting start position P1 to the intermediate standby position P2; the embroidering operation of the rayon thread "c" or a cotton thread from the knitting start position P1 to the intermediate standby position P2; the embroidering operation of the cation-dyeable polyester thread "b" from the intermediate standby position P2 to the final position P3; and the embroidering operation of the rayon thread "c" or the cotton thread from the intermediate standby position P2 to the final position P3.
FIG. 2 also shows a dyed thread (TEC (the product name of a polyester fiber manufactured by ASAHI KASEI FIBERS CORPORATION)) "d", which is inserted at appropriate timings.

Dyeing step

A dyeing step of successively dyeing each of the different threads for the embroidery threads "a", "b" and "c" in an undyed state of the embroidery lace materials obtained through the material production step is performed, thereby producing an embroidery lace 100 having a colored pattern.
The manner of dyeing threads will be described specifically.
Dyeing is performed in the order of the rayon thread "b", the cation-dyeable polyester thread "c" and the nylon 66 thread "a". Regarding the dyes used for dyeing, a reactive dye is used for the rayon thread "b", a basic dye is used for the cation-dyeable polyester thread "c" and an acidic dye is used for the nylon 66 thread "a".
Each of the threads is dyed under atmospheric pressure at a temperature of 100°C or lower for about 90 to 120 minutes.
Thus, the embroidery lace 100 according to the present invention can be provided.

Other embodzinents

(1) In the above-described embodiment, a combination of a nylon 66 thread, a cation-dyeable polyester thread and a rayon thread are used. However, it is also possible to use a combination of a nylon 66 thread, a cation-dyeable polyester thread and a cotton thread.
It is also possible to use a commonly used nylon (e.g., nylon 6) thread in place of the nylon 66 thread. Fibers of this kind can be classified as polyamide fibers.
In the foregoing description, a rayon thread is shown as a typical example of the regenerated cellulose fiber, and cotton is shown as a typical example of the natural plant fiber. However, it is also possible, besides a rayon thread, to use Modal (the product name of a regenerated cellulose fiber manufactured by Lenzing Fibers) as the regenerated cellulose fiber, and hemp may be used in place of cotton. Further, in a combination of the regenerated cellulose fiber and the natural plant fiber, it is possible to use a refined cellulose fiber (the product name: Lyocell (manufactured by Lenzing Fibers) or the product name: Tencel (manufactured by Courtaulds)). By using these threads, it is possible to create a subtle tint of color through dyeing.
Here, the regenerated cellulose fiber, the refined cellulose fiber and the natural plant fiber can be considered as kinds of threads having the same dyeability, since they can be dyed with a reactive dye due to their dyeing properties. Accordingly, it is possible to use a rayon thread or a cotton thread as the front thread, and to use a regenerated cellulose thread or a refined cellulose thread as the back thread. Alternatively, it is also possible to switch these threads between the front thread and the back thread.
(2) Further, in order to form different colored portions, it is possible to select two different threads from a first thread that is a polyamide fiber, a second thread that is a cation-dyeable polyester and a third thread that is at least one selected from the group consisting of a regenerated cellulose fiber, a refined cellulose fiber and a natural plant fiber.
Combinations of this type include the following:

Combination 1 (a polyamide fiber and a cation-dyeable polyester)
Combination 2 (a polyamide fiber and at least one selected from the group consisting of a regenerated cellulose fiber, a refined cellulose fiber and a natural plant fiber)
Combination 3 (a cation-dyeable polyester and at least one selected from the group consisting of a regenerated cellulose fiber, a refined cellulose fiber and a natural plant fiber)

Additionally, a combination of three threads having different dyeabilities is as follows.
Combination (a polyamide fiber, a cation-dyeable polyester and at least one selected from the group consisting of a regenerated cellulose fiber, a refined cellulose fiber and a natural plant fiber)
Based on the same principle as described above, it is possible to select two different threads from an acidic dye-dyeable thread that can be dyed with an acidic dye, a basic dye-dyeable thread that can be dyed with a basic dye and a reactive dye-dyeable thread that can be dyed with a reactive dye thread.
(4) Although nylon 66 is used as the lace fabric in the above-described embodiment, it is certainly possible to use nylon 6 or a cation-dyeable polyester. Further, it is certainly possible to use polyester as the base fabric, if the damage caused to rayon or nylon is negligible at the time of dyeing the polyester (e.g., when neither rayon nor nylon is used, or when the polyester is lightly dyed and therefore the damage caused to rayon or nylon during the dyeing step is negligible). As the base fabric, it is also possible, besides the above-described tulle fabric, to use any knitted fabric, woven fabric or nonwoven fabric.

Claims

An embroidery lace material comprising a plurality of patterned portions that are formed by inserting embroidery threads serving as front threads and back threads through a base fabric in a desired pattern,
wherein, in each of the patterned portions, the front thread and the back thread that form said patterned portion are constituted by threads having the same dyeability,
wherein different threads are used for at least two of the patterned portions, with the different threads having different dyeability to different dyes, and
wherein all of the embroidery threads forming said at least two patterned portions are inserted in an undyed state.
The embroidery lace material according to claim 1,
wherein two threads selected from a first thread that is a polyamide fiber, a second thread that is a cation-dyeable polyester and a third thread that is at least one selected from the group consisting of a regenerated cellulose fiber, a refined cellulose fiber and a natural plant fiber are selected as the different threads.
The embroidery lace material according to claim 1,
wherein two threads selected from an acidic dye-dyeable thread that can be dyed with an acidic dye, a basic dye-dyeable thread that can be dyed with a basic dye and a reactive dye-dyeable thread that can be dyed with a reactive dye are selected as the different threads.
The embroidery lace material according to claim 1,
wherein, for at least three of the patterned portions, all of the embroidery threads forming said at least three patterned portions are inserted in an undyed state, and
wherein the embroidery threads forming said at least three patterned portions include a nylon thread, a cation-dyeable polyester thread and at least one selected from the group consisting of a regenerated cellulose fiber, a refined cellulose fiber and a natural plant fiber.
The embroidery lace material according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
wherein the base fabric is made of a nylon thread.
A method for producing an embroidery lace, comprising:
a material production step of producing the embroidery lace material according to any one of claims 1 to 4 in such at manner that, for said at least two patterned portions, a desired pattern is formed using the embroidery threads in an undyed state; and

a dyeing step of successively dyeing, for the embroidery threads in an undyed state, each of the different threads of the embroidery lace material obtained through the material production step, thereby producing an embroidery lace having a colored pattern.
The method for producing an embroidery lace according to claim 6,
wherein the dyeing step is performed at atmospheric pressure, using an acidic dye for a nylon thread used as the embroidery thread, a basic dye for a cation-dyeable polyester thread used as the embroidery thread and a reactive dye for at least one selected from the group consisting of a regenerated cellulose fiber, a refined cellulose fiber and a natural plant fiber that is used as the embroidery thread.
The method for producing an embroidery lace according to claim 6 or 7,
wherein the base fabric is made of a nylon thread.
An embroidery lace comprising a plurality of patterned portions that are formed by inserting embroidery threads serving as front threads and back threads through a base fabric in a desired pattern,
wherein, in each of the patterned portions, the front thread and the back thread that form said patterned portion are constituted by threads having the same dyeability,
wherein different threads are used for at least three of the patterned portions,
wherein three threads forming said at least three patterned portions are a combination of a nylon thread, a cation-dyeable polyester thread and a rayon thread or a thread having the same dyeability as the rayon thread, or
a combination of a nylon thread, a cation-dyeable polyester thread and a cotton thread or a thread having the same dyeability as the cotton thread, and
wherein the three threads are inserted in an undyed state, and thereafter dyed by piece-dyeing.