GB2322637A - Ornamental fabric - Google Patents

Abstract

An ornamental fabric is formed with spaced openings 11 and flaps 2 formed from the material cut round to make the openings, the flaps being raised above the plane of the fabric by thread networks 3 bridging the openings so as to represent e.g. flower petals. The fabric patterns may be embroidered on a ground material which may be soluble and subsequently dissolved out. Threads may connect the free ends of the flaps to the edges of the openings so as to cause the flaps to curl.

Description

ORNAMENTAL FABRIC The invention relates to an ornamental fabric, more particularly, to an ornamental fabric having raised patterned elements.

Most conventional ornamental fabrics having threedimensional raised patterns were fabricated by first making a patterned fabric through embroidering, knitting, weaving or the like, and then attaching, via machine stitching or manual stitching, figure elements cut from another patterned fabric so as to present raised or superimposed three-dimensional patterns. The ornamental fabrics so produced by the conventional methods are not popular due to their noncompetitive prices. One reason for the higher prices of such fabrics is that the production thereof requires a lot of materials because the raised figure elements have to be first formed in a fabric sheet by embroidering, knitting, etc. and then cut therefrom for attachment to another patterned fabric. Another reason is that the manufacture of the fabrics is a labor intensive process since the cutting of the figure elements and the attaching of the same are done by manual cutting and sewing processes.

An object of the invention is to provide an ornamental fabric having raised patterned elements which are formed simultaneously with the fabrication of the ornamental fabric, thereby simplifying the production process of the fabric and reducing both the material and labor costs.

Another object of the invention is to provide an ornamental fabric capable of presenting lively raised patterns.

Accordingly, an ornamental fabric according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a patterned fabric having a plurality of spaced apart openings, a plurality of substantially looped edges which respectively confine the openings, each of the substantially looped edges having a first portion, and a plurality of flaps, each of which has a first end part connected to the first portion and each of which is raised from the surface of the patterned fabric except for the first end part. The patterned fabric further has bridging networks formed across the openings respectively to underlie and maintain the flaps in their raised positions. The flaps are patterned simultaneously with the formation of the patterned fabric within areas confined by the substantially looped edges and are placed in their raised positions after the openings are formed.

In another aspect of the present invention, the ornamental fabric is further provided with stringing threads to pull the flaps so that the flaps arch upward from the surface of the fabric.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: Figure 1 is a top plan view of a first embodiment of the ornamental fabric according to the present invention; Figure 2A is a perspective view of a portion of the ornamental fabric shown in Figure 1; Figure 2B is a side elevation view of a portion of the ornamental fabric shown in Figure 2A; Figure 3A is a top plan view of the first embodiment illustrating the flaps which have not been raised from the surface of the fabric; Figure 3B shows a side view of a portion of the fabric shown in Figure 3A; Figure 4 is a top plan view of a second embodiment of the fabric according to the present invention; Figure 5 is a side view of a portion of the fabric of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a top plan view of the second embodiment illustrating the flaps which have not been raised from the surface of the fabric; Figure 7 is a top plan view of the third embodiment of the present invention; Figure 8 is a side view of a portion of the fabric of Figure 7; and Figure 9 is a top plan view of the third embodiment illustrating the flaps which have not been raised from the surface of the fabric.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the first embodiment of the present invention is shown as including a fabric 1 on which is formed an embroidered three-dimensional ornamental pattern. The patterned fabric lis figured with flowers and includes central rings C, a plurality of first radial petals 10, a plurality of openings 11 within respective petals 10, a plurality of looped edges 14 confining respective openings 11, and a plurality of flaps 2 in the form of petals smaller than the petals 10. Each flap 2 has a surrounding periphery 20 which has a first end part 21 connected to a first portion 12 of the looped edge 14, and a second end part 22 opposite to the first end part 21. Except for the first end part 21 which is connected to the first portion 12 of the looped edge 14, the surrounding periphery 20 of each flap is spaced apart from the respective looped edge 14. The sizes of the flaps are slightly smaller than those of the respective openings 11. A plurality of bridging networks 3 are provided across the respective openings 11 to underlie the respective flaps 2 so that the flaps 2 are raised from the surface of the patterned fabric 1 The above mentioned fabric is fabricated by a one-time embroidering process without the need to superimpose an additional figure elements cut out from another patterned fabric. As shown in Figure 3, the patterned fabric 1 is formed by forming an embroidered pattern on a base fabric 5 which may be made of cotton, nylon, or a netted or water-soluble fabric. In embroidering, each flap 2 is formed on the base fabric 5 such that its surrounding periphery 20 except for the first end part 21 is spaced from the looped edge 14 of the respective petal 10 with a spacing 4, and the spacing 4 is then hollowed by cutting out the base fabric 5. After the spacing 4 is hollowed, the flap 2 is separated from the respective looped edge 14, and each looped edge 14 becomes a confining edge for the respective opening 11. Each bridging network 3 includes cross threads which are formed by extending across one of the openings 11 at two sides of the base fabric 5 to wind around the respective flap 2. After dying the so-patterned fabric, the flaps 2 are drawn out of the respective bridging networks 3 so that they are raised from the surface of the patterned fabric l,as shown in Figures 2A and 2B.

If the base fabric 5 is water-soluble, the base fabric 5 is removed by dissolution with water so that the base fabric 5 does not exist in the finished patterned fabric 1. As the base fabric 5 is removed, the flaps 2, except for their first end parts 21, are freely separable from the patterned fabric 1. The sofinished patterned fabric 1 is a netlike patterned fabric.

Figures 4 and 5 show a second embodiment of the present invention including a fabric 1' which is substantially similar in construction to the fabric 1 of the first embodiment except that the fabric 1' additionally has stringing threads 6. Each stringing thread 6 extends from a second portion 13 of the respective looped edge 14 and connected to the second end part 22 of the corresponding flap 2 by passing through the cross threads of the corresponding bridging network 3. When the flaps 2 are drawn out of the respective bridging networks 3, the stringing threads 6 are pressed and tensed by the bridging networks 3 so that the second end parts 22 of the flaps 2 are pulled to bend downward and the flaps 2 arch upwards, thus providing the fabric 1 with more lively patterns.

The formation of the flaps in the patterned fabric 1 in this embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment. However, as shown in Figure 6, this embodiment requires the forming of stringing threads 6 after the formation of the bridging networks 3. Each stringing thread 6 is formed by providing consecutive stitches from the second end part 22 of each flap 2 to the second portion 13 of the looped edge 14. A suitable length of the thread 6 can be obtained by providing sewing stitches or idle stitches within the spacing 4 between the flap 2 and the looped edge 14.

When the flaps 2 are drawn out of the bridging networks 3, the stringing threads 6 passes through the bridging networks 3.

Figures 7 and 8 show a third embodiment of the present invention, which includes a patterned fabric 1" substantially similar to the patterned fabric 1' of the second embodiment except that the patterned fabric 1" includes two stringing threads 6 between each flap 2 and the corresponding looped edge 14. The stringing threads 6 in this embodiment are formed in the same way as that in the second embodiment except that their locations are different, as shown in Figure 9.

As described above, according to the present invention, raised patterns are formed by forming patterned flaps 2 in a patterned fabric 1 and then raising the same from the surface of the patterned fabric 1 by virtue of the bridging networks 3 and the stringing threads 6. Since the fabrication of the fabric does not require extra figure elements cut from other patterned fabrics, a lower material requirement results. In addition, because manual cutting of the figure elements and attaching of the figure elements by manual sewing are not needed in making the fabric according to the present invention, the labor cost is reduced. Moreover, the fabric can be fabricated by conventional processes, such as, knitting, sewing, embroidering, etc., by using conventional machines.

Claims (6)

CLAIMS:

1. An ornamental fabric characterized by a patterned fabric having a plurality of spaced apart openings, a plurality of substantially looped edges which respectively confine said openings, each of said substantially looped edges having a first portion, and a plurality of flaps each of which has a first end part connected to said first portion and each of which is raised from the surface of said patterned fabric except for said first end part, said patterned fabric further having bridging networks formed across said openings respectively to underlie and maintain said flaps in their raised positions, said flaps being patterned simultaneously with the formation of said patterned fabric within areas confined by said substantially looped edges and being placed in their raised positions after said openings are formed.

2. An ornamental fabric as claimed in Claim 1, wherein each of said substantially looped edges further has a second portion substantially opposite to said first portion, and each of said flaps further has a second end part substantially opposite to said first end part, said ornamental fabric being characterized in that said patterned fabric further has at least one stringing thread which extends from said second portion of one of said substantially looped edges and which is connected to said second end part of one of said flaps by passing through one of said bridging networks, said stringing thread being pressed and tensed by said bridging network, thereby pulling said second part to bend downward and causing said flap to arch upward.

3. An ornamental fabric as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein each of said bridging networks includes cross threads which are initially formed to extend across the respective one of said openings to wind around the respective one of said flaps, each of said flaps being raised from the surface of said fabric when drawn out of said cross threads.

4. An ornamental fabric as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein said patterned fabric includes a base fabric and an embroidered pattern formed on said base fabric.

5. An ornamental fabric as claimed In any one of the preceding claims wherein said patterned fabric is a netlike patterned fabric, said netlike patterned fabric initially including a water-soluble base fabric which is removed therefrom by dissolution with water.

6. An ornamental fabric as substantially described hereinbefore with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

6 An ornamental fabric as substantially described hereinbefore with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows CLAIMS 1. An ornamental fabric characterised by a patterned fabric having a body, defined by an upper and lower surface, and a plurality of flaps cut out of said body, each flap having a first end portion connected to the body of the fabric and a second end portion being raised from the surface of the fabric, forming a void in the body of the fabric, whereby the body of the fabric has a plurality of spaced apart voids, said patterned fabric further having bridging networks formed across said voids respectively to underlie and maintain said flaps in their raised positions, said flaps being patterned simultaneously with the formation of said patterned fabric and subsequently being raised to form said voids.

2. An ornamental fabric as claimed in Claim 1, wherein each of said voids is defined by an edge having a first portion and a second portion substantially opposite said first portion, wherein the second end portion of each flap is substantially opposite to said first end portion and is defined by an edge complementary to the second portion of the edge of the void, said ornamental fabric being characterised in that said patterned fabric further has at least one stringing thread which extends from said second portion of the edge of the void and is connected to said second end portion of a flap through one of said bridging networks formed across a respective void, said stringing thread being pressed and tensed by said bridging network, thereby pulling said second end portion of said flap to bend downward and causing said flap to arch upward.

3. An ornamental fabric as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein each of said bridging networks includes cross threads which are initially formed to extend across the respective one of said voids to wind around the respective one of said flaps, each of said flaps being raised from the surface of said fabric when drawn out of said cross threads.

4. An ornamental fabric as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein said patterned fabric includes a base fabric and an embroidered pattern formed on said base fabric.

5. An ornamental fabric as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said patterned fabric is a netlike patterned fabric, said netlike patterned fabric initially including a water-soluble base fabric which is removed therefrom by dissolution with water.