GB2418131A

GB2418131A - Making a printed garment

Info

Publication number: GB2418131A
Application number: GB0420699A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Maria Grachvogel
Original assignee: MARIA GRACHVOGEL Ltd
Current assignee: MARIA GRACHVOGEL Ltd
Priority date: 2004-09-17
Filing date: 2004-09-17
Publication date: 2006-03-22
Also published as: GB0420699D0

Abstract

A method of designing a garment is disclosed comprising steps of: creating in software a marker design comprising a plurality of pattern pieces from which a garment can be produced; on some of or each of the pattern pieces, by a software system, defining a respective print to be printed on each of the individual pattern pieces; integrating the patterns created with the marker design; and creating a printing description document that describes the print as it is laid out on the marker design.

Description

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a a . . - Making a printed garment This invention relates to a method and apparatus for making a printed garment.

Traditionally, garment designers have faced restrictions to the range of print designs that they can produce. If more than a small number of similar garments are to be produced, the designer is limited to designing a repeating pattern which can be printed onto fabric, and then making the garments from the printed fabric. Therefore, the designer has only limited freedom to create a garment with a print design.

The alternative is to hand paint a design directly onto the fabric from which a garment is to be made. This gives the designer a great degree of freedom, but each garment must be painted individually meaning that they will be costly and that no two garments will be the same.

An aim of this invention is to provide an apparatus and a method by which a designer can produce garments with an essentially arbitrary printed pattern, without being limited to a repeating pattern, in a manner that is suitable for multiple reproduction.

From a first aspect, this invention provides a method of designing a garment comprising steps of: creating in software a marker design comprising a plurality of pattern pieces from which a garment can be produced; on each of the pattern pieces, by a software system, defining a respective print to be printed on each of the individual pattern pieces; integrating the patterns created with the marker design; and creating a printing description document that describes the print as it is laid out on the marker design.

En this method, the printed pattern and the pattern pieces are designed in an integrated manner, giving the designer freedom to design the print and pattern for a garment.

The printing description document is most typically a computer-readable data file that can be transferred to a printer for printing.

. e e . . . The method may advantageously use a printing technique that can produce arbitrary (i.e., not constrained to a repeating pattern) printing on fabric under computer control. For example, the method may use of an inkjet printing technique.

From a second aspect, this invention provides a method of making a garment comprising designing a garment by a method according to any preceding claim; making a marker according to the marker design; using the printing description document to print upon a piece of fabric; cutting the fabric to pieces as defined by the marker; and making a garment with the pieces.

From a third aspect, this invention provides a computer software system for performing a method according to the first or the second aspect of the invention.

The computer software system that this invention provides may be an integrated application that performs several or all of the steps of the method. Alternatively, it may comprise several applications that cooperate to perform the method. In the latter case, the software system may further comprises directions that instruct the user to perform a method according to the first or second aspect of the invention or computer code (e.g., program code or scripting code) that operates to assist a user to perform a method according to the first or second aspect of the invention.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a flow chart that illustrates the steps involved in creating a garment using a design method embodying the invention.

This embodiment makes use of several pre-existing software packages in a non-standard combination to perform the invention. However, it is envisaged that the various functions might advantageously be incorporated into a single piece of software designed with a specific intention of implementing the invention.

As illustrated in Figure 1, the first step is to create a pattern from which a garment is to be made. The pattern is created using a pattern design application such as Modaris produced by Lectra Systemes.

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. e e. Once the pattern is created, it is normal practice to produce a toile, which is a rough mock-up of the garment in cheap fabric. This is made to allow the designer to check the shape and fit of the garment and help to visualise the print design. Any changes required to the pattern can be made at this stage.

A marker is then made from the finalized pattern. The purpose of the marker is to lay out the pieces of the pattern in the arrangement from which they will be cut out of a length of fabric. In this embodiment, a marker is designed in a software application such as Diammo produced by Lectra Systemes. The marker design application can produce a marker from the design by plotting onto a paper sheet the shapes of the pattern pieces to their exact size.

The marker that will be produced serves as a guide to a garment maker as to how to cut the pattern pieces. However, it is important to note that the marker design in the application is a representation of the distribution of the various pattern pieces on an uncut piece of fabric.

Then, a print pattern is envisaged for each of the pattern pieces, and this must be associated with each of the pattern pieces. To ensure accuracy, each of the pattern piece objects is exported from the marker or pattern design application and imported into a suitable painting application. A suitable application permits a designer to paint a design in software upon the shape of each pattern piece in turn while the design and the pattern piece are presented at actual size on a computer display screen. In this embodiment, the package known as U4ia by Lectra Systemes is used. Once the painted pattern is complete, it is re-introduced into the marker where is is superimposed exactly upon the representation of the pattern piece within the marker design. This process is repeated for each pattern piece.

Once all of the pattern pieces (or as many as the designer requires) have had a print pattern applied to them, the marker design then becomes, in addition to the design of a marker for cutting, a representation of the layout of the printing that must be applied to an uncut piece of fabric such that, when that fabric is cut according to the marker, each pattern piece will include the print that was intended by the designer. Therefore, the next step in this method is to transfer the marker design, including the print pattern, to a printer who can apply a printing operation to a piece of fabric. This can be achieved by exporting the marker design from the design application to produce a printing description document in a format suitable for use by a printer. In this case, the format used is an industry-standard format that is acceptable to specialist fabric inkjet printers, for example, a tagged image file format (TIEiEi) file.

he . # A. . e e. - The marker can then be used to cut the pattern pieces from the printed fabric. The correspondence between the design of the marker and of the printing ensures that the cut-out pieces will have printed upon them the pattern envisaged by the designer. A garment can then be assembled from the pattern pieces in the usual way.

It has been found convenient to use an intermediary application in this particular embodiment to assist in the transfer of pattern piece and print data between the various applications and to perform the exportation of the print design to the print description document. The intermediary used in this embodiment is Kaledo Style of Lectra Systemes.

The inventor has proposed enhancements to the embodiment described above. The functionality of one or more of the applications used may be incorporated into a single application intended specifically for implementation of methods embodying the invention.

As well as increasing convenience for the designer, this allows functional enhancements to be made. For example, the application can be configured to ensure that the colour printed at the periphery of each of the pattern pieces is the same as the colour that will be applied to the periphery of pattern pieces that will adjoin it in the final garment. The software may also include functionality that allows a representation of the print as applied to the finished garment to be viewed by the designer.

Modaris, Diamino, U4ia, Kaledo Style and Lectra Systemes are trade marks of Lectra Systemes SA.

Claims

# e # , # # # # r Clanns 1. A method of designing a garment comprising

steps of: creating in software a marker design comprising a plurality of pattern pieces from which a garment can be produced; on some of or each of the pattern pieces, by a software system, defining a respective print to be printed on each of the individual pattern pieces; integrating the patterns created with the marker design; and creating a printing description document that describes the print as it is laid out on the marker design.
2. A method according to claim 1 in which the printing description document is a computer- readable data file.
3. A method according to claim 1 or claim 2 that uses a printing technique that can produce arbitrary printing on fabric under computer control.
4. A method according to claim 3 in which the printing technique is an inkjet printing technique.
5. A method according to any preceding claim which further comprises a step of comparing the colour to be printed at edge regions of respective pattern pieces that will be adjacent one another in a completed garment.
6. A method according to any claim 5 further comprises a step of ensuring that the colour to be printed at edge regions of respective pattern pieces that will be adjacent one another in a completed garment are similar.
7. A method of designing a garment substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawing. c

a a a C c a e. .
8. A method of making a garment comprising designing a garment by a method according to any preceding claim; making a marker according to the marker design; using the printing description document to print upon a piece of fabric; cutting the fabric to pieces as defined by the marker; and making a garment with the pieces.
9. A method of making a garment substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
lO.A computer software system for performing a method according to any preceding claim.
11.A computer software system according to claim 10 that is constituted by an integrated application.
12.A computer software system according to claim 10 that is constituted by several applications that co-operate to perform the method.
13.A computer software system according to claim 12 that further comprises directions that instruct the user to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.
14.A computer software system according to claim 12 or claim 13 that further comprises computer code that operates to assist a user to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.
15.A computer software system substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawing.