WO1995008277A1

WO1995008277A1 - Measuring aid for making clothes and the like

Info

Publication number: WO1995008277A1
Application number: PCT/AU1994/000571
Authority: WO
Inventors: Marilyn Thomas
Original assignee: Marilyn Thomas
Priority date: 1993-09-22
Filing date: 1994-09-22
Publication date: 1995-03-30

Abstract

A measuring aid (10) for making clothing and the like. The measuring aid (10) having a plurality of measures (50) located upon it against which fabric can be measured, marked, pinned, cut and ironed. Graduations on the measures (50) which have differing scales are represented in differing manners, such as, by differing colours or the like. The measuring aid (10) can be fitted onto a conventional ironing board as a web (12) with a skirt (42) or by application as a transfer.

Description

TITLE

MEASURING AID FOR MAKING CLOTHES AND THE LIKE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a measuring aid for making clothes and the like particularly, although not exclusively, envisaged for use upon ironing boards or tables or the like.

The present invention is more particularly directed to a measuring aid for use with an ironing board in performing alterations, sewing, patch work and other crafts which require both measuring and ironing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the making of clothes and the like it is known to fold fabric according to a pattern and to temporarily fix it in place with metal pins. The pinned fabric is then taken to an ironing board where the fold is ironed into position. Then the fold can be sewn on a sewing machine more easily than if the fold was not ironed in. Often the exercise of making, pinning and ironing such folds is carried out entirely upon an ironing board so as to save time and handling in moving between a table and the ironing board. A disadvantage of using the ironing board, or even a table, for this purpose is that a tape measure must be positioned and re-positioned upon the fabric in order to determine the positioning and length of the fold. In relation to pleats this is particularly cumbersome since many folds must be accurately positioned, pinned and ironed close together. In such circumstances laying the tape measure on top of the fabric is difficult since it can't easily be held taut and hence the accuracy of the pleats is reduced. I have discovered that these disadvantages can be overcome by using a cover on the ironing board, the cover having a matrix of measures on it for measuring the fabric. These measures are typically disposed along the length of the cover and across the width of the cover. I have discovered that these measures can accommodate almost all measuring tasks required in sewing fabric for clothing or crafts such as patch work and the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a measuring aid for making clothes and the like, the measuring aid being locatable upon a surface for allowing measuring of fabric without the use of a separate tape type measure. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a measuring aid for making clothing and the like, the measuring aid having: a web which is locatable upon a substantially flat surface; and, a plurality of regularly spaced measures located on the web, the measures being disposed in two dimensions on the web so that fabric can be measured against it.

In one form of the invention the web is made of fabric and is typically located upon a substantially flat surface such as an ironing board (for example as an ironing board cover) .

In another form of the invention the web is in the form of a transfer which can be applied to a substantially flat surface such as an ironing board cover or a table top or the like.

Hereinafter the present invention will be described with particular reference to a web being made of fabric although it is to be understood that it is of general applicability. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Figure 1 is a plan view of a measuring aid for making clothes in accordance with the present invention; and.

Figure 2 is a side view of an ironing board having the measuring aid attached to it.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S.

In the drawings there is shown a measuring aid 10 for making clothes. The measuring aid has a web 12 which is substantially flat and is typically made from fabric. The fabric is typically pre-shrunk calico curtain lining although it could be any conventional material used to make ironing board covers. Preferably, the fabric is not prone to shrinkage or stretching when in use.

The web 12 has a draw string hem 20 extending around its periphery. The draw string hem 20 contains a draw string

22. The draw string 22 can be pulled in conventional manner for drawing the web 12 around an ironing surface 30 of an ironing board 32.

The web 12 also has a top part 40 and a skirt 42. The top part 40 is intended to sit on top of the ironing surface 30 of the ironing board 32 and the skirt 42 is intended to drape downwardly from the ironing surface 30. The skirt 42 is drawn in towards the middle of the ironing surface on its underside by the draw string 22.

The top part 42 of the web 12 has a plurality of measures 50 located on it. The measures 50 are located in a two dimensional array (or grid) on the web 12. In the exemplary embodiment the measures 50 are disposed longitudinally and transversely on the web 12 so as to form the grid of measures. However, the measures 50 could be located in other two dimensional arrangements on the web 12. For example, the measures 50 could be arranged with circular patterns centred on the middle of the web 12.

In the exemplary embodiment the measures 50 include transverse inch measures 52, longitudinal inch measures 54, transverse centimetre measures 56 and longitudinal centimetre measures 58. Also, the measures 50 include grid measures 60 which are located within the areas bounded by the measures 52 to 58.

Conveniently, the inch measures 52 and 54 are coloured red and the centimetre measures 56 and 58 are coloured blue.

It is envisaged that the transverse inch measures 52 could coincide with the transverse centimetre measures 56 and the longitudinal inch measures 54 could coincide with the longitudinal centimetre measures 58 provided that the measures are of different colours, such as red for the inch measures 52 and 54 and blue for the centimetre measures 56 and 58. That is, the transverse measures 52 and 56 have their graduations interleaved and the longitudinal measures 54 and 58 like wise and the graduations are of different colours to distinguish them from each other. Similarly, the grid measure 60 could include red measure for inches and blue measure for centimetres.

The graduations of the measures 50 could be distinguished from each other in other ways, including differing sizes, different fonts types and by using graduations which have different appearances.

In use, the measuring aid 10 is laid upon the ironing surface 30 of an ironing board 32 so that the top part 40 of the web 12 is upper most on the ironing surface 30 and the skirt 42 drapes downwardly from the ironing surface 30. The draw string 22 is then pulled taut so as to gather the skirt 42 about the underside of the ironing surface 30 and hence tighten the measuring aid 10 onto the ironing board 32. A person wanting to measure out folds and the like in fabric, such as for making clothes, then lays the fabric onto the measures 50. Typically, the fabric is laid up against one of the graduations on one of the measures 50 and a fold made to an adjacent graduation at a desired distance from the first mentioned graduation. The fold can then be pinned and ironed in known manner.

Where the area of the fabric is to be measured, such as in making squares for patch work, the fabric can be measured between graduations in the grid measure 60. This is also useful in that it ensures that the fabric is in truth square, that is, that it has 90° corners.

The measuring aid 10 of the present invention has the advantage that it provides a two dimensional array of measures which can be used to measure fabric for folding, cutting, pinning and the like without the need to use a tape type measure. Also, the grid measures 60 allow the ready marking of fabric into square pieces.

In an alternative form the measures 50 are printed onto a transfer so that the transfer can be applied onto a conventional ironing board cover or other surface for use in marking out, cutting, folding and pinning of fabric.

Modifications and variations such as would be apparent to a skill addressee are considered within the scope of the present invention. For example, the measures 50 could be in arrangements other than a rectangular grid, such as, for example, a circular grid other grid patterns. Also, the web 12 could be made in differing sizes to accommodate ironing boards of differing sizes and other surfaces of differing sizes.

Claims

1. A measuring aid for making clothing and the like, the measuring aid having: a web which is locatable upon a substantially flat surface; and, a plurality of measures located on the web, the measures having graduations for measuring distance, the measures being disposed in two dimensions on the web so that fabric can be measured against them.

2. A measuring aid according to Claim 1, in which the measures are arranged in a non-rectangular grid pattern.

3. A measuring aid according to Claim 1, in which the measures are disposed longitudinally and transversely on the web in a rectangular grid pattern.

4. A measuring aid according to Claim 1, in which the measures include measures of different appearance for differing scales of measurement.

5. A measuring aid according to Claim 1, in which the measures include measures of differing colours for differing scales of measurement.

6. A measuring aid according to Claim 1, in which the measures are disposed on the web in a grid pattern and further grid measures are located in the areas bounded by the first mentioned measures, the further grid measures being at a larger scale than the first mentioned measures.

7. A measuring aid according to Claim 1, in which measures of differing scale have differing appearances and are located interspersed in side by side relationship.

8. A measuring aid according to Claim 7, in which the differing appearance is by a characteristic chosen from one of colour, font style, size or the appearance of the graduations of the measures.