Briefs

Abstract

 A brief or panty is fabricated from a single piece of polyamide elastane knitted material from a single piece so that the finished garment has a double thickness across its front and a single head to toe material edge material joining seams arranged at the centre rear of the garment.

Description

[0001] The present invention concerns improvements in or relating to garments, especially garments known variously as panties, knickers, briefs, referred to hereinafter as briefs.

[0002] It is often desireable that at least part of the front panel of a brief is elasticated to give control to the wearer's figure. In the past, elastication has been provided by incorporating within the garment a panel of an elastic material, the panel having been stitched together with other panels to form the garment.

[0003] A disadvantage of this method is that in view of the number of panels required, manufacture of the garment is relatively time consuming. Furthermore, in view of the nature of the materials used and consequently the stitching required to join adjacent panels together, particularly the elasticated panel to the adjoining panels, the stitched seems have been raised and give an unslightly appearance when the brief worn under close fitting outerwear.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate these disadvantages.

[0005] In the manufacture of a brief the basic garment is often enhanced by the addition of lace panels or edges, waist and leg elastication and a cotton gusset, especially when the garment is manufactured from a material other than cotton. In this specification present invention the basic garment, that is the garment excluding the enhancement pieces, will be referred to as the "main structure".

[0006] According to the present invention, there is provided a brief, the main structure of which is fabricated by folding and stitching from a single piece of material cut to a predetermined shape.

[0007] Preferably the material is elasticated. It may be a material knitted from a polyamide elastane yarn, for example, LYCRA (Registered Trade Mark), with the knitted ribs running in the head to toe direction of the garment when worn.

[0008] Preferably the piece of material from which the main structure of the garment is manufacturered comprises a front body portion having formed integrally therewith a waist band portion from which extends a control panel portion and a main body portion having formed integrally therewith two opposed wing portions and a crotch portion.

[0009] Preferably, on manufacture, the waist band and control panel and folded over against the front body portion and stitched along their free edges to the body portion to provide a double thickness area of material. Preferably the stitching employed allows movement of the material in mutually perpendicular directions. The stitching may be zig zag, preferably three point zig zag.

[0010] Preferably when worn the front body portion forms the front panel of the garment and the wing portions, when folded over on top of the front body portion, are joined by stitching along their then mating edges.

[0011] Preferably, the seam along the mating edges of the wing portion is formed by overstitching.

[0012] Preferably the free end of the crotch portion is stitched to the lower end of the wing portion. Preferably the seam between the free end of the crotch portion and the lower end of the wing portion is formed by a zig zag stitch. Preferably, the zig zag is a three point zig zag.

[0013] Preferably the completed brief includes elasticated trim stitched around the leg openings using a three point zig zag stitch. Preferably the crotch portion is lined on its inner face with a cotton gusset.

[0014] It is preferable that the forward end of the cotton gusset is stitched to the free end of the control panel.

[0015] Preferably, the single piece of material from which the main structure of the garment is formed has an appearance substantially as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings.

[0016] An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Fig. 1 shows a piece of material from which the main structure of a brief is formed;

Fig. 2 shows the piece after an initial folding operation;

Fig. 3 shows the completed structure of the brief from the front, inside out;

Fig. 4 shows a rear view of the completed brief, and

Fig. 5 shows a front view of the completed brief.

[0017] A brief or panty is formed from knitted polyamide elastane, for example LYCRA (Registered Trade Mark), the knitted ribs extend in the direction of arrow A in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

[0018] It will be realised that in use a brief takes a three dimensional form and consequently there is no specific demarcation between what can be regarded as the front, sides and back of the garment. Nevertheless, for the purposes of illustration the brief described herein and illustrated in the drawing will be described in its collapsed or storage form, that is, as a flat garment.

[0019] Fig. 1 shows the single piece of material from which the main structure of the brief is formed. It comprises central front body portion 10 which has extending upwardly therefrom, in Fig. 1, an integral waist band 12 from which, at its upper edge at its centre, extends a control panel 14. The front body portion 10 has formed integrally therewith and extending outwardly and downwardly therefrom, when viewed in Fig. 1, two wing portion 16,18 which will eventually form the rear and sides of the brief. Also formed integrally with the front body portion 10 and extending downwardly therefrom from its centre is a crotch portion 20.

[0020] The first step in the manufacturing process of the main structure of the garment is to fold the material illustrated in Fig. 1 through 180° along the chain line 22 shown in Fig. 1. The material will then take the form shown in Fig. 2 which shows the inside of the partially finished garment. Utilising a three point zig zag stitch, shown by the dotted lines 28 in Figs. 4 and 5, the waist band and control panel are stitched to the front body portion 10. It will be realised that in view of the stitching used, this attachment will provide no raised seams so that the front of the brief will be effectively flat. For reasons to be described later, the extreme end 30 of the control panel 14 is not stitched down to the crotch portion 20.

[0021] The next step in the operation is to fold the wing portions 16,18 and waist band 12 overlying the wing portions through 180° along the fold lines which are shown by chain lines 24,26 in Fig. 2. The resultant mating edges 32,34 are then joined together along the seam 36 (Fig. 4) by an overlock stitch along the centre rear of the garment. It will be appreciated, therefore that there are no seams at the sides of the garment.

[0022] The free end 38 of the crotch portion 20 is then attached to the lower end of the wing portions 16,18 by a seam 40 formed from a three point zig zag stitch to complete the main body structure of the brief.

[0023] The brief is enhanced by the attachment of a 100% cotton gusset piece (not shown) to line the crotch portion 20. Conveniently, in the manufacturing process the gusset is attached to the free end 30 of the control panel 14 before the waist band 12 and control panel 14 are folded over the chain line 22. In other words, the attachment of the gusset to the control panel is the first stage of manufacture. The garment is completed by stitching, utilising the three point zig zag stitch, elasticated lace-like trim around the leg openings.

[0024] It will be realised that the present invention provides a garment which has a double thickness panel which extends across the wearer's stomach thereby providing figure control. The panel is stitched to the garment by a stitch which is flat so that the seam or panel is not visible when the garment is worn under tight fitting clothing. Similarly there is only a single seam running in the head to toe direction of the garment when worn, this seam running down the rear centre of the garment.

[0025] It will be further appreciated that the garment requires no elastication at the waist, the elastic nature of the material and the double thickness of the waist band providing sufficient waist elastication.

[0026] Forming the garment from one piece of material utilising the minimum number of seams cuts down the manufacturing operations and can lead to cost savings.

[0027] Various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention, for example, the shape of the original piece of material illustrated in Fig. 1 can vary within fairly wide parameters to give garments of different styles. Any elasticated material can be utilised for the garment but it is preferable that the nylon elastane described above is used.

Claims

1. A brief characterised in that the main structure of the brief is fabricated by folding and stitching from a single piece of material cut to a predetermined shape.

2. A brief as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the material is knitted from a polyamide elastane yarn with the knitted ribs running in the head to toe direction of the garment when worn.

3. A brief as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the piece of material from which the main structure of the garment is manufactured comprises a front body portion (10) having formed integrally therewith a waist band portion (12) from which extends a control panel portion (14) the front body portion (10) having formed integrally therewith two opposed wing portions (16,18) and a crotch portion (20).

4. A brief as claimed in claim 3, characterised in that on manufacture, the waist band (12) and control panel (14) are folded over against the front body portion (10) and stitched along their free edges to the body portion to provide a double thickness area of material.

5. A brief as claimed in claim 4, characterised in that stitching (21) is three point zig zag.

6. A brief as claimed in claim 4 or 5, characterised in that the front body portion (10) forms the front panel of the garment and the wing portions (16,18) when folded over on top of the front body portion (10), are jointed by stitching (36) along their then mating edges.

7. A brief as claimed in claim 6, characterised in that the seam (36) along the mating edges of the wing portions (16,18) is formed by overstitching.

8. A brief as claimed in any of claims 4-7, characterised in that the free end (30) of the crotch portion (14) is stitched to the lower end of the wing portions (16,18) by a three point zig zag stitch (40).

9. A brief as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 8, characterised in that it includes elasticated trim stitched around the leg openings using a three point zig zag stitch.

10. A brief as claimed in any one of claim 4 to 9, characterised in that the crotch portion (14) is lined on its inner face with a cotton gusset whose forward end is stitched to the free end of the control panel.

Drawing