GB2325143A - Reversible garment. - Google Patents

Abstract

A reversible flexible garment comprises a crotch portion 1, and two free end portions 2 which may be joined to form the garment by means of press studs 6 on strap members 5. There may be additional press studs 7 at the sides of the garment. The crotch portion has a gusset (8, Figure 3) formed by material (9) attached only to the edges of the crotch region to form an open ended 'tube' of fabric. When reversing the garment, an end portion 2 is passed through the 'tube' formed by the gusset and out the other side. This ensures that the gusset reinforcement always faces the body of the wearer when the garment is reversed. The garment may form a swim suit for women, and may include removable bust cups to be positioned between one of the body portions and the wearer.

Description

Oarmeat The present invention relates to a garment, and more particularly to a piece of material for forming the garment, a method for reversing the piece of material, a method of forming a garment from the piece of material, and the garment so formed.

Garments which can be worn in a number of different ways are known, from for example EP-A-0333479. However, the wearer is normally limited in that the same face of the material used to form the garment always faces outwardly. It is not possible to simply turn the garment inside out to present the other face of the material, even if that other face also has a decorative appearance, as in practice, the garment (for example, a ladies' swimsuit) will be provided with a gusset at the crotch. If the garment is turned inside out, the gusset will then be on the outside of the garment, which is clearly undesirable.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an elongate piece of flexible material for forming a garment, the piece of material having a pair of opposite free ends from which extend respective body portions to a crutch portion, the body portions being provided with cooperating releasable fastening means so that they can be joined together either side of the crutch portion to form the garment, and there being a reinforcing portion attached to the crutch portion on the side of the material which will face a wearer in use, the reinforcing portion being joined along longitudinal edges to the crutch portion and defining therewith an open ended tube, such that by passing a free end of the length of material through the open ends of the tube and everting the tube, the material for the garment may be reversed whilst the reinforcing portion remains on the side which will face a wearer in use.

Preferably, at least one of the free ends is bifurcated.

Cooperating fastening means may be provided adjacent the free ends of the piece of material.

Additional cooperating fastening means may also be provided adjacent the sides of the body portions between the free ends and the crutch portion.

The crutch portion may be waisted, or may have parallel edges. The edges of the crutch portion may be stitched to the edges of the reinforcing portion.

Preferably, the material is elastic.

The piece of material may include removable bust cups to be positioned between one of the body portions and a wearer. Preferably, the bust cups may be attached to the material on either face thereof.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of reversing the material for a garment to be formed from a piece of material as described above, wherein a free end of the piece of material is passed through the open ends of the tube defined by the crutch portion and reinforcing portion, and the tube is everted, so that the material for the garment is reversed whilst the reinforcing portion remains on the side which will face a wearer in use.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of making a garment from a piece of material as described above, wherein at least the free ends of the respective body portions are joined together by means of the cooperating fastening means. The intermediate side regions of the respective body portions may be joined together by means of the cooperating fastening means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a garment made from a piece of material as described above.

The garment may be made from a piece of material which has been reversed in accordance with the second aspect of the invention. The garment may also be made in accordance with the third aspect of the invention.

Preferably, the garment is a swim suit for a female.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a garment for a female, the garment comprising a chest portion of elasticated material and a pair of more rigid bust cups which may be releasably fastened thereto, so that a wearer may chose a pair of bust cups of a suitable size and fasten them to the garment.

Two individual bust cups may be provided, or the bust cups may be integrally formed as a single bust cup unit. Preferably, the bust cups are releasably fastened to the chest portion of the garment by means of press fasteners.

Preferably, the garment is in the form of a swim suit for a female.

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a piece of material for forming a garment, in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a plan view of a garment formed from the piece of material; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the piece of material; Figure 4 is an enlarged view of the crutch portion of the piece of material shown in Figure 3; Figure 5 shows removable bust cups which may be used in the piece of material or the garment; Figure 6 is a plan view of a piece of material for forming a garment, in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention; and Figure 7 is a plan view of a garment formed from the piece of material.

Figure 1 of the drawings shows an elongate piece of flexible material, which includes a crutch portion 1 and two free end portions 2. The crutch portion is provided with a reinforcing portion in the form of a gusset 10.

Each end portion 2 is formed with a generally triangular cut-out 3, which tapers inwardly from the outer edge 4 of each end portion to define two spaced strap members 5. Each cut-out 3 extends lengthwise of the material substantially along the centre line of the material from a point substantially midway across the material width.

Press studs 6 are positioned along each outer edge 4 of the material to enable the strap members 5 to be selectively joined by the wearer to produce the assembled garment (in this case, a ladies' swimsuit) shown in Figure 2. Additional press studs 7 are position at locations along the two sides of the length of material to enable the sides to be joined together at one or more of these locations by the wearer.

In the piece of material and garment shown in Figures 1 and 2, the crutch portion is waisted.

In use, the crutch portion 1 is positioned between the legs of the wearer so that the gusset is adjacent the wearer's body, and the strap members 5 drawn respectively over the front and back of the wearer to be joined by the press studs in the shoulder region of the wearer. If desired, the sides of the swimsuit may also be joined by means of the press studs 7.

The gusset 8 will now be described in more detail with reference to Figures 3 and 4, which show the gusset in more detail. As can be seen from these Figures, the gusset is formed from a separate piece of material 9, which is stitched to the crutch portion 1 only at the outer edges 10, 11 of the crutch portion 1. There are no other connections between the gusset and the crutch portion. The gusset 8 and the crutch portion 1 thus effectively form an open ended flattened tube of fabric.

As the materials of the crutch portion 1 and that of the gusset 8 are flexible, it is possible to turn the tube they form inside out, in the same way as a sock can be turned inside out. This turning of the tube inside out leads to the entire garment being turned inside out, as follows.

The garment can be made from a double-sided material, for example a fabric which shows different colours on each side. To assist the description, it will be assumed that the garment is black on one side and white on the other. It will be assumed that the garment initially has its white side outwards, so that the gusset overlies the black side of the crutch portion.

To turn the garment inside out, it is first necessary to pass one of the end portions 2 through the tube formed by the crutch portion 1 and the gusset 8.

This can be done quite easily due to the flexibility of the fabric. Once the whole of the end portion has been passed through the tube, it will tend to drag the part of the crutch portion to which it is attached down into the tube, and this will start to turn the tube inside out. In practice, the edge of the gusset will also need to be turned down into the tube to initiate the eversion of the tube.

At the start of this stage, the black side of the fabric is facing towards the inside of the tube, and the white side of the fabric is facing towards the outside of the tube. The tube can then be turned completely inside out, simply by "rolling" the fabric of the tube down inside the tube, in the same way as turning a sock inside out. As this is done, the black side of the fabric will be exposed and the white side will be hidden, facing towards the inside of the tube. Once the tube has been completely everted, the black side of the crutch portion is visible and the gusset overlies the white side. The entire garment has then been turned inside out; there is no need to pass the second end portion through the tube. The everted garment then shows a different face of the fabric.

The garment can be provided with removable bust cups 15, as illustrated in Figure 5, which can be varied in accordance with the bust size of the wearer.

The bust cups may be formed from foam or similar material, and may be attached to the garment by means of press studs or any other suitable form of fastening. As the garment is reversible, any fastening means should be provided on both sides of the material.

The bust cups may be formed separately, or both may be formed as a single unit.

The material of the swimsuit is preferably a stretch-type material in which the warps and the wefts move together or independently of one another. The piece of material is preferably provided with stitched seams or edges. The press studs and the like can be set into the seam so as not to be visible, whichever way round the garment is. Alternatively, they may be deliberately visible, and can be a visual feature of the garment.

The piece of material and garment illustrated in Figures 6 and 7 is similar to that shown in Figures 1 and 2, except that the crutch portion 1 is generally parallel sided, the overall shape of the material piece being rectangular.

The garment illustrated in Figures 1 to 7 may be used to define the bodice of another garment such as a gown or trouser suit.

The garments described may be cut from two or more pieces of material to provide a desired visual effect.

This will allow the wearer to select from up to four different layouts of the fabric. These pieces may either be stitched together or may be provided with press studs or the like so that the wearer can vary the material pieces used.

Claims (27)

1. An elongate piece of flexible material for forming

a garment, the piece of material having a pair of opposite free ends from which extend respective body portions to a crutch portion, the body portions being provided with cooperating releasable fastening means so that they can be joined together either side of the crutch portion to form the garment, and there being a reinforcing portion attached to the crutch portion on the side of the material which will face a wearer in use, the reinforcing portion being joined along longitudinal edges to the crutch portion and defining therewith an open ended tube, such that by passing a free end of the length of material through the open ends of the tube and everting the tube, the material for the garment may be reversed whilst the reinforcing portion remains on the side which will face a wearer in use.

2. A piece of material as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of the free ends is bifurcated.

3. A piece of material as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein cooperating fastening means are provided adjacent the free ends of the piece of material.

4. A piece of material as claimed in claim 3, wherein additional cooperating fastening means are provided adjacent the sides of the body portions between the free ends and the crutch portion.

5. A piece of material as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the crutch portion is waisted.

6. A piece of material as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the crutch portion has parallel edges.

7. A piece of material as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the edges of the crutch portion are stitched to the edges of the reinforcing portion.

8. A piece of material as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the material is elastic.

9. A piece of material as claimed in any preceding claim, including removable bust cups to be positioned between one of the body portions and a wearer.

10. A piece of material as claimed in claim 9 wherein the bust cups may be attached to the material on either face thereof.

11. A piece of material for forming a garment, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

12. A method of reversing the material for a garment to be formed from a piece of material as claimed in any of claims 1 to 11, wherein a free end of the piece of material is passed through the open ends of the tube defined by the crutch portion and reinforcing portion, and the tube is everted, so that the material for the garment is reversed whilst the reinforcing portion remains on the side which will face a wearer in use.

13. A method of reversing the material for a garment to be formed from a piece of material as claimed in any of claims 1 to 11, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

14. A garment made from a piece of material as claimed in any of claims 1 to 11.

15. A garment made from a piece of material as claimed in any of claims 1 to 11, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

16. A garment made from a piece of material which has been reversed by a method as claimed in claim 12 or 13.

17. A method of making a garment from a piece of material as claimed in any of claims 1 to 11, wherein at least the free ends of the respective body portions are joined together by means of the cooperating fastening means.

18. A method as claimed in claim 17 wherein intermediate side regions of the respective body portions are joined together by means of the cooperating fastening means.

19. A method of making a garment from a piece of material as claimed in any of claims 1 to 11, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

20. A garment made by a method as claimed in any of claims 17 to 19.

21. The invention as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the garment is a swim suit for a female.

22. A garment for a female, the garment comprising a chest portion of elasticated material and a pair of more rigid bust cups which may be releasably fastened thereto, so that a wearer may chose a pair of bust cups of a suitable size and fasten them to the garment.

23. A garment as claimed in claim 22, wherein two individual bust cups are provided.

24. A garment as claimed in claim 22, wherein the bust cups are integrally formed as a single bust cup unit.

25. A garment as claimed in any of claims 22 to 24, wherein the bust cups may be releasably fastened to the chest portion of the garment by means of press fasteners.

26. A garment as claimed in any of claims 22 to 25, in the form of a swim suit for a female.

27. A swim suit as claimed in claim 26, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.