Method of and means for combination design transfer and application of heat reactivatable adhesive

A method of providing for combination applique design pattern transfer and adhesive lamination to applique material which comprises imprinting an applique design pattern onto a sheet of heat reactivatable adhesive so that by fusing and laminating the adhesive sheet with the applique design pattern thereon onto applique material, the applique design pattern will be transferred to the applique material. A sheet of heat reactivatable adhesive with the applique design pattern imprinted thereon is also provided for.

This invention relates to the art of appliqueing, and is more particularly 
concerned with providing a new and improved method of and means for 
combination design transfer and application of heat reactivatable adhesive 
especially useful for applieing. 
There are now available on the market heat transfer patterns for embroidery 
or ball point painting, and the like. These transfers are printed on 
paper, and by applying the printed face of the paper onto a piece of cloth 
and applying heat as by means of a hot iron, the printed pattern will 
transfer to the cloth. Thereafter the pattern may be used for embroidering 
or other decorative purposes in respect to the fabric upon which the 
pattern has been transferred. 
If desired, of course, the designs which have been transferred and 
embroidered or otherwise treated on the base cloth may be trimmed out and 
appliqued to another base if desired. 
Much appliqueing is effected by merely sewing the applique pieces to the 
base material. 
On the other hand, there has developed a popular form of appliqueing which 
comprises interposing heat reactivatable adhesive in a dry mesh form 
between the applique and the base sheet and effecting adherence of the 
applique to the base sheet by applying heat and pressure to the assembly 
whereby the heat reactivatable mesh fuses and then sets and adhesively 
bonds the appliquee to the base, and then sometimes sewing the edges of 
the applique piece. 
By the present invention, a substantial improvement in appliqueing is 
provided by combining applique pattern design transfers with the heat 
reactivatable adhesive sheet material so that the pattern or design can be 
applied to the desired applique fabric coincident with fusing and 
laminating the adhesive sheet layer to the back of the applique material. 
Thereafter the applique material may be cut into applique pieces by 
following the transfer pattern on the back face of the applique fabric, 
and the pieces assembled with a base, whether a fabric or nonfabric and to 
which the applique pieces are then adapted to be bonded by reactivating 
the adhesive on the back faces of the pieces. 
Pursuant to the principles of the present invention, there is provided a 
method of providing means for combination applique design pattern transfer 
and adhesive lamination to applique material, comprising supplying a sheet 
of heat reactivatable adhesive, and imprinting an applique design pattern 
onto the sheet, so that by fusing and laminating the adhesive sheet with 
the applique design pattern thereon onto applique material the applique 
design pattern will be transferred to said applique material. 
The present invention also provides means for combination applique design 
pattern transfer and adhesive lamination to applique material, comprising 
a sheet of heat reactivatable adhesive, and an applique design pattern 
imprinted onto said sheet, so that by fusing and laminating said adhesive 
sheet with said applique design pattern thereon onto applique material 
said applique design pattern will be transferred to said applique 
material.

By way of example, there is depicted in FIG. 1 an applique article 
comprising a base panel 10 having appliqued thereto a multipiece design 
which may comprise an arrangement of multicolored pieces, in this instance 
representing a flower basket, although it will be understood that any 
preferred applique design may be provided. As shown, the applique design 
comprises a yellow basket 11 having a handle 12. In the basket is a flower 
arrangement comprising a yellow flower 13 having a pink (red) center 14, 
pin (red) flowers 15 having yellow centers 17, and an array of green 
leaves 18 arranged artistically about the flowers. If desired some or all 
of the applique pieces may have their edges hemstitched as indicated at 
19. 
According to the present invention patterns for the applique pieces are 
printed on heat reactivatable adhesive sheet material 20 (FIG. 2). 
Adhesive sheet material for this purpose may be of a kind such as is 
readily obtainable in retail establishments catering to the applique 
trade, and produced by various manufacturers under various designations 
and formulations. One popular brand is known as Stitch Witchery, which is 
a trademark of USM Corp. This material, generally referred to as fusible 
webbing, is a mesh structure web supplied as a thin sheet of securely 
bonded interlaced thin strands or fibers of the adhesive, which is a 
polyamide plastic. It is dry, solid and non-tacky and is form-retaining at 
temperatures well above maximum atmospheric weather temperatures, and will 
fuse, that is melt, at about 210.degree. F. to 250.degree. F. whereby to 
form an adhesive bond for compatible surfaces, and in particular most 
fabric material surfaces, paper, wood, and the like, and at least those 
materials which are commonly used for appliqueing. 
A unique aspect of the present invention resides in that the patterns for 
the applique pieces are imprinted directly on the adhesive webbing sheet 
20. As shown, patterns for the various applique pieces of the completed 
article in FIG. 1 are identified by the same reference numerals with the 
subscript "a". Thus, the pattern outline for the basket 11 is identified 
as 11a and its handle as 12a, the yellow flower pattern 13a, its center 
pattern 14a, the pattern outlines for the pink flowers are 15a, the 
outlines for their centers 17a, and the outlines for the leaf pieces 18a. 
Arrangement of the various applique pattern outlines is desirably in 
designated areas on the sheet 20. For example, all of the patterns for 
green pieces are, as shown, confined to an area G, the red or pink 
patterns to an area R and the yellow patterns to area Y. To facilitate 
this segregation of the various patterns, the areas G, R and Y may be 
separated by imprinted delineations or subdivision lines 21 on the sheet 
20. 
Imprinting the patterns on the adhesive sheet 20 may be effected in any 
suitable manner by means of colored lineation as by commercial printing 
techniques, by block printing, such as by wood blocks or rubber stamps, by 
silk screening, by direct outlining by means of pencil, crayon, felt or 
ball point pen; or by impressed lineation comprising pressing or slotting 
the pattern lines in the adhesive sheet; and the like. Thus, while the 
imprinted mesh plastic material may be supplied with commercially 
imprinted pattern designs, a user may exercise his own artistic ingenuity 
in creating his own designs by means of a preferably ink applying 
implement, although crayon type marking pencils and stubby point lead 
pencils may be used but are not as easy to use on this material as the ink 
applying appliances. 
Initially patterns imprinted on the interlaced thin strands or fibers of 
the adhesive material appear light, but distinguishable because of the 
openings between the strands and fibers of the adhesive material. After 
fusing the pattern to the back side of almost any applique material 
whether white or black, or heavily patterned, the imprint becomes more 
distinguishable, since the pattern lines, which were interrupted on the 
original fusible webbing, are now mostly connected because of the melting 
of the fusible webbing. 
Furthermore, black lined imprinted patterns are even distinguishable on 
black or heavily patterned cloths because the adhesive acts as a carrier 
and provides a lighter and shiny background for the black printed pattern 
lines. 
Transference of the patterns imprinted on the adhesive mesh or solid sheet 
or web 20 onto applique material, which may be any suitable material but 
generally fabric is adapted to be effected by fusibly applying the heat 
reactivatable adhesive material 20 to the applique material by fusing heat 
and pressure. This is conveniently and efficiently effected as 
demonstrated in FIG. 3, by placing onto a firm backing surface 22 an 
underlay pressing sheet surface 23 which is nonadherent to the fused 
adhesive, and then superimposing the imprinted adhesive web 20 on the 
underlay pressing sheet surface. The desired applique material is placed 
on the adhesive web 20. In order to attain the shade or color 
differentiation of the various applique pieces to be produced, the 
applique material overlying the areas G, R and Y of the heat reactivatable 
adhesive web 20 will conform to the differentiating color scheme. Thus, 
the applique material to overly the mesh plastic sheet area G, and 
identified as Mg, may be green, the applique material overlying the area 
R, and identified as MR may have the desired pink or red shade, and the 
applique material overlying the area Y and identified as MY may have the 
desired yellow shade. 
Transference of the applique patterns to the applique sheets MG, MR and MY, 
and fusing of the adhesive material of the adhesive web 20 to the applique 
material is desirably effected by applying an overlay pressing sheet 23, 
which is nonadherent to the fused adhesive, and which may be a folded over 
portion of the underlay sheet 23, onto the assembly of applique material 
and underlying pattern-carrying heat reactivatable adhesive sheet 20. Then 
fusing heat and pressure are adapted to be applied to the assembly through 
the overlying pressing sheet 23 as by means of a pressing iron 24, whereby 
the adhesive sheet is fused and, in effect, laminated to the under sides 
or surfaces of the sheets of appliqueing material. Then, when the adhesive 
material has set onto the applique material sheets, the patterns are 
effectively transfered to the applique material sheets. Removal of the 
pressing sheet 23, which strips cleanly from the fused and set adhesive 
layer, releases the laminated assembly for further processing. 
Material suitable for the pressing sheet 23 comprises 
polytetrafluoroethylene film of approximately 0.001 inch to 0.005 inch in 
thickness, or a parchment like silicone treated paper of about the same 
thickness. These materials are readily available, are nonadherent to at 
least the fused polyamide adhesive material, and are free from 
deterioration when subject to temperatures well above pressing iron 
temperatures which may be as high as up to 500.degree. F. when rapid 
action is desired. 
A number of the laminated assemblies of fused heat reactivatable adhesive 
and applique material may be stacked and stored for future use. 
For appliqueing, the individually outlined pieces are adapted to be cut as 
by means of trimming shears from the laminated sheet, and each of the 
applique pieces will carry on its entire back the laminated layer of fused 
heat reactivatable adhesive. The applique pieces are then adapted to be 
assembled onto the base panel 10 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. 
For example, the basic basket piece 11 with its handle 12 may be positioned 
as desired on the base panel 10 and fusedly bonded to the base panel 10 by 
application of heat and pressure as by means of the heated iron 24. A 
plurality of the pieces may be fusedly bonded in place at the same time if 
desired such, for example, as the flower pieces 13 and 15 which interfit 
with one another and the basket piece 11 and its handle 12. These pieces 
are relatively position supportive with respect to one another. The 
applique design may then be completed as indicated in FIG. 5, by 
assembling the remaining applique pieces trimmed from the adhesive-fabric 
laminate, and applying heat and pressure to the assembly as by means of 
the iron 24 to complete the applique design. In this final bonding of 
applique pieces, the leaf pieces 18 are bonded to the base panel 10, and 
the center pieces 14 and 17 are bonded to their respective flower 
patterns. 
The resulting applique article will have the various pieces firmly bonded 
in the assembly by the heat reactivatable adhesive means 20 as best 
visualized in FIG. 6 where the applique pieces which are in direct 
face-to-face relation to the base panel 10 are directly bonded to the base 
panel by the adhesive 20 and the pieces superimposed on the thus bonded 
pieces, such as the center pieces 17 are bonded by the adhesive to the 
applique pieces on which they are superimposed. After all of the applique 
pieces have been adhesively bonded to the base panel 10, the hem stitching 
19 may be applied if desired. 
It will be understood that variations and modifications may be effected 
without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of this 
invention.