Composite fusible interlining fabric and method

Abstract: The composite fusible interlining fabric is formed of a layer of nonwoven fabric, a layer of fibrous material positioned against the reverse or rear side of the layer of nonwoven fabric, stitch yarn knit through the layer of nonwoven fabric and the layer of fibrous material and securing them together, and a coating of thermoac­ tive adhesive material on the front or face side of the layer of nonwoven fabric. The layer of nonwoven fabric provides a smooth surface for the coating of thermoactive adhesive material. Additionally, the layer of nonwoven fabric of closely compacted fibers provides a barrier or shield to prevent strike back of the adhesive coating material when the composite interlining fabric is fused to the base or garment fabric.

Description: This invention relates to a fusible interlining fabric. When manufacturing various types of garments, it is the usual practice to attach an ironed-in stiffening insert, usually referred to as an interlining, to the body or base fabric of certain parts of the garment, such as suit, shirt or blouse shoulders, fronts, collars and cuffs. The interlining is normally adhered or fused to the base fabric by a bonding or thermoactive adhesive material applied to one side of the interlining fabric, as by coating, or by printing in spaced deposits or dot patterns. The interlining fabric is then placed adjacent the base fabric with the dot patterns of thermoactive adhesive material in contact with the base fabric and subjected to an ironing or pressing operation so that the thermoactive adhesive material softens and adheres or fuses the interlining fabric to the base fabric. It is known to produce these interlining fabrics of nonwoven material, knit material, or woven material. The nonwoven interlining fabrics have good cover but do not have the resiliency, drape and the strength properties normally found in knitted and woven interlining fabrics. However, the nonwoven interlining fabrics are sometimes preferred because they have a smooth surface, making it convenient for applying the fusible coating thereto. In many instances, the woven and knitted interlining fabrics are not suitable because they do not have the cover provided by the nonwoven fabrics. While the woven and knitted fabrics have the resiliency and strength, they do not provide the smoothness of surface which is typical of the nonwoven fabrics. Also, the woven and knitted interlining fabrics can present "strike back" problems. Strike back is the tendency of the fusible coating material to flow through the interlining fabric and to the opposite side of the interlining fabric to which the fusible coating material is applied. Such strike back of the thermoactive adhesive material can result in an undesirable bonding between the lining of the garment and the interlining upon the application of heat and pressure. When the lining of the garment is adhered to the interlining, this affects the drape, feel and appearance of the garment as the garment is designed to have the interlining fabric adhere only to the outer or base fabric of the garment and not to the lining. A textile web capable of being used as an interlining is disclosed in DE-A-2 351 405 and comprises a fleece on which are two layers, an underlayer and an upper layer, each comprising a heat-weldable adhesive, GB-A-1 195 382 also discloses a lining material, which can be used as an interlining, and which comprises two layers of parallel oriented threads crossing one another and knitted together by warp knitting of a further set of threads, the material additionally comprising a third layer of a continuous sheet material (e.g. a foam material, fleece material, woven material or synthetic fibre gauze) knitted in a warp knit stitch pattern, said inlaid weft yarns being inlaid in every course, or alternate courses, of said warp knit stitch pattern, to form a layer of weft yarns, said inlaid weft yarns thereby being secured during the knitting in of the other two layers. These interlinings suffer the general disadvantages noted above, notably strike back and/or inadequate drape or resiliency. To overcome the disadvantages of the prior art, the present invention provides a composite fusible interlining fabric adapted to be fused to a base fabric, said interlining fabric comprising a layer of nonwoven fabric of closely compacted fibers, inlaid weft yarns positioned against one side of said layer of nonwoven fabric, stitch yarn knit through said layer of nonwoven fabric and said inlaid weft yarns to said layer of nonwoven fabric, and a coating of thermoactive adhesive material on the side of said layer of nonwoven fabric opposite the side against which said inlaid weft yarns are positioned, said coating of thermoactive adhesive material being fusible at a predetermined temperature which is lower than the temperature at which said layer of nonwoven fabric, said layer of inlaid weft yarns, said knit stitch yarn and the base fabric will be adversely affected, so that said composite interlining fabric may be fused to one side of the base fabric by the application of heat thereto, said layer of nonwoven fabric providing a barrier to prevent strike back of said adhesive coating material when said composite interlining fabric is fused to the base fabric. The layer of nonwoven fabric provides the cover characteristics of nonwoven interlining fabrics while the stitch yarn and the layer of inlaid weft yarns (such as spun yarn) provide the strength and resiliency characteristics of knit or woven interlining fabrics. The layer of nonwoven fabric provides a barrier or shield of closely compacted fibers to prevent strike back of the thermoactive adhesive material when the interlining fabric is fused to the base fabric. In one embodiment of the composite fusible interlining fabric of the present invention, the stitch yarn is illustrated as being knit in a warp knit stitch pattern through the layer of nonwoven fabric and the layer of inlaid weft yarns. The warp knit stitch pattern may be varied as desired to control the stability, stiffness, shape retention and tensile strength characteristics of the interlining fabric. The presence of the layer of nonwoven fabric on one side of the composite fusible interlining fabric of the present invention provides a relatively smooth surface with the coating of thermoactive adhesive material thereon. The warp knit stitch yarn extending through and connecting the layer of nonwoven fabric and the layer of inlaid weft yarns provides strength, bulk, resiliency and drapability to the base garment with the composite fusible interlining fabric fused thereto. The layer of nonwoven fabric provides a barrier or shield of closely compacted fibers to prevent strike back of the thermoactive adhesive coating material when the composite fusible interlining fabric is fused to the garment base fabric. The composite fusible interlining fabric of the present invention is preferably formed by forming a relatively thin layer of nonwoven fabric of closely compacted fibers and then applying a fusible coating of thermoactive adhesive material to one side of the thin layer of nonwoven fabric. Inlaid weft yarns are attached to the layer of nonwoven fabric by knitting a stitch yarn through the layer of nonwoven fabric and the inlaid weft yarns to form a layer of weft yarns. Other objects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a garment base fabric with one embodiment of the composite fusible interlining fabric of the present invention adhered or fused to the rear surface thereof and with the different components of the interlining fabric being broken away to illustrate the construction thereof; Figure 2 is a greatly enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 in Figure 1; The embodiment of the composite fusible interlining fabric of the present invention illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 includes a relatively thin layer of nonwoven fabric 11, formed of closely compacted fibers, and a layer of fibrous material, illustrated as inlaid weft yarns 12, such as spun yarn. Stitch yarn, broadly indicated at 13, is knit in a warp knit stitch pattern through the layer of nonwoven fabric 11 and incorporates the inlaid weft yarns 12 therein. The stitch yarn 13 forms a plurality of side-by-side walewise extending stitch loop chains 14 on the reverse or back side of the composite fusible interlining fabric and forms diagonally extending laps 15 on the front or face side of the composite fusible interlining fabric. The laps 15 extend in a zig zag path between adjacent wales of stitch loop chains 14. Thus, the stitch yarn 13 is knit through and connects the layer of nonwoven fabric with the weft yarns (spun yarn 12) and provides the strength, bulk, drapability and resiliency characteristics of conventional knit or woven interlining fabric. The layer of nonwoven fabric 11 provides the smooth surface characteristics of conventional nonwoven interlining fabric. A coating of thermoactive adhesive material is illustrated as being applied to the front or face side of the nonwoven fabric 11; however, it may be applied to the composite interlining fabric. The coating of thermoactive adhesive material may be applied in any desired manner, such as the randomly arranged dots 16 of adhesive material shown in Figure 1. The upper layer of nonwoven fabric 11 provides a relatively smooth surface for the application of the dots 16 of thermoactive adhesive material. The diameter and thickness of the dots 16 of thermoactive adhesive material have been greatly exaggerated in Figures 1 and 2. In the actual fabric, the dots of adhesive material are substantially invisible. The body or base fabric, indicated at 20, is fused or bonded to the composite fusible interlining fabric by the application of heat and pressure to soften the dots 16 of adhesive or fusible material and to cause the same to adhere to the inner surface of the garment base fabric 20. The provision of the layer of nonwoven fabric 11 on the inner surface of the composite interlining fabric provides a barrier or shield of closely compacted fibers to prevent strike back of the thermoactive adhesive coating material when the composite interlining fabric is fused to the base fabric. The inlaid weft yarn 12 provides the desired resiliency, bulk, hand, drape and other characteristics to the fused garment. As an example, it has been found that a satisfactory composite fusible interlining fabric can be formed by knitting a 40-denier polyester yarn while inlaying a spun (worsted or cotton) yarn in alternate courses, as illustrated in Figure 1. However, it is to be understood that the inlaid weft yarn 12 may be inlaid in every course, if desired. The size and type of weft yarn 12 may be varied to change the above-mentioned characteristics of the composite fusible interlining fabric. In the composite fusible interlining fabric, the coating of thermoactive adhesive material is fusible at a predetermined temperature which is lower than the temperature at which the other materials in the interlining fabric will be adversely affected so that the heat and pressure applied during the fusing of the interlining fabric to the base fabric will not affect the other materials of the interlining fabric. The composite fusible interlining fabric of the present invention permits the interlining manufacturer to economically form a wide variety of interlining fabrics with the proper characteristics for attachment to a wide variety of different types of garment fabrics.

Claims: A composite fusible interlining fabric adapted to be fused to a base fabric, said interlining fabric comprising a layer of nonwoven fabric (11) of closely compacted fibres, inlaid weft yarns (12) positioned against one side of said layer of nonwoven fabric, stitch yarn (13) knit through said layer of nonwoven fabric and said inlaid weft yarns in a warp knit stitch pattern, said inlaid weft yarns being inlaid in every course, or alternate courses, of said warp knit stitch pattern, to form a layer of weft yarns, said inlaid weft yarns thereby being secured to said layer of nonwoven fabric, and a coating (16) of thermoactive adhesive material on the side of said layer of nonwoven fabric opposite the side against which said inlaid weft yarns are positioned, said coating of thermoactive adhesive material being fusible at a predetermined temperature which is lower than the temperature at which said layer of nonwoven fabric, said layer of inlaid weft yarns, said knit stitch yarn and the base fabric will be adversely affected, so that said composite interlining fabric may be fused to one side of the base fabric by the application of heat thereto, said layer of nonwoven fabric providing a barrier to prevent strike back of said adhesive coating material when said composite interlining fabric is fused to the base fabric. A composite interlining fabric according to Claim 1 wherein said warp knit construction includes a plurality of side-by-side stitch loop chains (14) extending along the side of said inlaid weft yarns (12) opposite said layer of nonwoven fabric (11), and diagonally extending laps (15) extending in a zig-zag path and interconnecting adjacent stitch loop chains, said laps being positioned on the side of said layer of nonwoven fabric opposite said layer of inlaid weft yarns. A composite interlining fabric according to Claim 1 wherein said coating of thermoactive adhesive material comprises a plurality of randomly spaced dots (16) of adhesive material applied to said layer of nonwoven fabric. A garment base fabric in combination with a composite interlining fabric fused to one side thereof and wherein said composite interlining fabric comprises a layer of nonwoven fabric of closely compacted fibres and having one side positioned adjacent said one side of said garment base, a coating of thermoactive adhesive material on said one side of said layer of nonwoven fabric and fusing the same to said garment base fabric, inlaid weft yarns being positioned against the other side of said layer of nonwoven fabric, and stitch yarn knit through said layer of nonwoven fabric and said inlaid weft yarns in a warp knit stitch pattern, said layer of nonwoven fabric providing a barrier to prevent strike back of said coating of thermoactive adhesive material through said layer of inlaid weft yarns, said inlaid weft yarns being inlaid in every course, or alternate courses, of said warp knit stitch pattern to form a layer of inlaid weft yarns. A method of forming a composite fusible interlining fabric adapted to be fused to a garment base fabric comprising the steps of forming a layer of nonwoven fabric of closely compacted fibres and applying a fusible coating of thermoactive adhesive material to one side of the layer of nonwoven fabric, characterised by the further step of attaching inlaid weft yarns to the other side of the nonwoven fabric by knitting stitch yarn in a warp knit stitch pattern through the layer of nonwoven fabric and the inlaid weft yarns such that said weft yarns are inlaid in every course, or alternate courses, of said warp knit stitch pattern, to form a layer of inlaid weft yarns.

Inventors: KAMAT DATTATRAYA V, KAMAT, DATTATRAYA V.
Applicants: CROWN TEXTILE CO, CROWN TEXTILE COMPANY
Application year: 1984
Main classification: A41D27
IPC codes: D04B21, A41D27, A41B7, A41B3, A41B1