Patent Publication Number: US-2007118962-A1

Title: Maternity garment with information concerning the unborn child

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      This invention relates generally to a maternity garment for a pregnant woman and, specifically, to a maternity garment that provides information on the front of the garment that relates to the unborn child including indicia with alphanumeric characters.  
     DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART  
      Women who are noticeably pregnant are constantly being asked by friends, co-workers and even strangers when is the baby due to be born and what is the gender or name of the child to be born. The question persists up until the baby is finally born. Over the months, a pregnant woman can literally answer tens or hundreds of times the same question which can become very annoying to the would-be mother. To eliminate this problem, the present invention allows for the often requested information concerning the unborn child to be prominently displayed by the pregnant woman on the front of a maternity garment often near or over the enlarged area caused by the pregnancy. This will avert having a person who approaches the pregnant woman from asking all the same questions.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      A maternity garment sized for a pregnant woman, the garment being a shirt, blouse, sweatshirt, sweater, tee shirt, dress, sweat suit, jumpsuit or any other maternity dress that includes alphanumeric indicia on the front of the garment that displays the month and year that the unborn is expected to be born and the gender of the child, if known, and the name, if selected.  
      The indicia can be permanently sewn on a maternity garment surface using separate letters or added to an existing garment using a patch of material that contains a month and a year or even numerals that would indicate an exact expected day of the month. The patch can be removably attached by Velcro or adhesive. In addition, another patch of material can contain the indicia saying either “boy” or “girl” and, perhaps, a name, if selected. Other information, even if the person were expecting twins, could be formed from letters that make up the indicia on the front of the garment. It is possible that the words “gender unknown” could also be used if the parties have decided not to determine the gender early.  
      It is an object of this invention to provide a maternity garment that announces on the front of the garment the expected date, month and year of birth of the unborn child of the person wearing the garment and the gender, if known, and name of the unborn child.  
      In accordance with these and other objects which will become apparent hereinafter, the instant invention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  shows a front elevational view of a maternity garment in accordance with the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  shows a perspective view of different indicia used with the present invention in which the indicia is placed on a patch that can be attached by adhesive or hook and pile fasteners. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      Referring now to the drawings and, especially,  FIG. 1 , the present invention is shown at  10  as a maternity garment  12  shown as a blouse that has a front, back and a neck opening, the blouse being sized to accommodate a woman who is noticeably pregnant, normally around the fifth to sixth of pregnancy. The front of the garment has an area in which indicia such as alphanumeric characters are sewn on to the garment showing a month and (optionally) year that indicates the month and year that the unborn child is expected to be born. The indicia can also include numerals that also indicate the day along with the month or year of intended birth. The backside of the garment shown in  FIG. 1  can be plain. It is understood that the garment representing a maternity garment is sized for a pregnant woman that could be shirt with or without buttons or other conventional fasteners, a blouse, a sweat shirt, a sweater, a tee shirt, an elongated dress or an enlarged dress, a garment called a mu mu, a sweat suit, a jump suit or any other conventional maternity garment normally worn by a pregnant woman. The indicia in  FIG. 1  are shown permanently sewn in the material.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 2 , an alternate embodiment is shown where a patch  20  could be used and attached to an existing garment  12  shown in  FIG. 1  that contains a display of month, date, gender information or name. The patch  20  can be attached using hook and pile fasteners  26  or adhesive  24  that can be ironed on to the garment if suitable. All forms of indicia could be used that can be attached to a garment. A special area could be selected wherein cloth-type ink could be used to write in the relevant dates, gender and name of child.  
      By using the present invention, a pregnant woman can alleviate answering the same question over thousands of times.  
      The instant invention has been shown and described herein in what is considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment. It is recognized, however, that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention and that obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.