Patent Publication Number: US-2019174850-A1

Title: Apparel Accessory and Methods of Assembly

Description:
FIELD 
     The present disclosure generally relates to accessories to be worn with apparel. 
     BACKGROUND 
     It is often desirable to wear accessories with articles of clothing to give the clothing a different appearance. For example, clothing can be worn without the accessory or with the accessory which may also be variably positioned to provide an overall different appearance. For example, it may be desirable to change the clothing appearance in such a way that a single outfit can be worn at different social occasions to effectively increase the wearer&#39;s wardrobe. Likewise, it may be desirable to change the clothing appearance such that a simple outfit will have a more elegant appearance. 
     It is also desirable to make use of articles of clothing for a new purpose. Most families, especially those with a man, father or husband, have an excess number of neckties. Excess neckties may have not been used due to a move to a more business casual wardrobe where neckties are not included. Excess neckties may have not been used due to a move away from wearing a full suit which typically included use of a necktie. The excess neckties may no longer fit the recipient, may be considered out of style, or may represent an unwanted gift. 
     Most U.S. households are familiar with fathers receiving neckties for Father&#39;s day, birthdays, holidays, etc. These neckties may not be appealing for the man to wear as part of their wardrobe. The neckties may have unusual or non-traditional patterns, colors, or images. The neckties may be considered too nice or not nice enough for the recipient. As a result, such neckties are not readily or often worn by the recipient. 
     Excess neckties may well compliment the wardrobe of other members of the family, especially female members of the household. Currently in the United States, females often do not wear neckties as men wear neckties. It would be beneficial to repurpose such excess neckties for use by other members of the family and methods to assembling such apparel accessories would be useful. 
     For example, many articles of clothing, especially shirts and blouses, are open around the neck. It is normal and customary to wear a myriad of articles of clothing around the neck including bandana, feather boa, scarf, dupatta, necklace, garland, kerchief, lanyard, mantilla, muffler, neckerchief, pashmina, shawl, stole, or wrap. 
     One prior approach was to utilize scarfs which could be optionally worn with outfits. However, prior scarfs had severe limitations which adversely affected the manner and ways that they could be worn. Specifically, prior scarves tended to have a square or rectangular configuration, with the lengths of the sides being relatively small with respect to or equal to the dimensions of the wearer. 
     Further, to tie prior scarves in order for them to remain in a fixed position, it was necessary to tie the corners or wide ends of the fabric thereby reducing the amount of fabric available for positioning around the wearer and making a large, bulky, hideous knot. Likewise, prior scarves had a generally flat condition which was generally coextensive with the other articles of clothing worn by the wearer. Thus, prior scarves provided only minor changes in the three-dimensional appearance of the clothing. Historically, the only real variety in scarves came in the form of changes in fabric design and/or color. 
     A similarity among these articles of clothing is that these articles of clothing are not typically made from repurposed neckties. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present disclosure generally relates to methods to modify neckties and compositions to be worn with apparel. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above-mentioned and other features of this disclosure, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the disclosure itself will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the disclosure taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is an illustration of a taut elastic band being sewn onto the vertical center of a necktie. 
         FIG. 2  is an illustration of pleating the necktie. 
         FIG. 3  is an illustration of pins placed to temporary hold the pleating of  FIG. 2  in place. 
         FIG. 4  is an illustration of the hand stitch used to secure the pleats of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 5  is an illustration of ornaments sewn onto the front of the pleats. 
         FIG. 6  is an illustration of the apparel accessory. 
     
    
    
     Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Although the drawings represent embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings are not necessarily to scale and certain features may be exaggerated in order to better illustrate and explain the present disclosure. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
     The embodiments disclosed below are not intended to be exhaustive or limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed in the following detailed description. Rather, the embodiments are chosen and described so that others skilled in the art may utilize their teachings. 
     The term “back of the necktie” as used herein refers to the side with the vertical seam. The back of the necktie is not visible when the necktie is knotted. 
     The term “front of the necktie” as used herein refers to the side that is visible when the necktie is knotted. 
     The term “middle section of the necktie” as used herein refers to the portion between the tail and the blade. 
     The term “blade” as used herein refers to the main lower section of a necktie. 
     The term “shell” as used herein refers to the outermost fabric of a necktie. Also known as “envelope”. 
     The term “tail” as used herein refers to the narrow end of a necktie that hangs behind the larger end when knotted. 
     The term “tip lining” as used herein refers to the fabric sewn onto the backside of the tip and tail of a necktie. 
     In the first embodiment, a process for making an apparel accessory  1  comprising steps: A. sewing a stretched elastic band  5  onto a necktie  2 , B. forming pleats  6 , C. inserting straight pins  7  into the pleats  6  to hold pleats  6  in place, D. sewing pleats  6  in place, E. removing straight pins  7 , and F. sewing ornamental feature  8  onto the pleated portion  6 . 
     In the first step as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , a stretched elastic band  5  is sewn onto the back of the necktie  4  along the vertical center  10  of the blade  11  from a selected starting location, where pleating  6  will start, to a selected ending location where pleating  6  will end. 
     In one embodiment, the selected starting location is near the top of blade  11 . 
     In another embodiment, the selected ending location may be the tip lining  20  of the necktie  2 . 
     In some embodiments, the elastic  5  may be sewn onto the exterior of the necktie  2 . 
     In other embodiments, the elastic may be sewn into the interior of the necktie  2 . 
     In additional embodiments, multiple elastic bands  5  may be sewn to the necktie  2 . 
     In further embodiments, the elastic bands  5  may be sewn onto any portion of the necktie  2 , including the tail  12 , the middle section  13 , and the blade  11 . 
     In the second step as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , pleats  6  are formed along the portion of the necktie  2  with the elastic  5  ( FIG. 1 ). The pleats  6  may be vertical accordion, knife, box, double box, inverted, rolled, military box, asymmetric, or any combination thereof. 
     In the third step as illustrated in  FIG. 3 , straight pins  7  are inserted into the pleats  6  to hold them in place. 
     In the fourth step as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the pleats  6  are secured with stitches  9  passed perpendicular through all pleats  6 . 
     In further embodiments, a pair of stitches  9  may be located on either side of the elastic  5  on the back of the necktie  4 . 
     In additional embodiments, stitching  9  may pass through the vertical center  10  or other locations in the pleating  6 . 
     In the fifth step, the straight pins  7  are removed from the pleats  6 . 
     In the sixth step as illustrated in  FIG. 5 , ornaments  8  are sewn onto the front of the pleats  6 . 
     In additional embodiments, ornaments  8  are sewn onto the knot  19 , middle section  13 , tail  12 , or blade  11  of the necktie  2 . 
       FIG. 6  is an illustration of apparel accesory  1 . The apparel accessory is comprised of a necktie  2  with knot  19 , pleats  6 , and ornaments  8 . 
     While this disclosure has been described as having an exemplary design, the present disclosure may be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this disclosure pertains.