Patent Publication Number: US-11026454-B2

Title: Floating darts for shapewear

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/578,869, filed Oct. 30, 2017, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Shapewear is worn underneath outerwear to enhance a wearer&#39;s body shape. Shapewear garments are used to cover a wearer&#39;s abdominal area, providing smoothing and control to the area. However, there remains a need for lightweight, breathable shapewear that stays in place, is not visible through outerwear, and is still able to provide excellent shaping. Particularly, there remains a need for targeted placement of increased compression in garments with high stretch/elongation. 
     SUMMARY 
     The shapewear garments disclosed herein allow for precise control over the positioning of increased compression. The shapewear garments include darts in an abdominal region of the garment. The abdominal region includes a knit fabric, and the knit fabric contains from 20% to 60% elastane. One or more darts may extend at least partially across the abdominal region. The darts remove fabric from the abdominal region of the garment, increasing control in the abdominal region without substantially decreasing the flexibility or breathability of the fabric. 
     In some embodiments, the fabric contains from 30% to 40% elastane. In some embodiments, the shapewear garment includes one or more floating darts. In some embodiments, the shapewear garment includes a left dart and a right dart. In some embodiments, the left and right darts extend at a diagonal relative to a vertical center line of the garment. For example, each of the left and right darts can make an angle that ranges between 10 degrees and 30 degrees with the vertical centerline of the garment. In some embodiments, the left dart has a top point and a bottom point, and the right dart has a top point and a bottom point. In some embodiments, the distance between a top point of the left dart and a vertical center line of the shapewear garment is less than the distance between a bottom point of the left dart and the vertical center line, and the distance between the top point of the right dart and the vertical center line less than the distance between a bottom point of the right dart and the vertical center line. In some embodiments, the length of the left dart from the top point to the bottom point is from 2 to 8 inches, and the length of the right dart from the top point to the bottom point is from 2 to 8 inches. In some embodiments, the left and right darts include a zigzag stitch. 
     In some embodiments, a lower edge of the garment includes a raw edge. In some embodiments, the abdominal region has lower elasticity than the other regions of the garment. In some embodiments, the fabric in the abdominal region is 1-ply. In some embodiments, the shapewear garment includes a front panel and a back panel, and the back panel has a center seam. In some embodiments, the garment includes left and right leg portions. In some embodiments, the garment includes an elastic waistband above the abdominal region. 
     Methods of making a shapewear garment having darts in the abdominal area are also disclosed herein. Methods of making the shapewear garment can include the steps of providing a front side having an abdominal region and a back side. The front side and back side can include a knit fabric, and the knit fabric can contain from 20% to 60% elastane. The method can include joining the front and back sides to form a garment, and sewing a left dart and a right dart that extend at least partially across the abdominal region. In some embodiments, methods further include folding left and right fabric wedges to the interior of the front side of the garment before sewing the left and right darts. The left and right fabric wedges can be folded at an angle to the vertical centerline of the garment, the angle being between 10 degrees and 30 degrees. In some embodiments, methods further include cutting left and right fabric wedges from the front side of the garment before sewing the left and right darts. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of an embodiment of a shapewear garment having a left dart and a right dart. 
         FIG. 2  is a back view of an embodiment of a shapewear garment. 
         FIG. 3  is a close-up view of a dart from the exterior of a garment. 
         FIG. 4  is a close-up view of a dart from the interior of a garment. 
         FIG. 5  is a view of an embodiment of a shapewear garment having a left dart and a right dart, showing the placement of the darts. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Shapewear garments enhance a wearer&#39;s body shape by providing compression, control, and smoothing to certain areas. One area that many wearers use shapewear to target is the abdominal area. It is often desirable for shapewear to provide more compression or control to certain targeted areas than to other areas covered by the garment. The amount of compression and stretch of different areas of a shapewear garment can be controlled by adjusting the garment pattern at the side seams or back seam. However, manipulating the garment pattern only at the side seams and back seam does not always do enough to restrict stretch at a targeted position, such as the abdominal region. Current additional methods of targeting the abdominal area include boning, bonding, and providing extra panels in the targeted area. These methods often make a garment less comfortable in the targeted areas. They also increase the material and labor costs of making the garments. It is therefore advantageous to provide additional compression to targeted regions of shapewear garments, specifically the abdominal region, in a way that does not add bulk or stiffness to the garment or increase the manufacturing costs. 
     A shapewear garment is disclosed herein that includes floating darts in an abdominal region of the garment. The shapewear garment includes a front side and a back side, the front side having a region that at least partially covers an abdominal area of the wearer. The abdominal region of the garment is made from a knit fabric. The knit fabric includes from about 20% to about 60% elastane, which allows the fabric to have a high amount of stretch and elasticity. One or more darts extend at least partially across the abdominal region, taking in fabric from the region. The removal of the fabric from the abdominal region to create the darts restricts stretch and volume in the area, providing targeted control across the wearer&#39;s abdomen. Altering the shape of the abdominal region using darts instead of adding boning, bonding, or additional fabric panels is more comfortable for the wearer because the darts reduce the bulk of the fabric in the area without substantially decreasing the fabric&#39;s flexibility. 
     Darts are created by taking in or removing fabric from certain areas of the garment. Darts take in fabric from narrower areas of the body, and have one or more points extending toward a fuller area of the body. This allows a flat piece of fabric to conform to the three-dimensional shape of a wearer&#39;s body. In general, darts can either extend from the edge of a fabric panel of a garment, or can be formed in the middle of a fabric panel not intersecting an edge. Darts extending from the edge of a fabric panel are sometimes seen, for example, in the bust region of upper-body garments. A triangular or wedge-shaped section of material is removed, and the remaining edges bordering the removed section are stitched together. This creates shape in the bust area. In other garments, the darts are “floating darts,” which are darts that do not begin at the edge of a fabric panel. Instead, the darts take in fabric from a more central area of a fabric panel. For example, darts can be used in a back panel of a jacket to create shape by taking in fabric at the waist area. 
     As used herein, fixedly attached is defined as attached via sewing or bonding. Seamlessly attached is defined as continuously formed as one stretch of fabric. Seamless attachment can be achieved by knitting two or more portions or panels of the undergarment together as one piece of fabric, such that there is no seam joining the portions. This can be achieved by using a seamless knitting machine, a hosiery machine, or other knitting machine. Seamless attachment can also be done by continuously forming two or more portions or panels as one stretch of woven or non-woven fabric. 
     In some embodiments, a shapewear garment is configured to compress the abdominals of a wearer.  FIG. 1  illustrates the front side of an embodiment of a shapewear garment.  FIG. 2  illustrates the back side of an embodiment of a shapewear garment. The shapewear garment  10  has a front side  12  and a back side  14 . The front side  12  of the shapewear garment  10  has an abdominal region  16 . The abdominal region  16  is a portion of the shapewear garment  10  that is configured to cover at least a portion of the abdominals of the wearer. 
     In some embodiments, the front side  12  and back side  14  are at least partially made from a knit fabric. In some embodiments, the abdominal region  16  is made from a knit fabric. In some embodiments, the knit fabric contains from about 20% to about 60% elastane. In some embodiments, the knit fabric contains from about 30% to about 40% elastane. The high elastane content of the knit fabric provides a large amount of stretch and elasticity to the fabric. 
     The abdominal region  16  has one or more darts extending at least partially across the abdominal region. In some embodiments, the abdominal region has a left dart  20  and a right dart  22 .  FIG. 1  is an illustration of a shapewear garment having a left dart  20  and a right dart  22 . Left and right darts  20 ,  22  are floating darts, in that they do not extend from nor contact an edge of a fabric panel or a seam connecting two fabric panels. However, in other embodiments, one or more darts can extend at least partially across the abdominal region  16  from any point and, in any direction. For example, one or more darts may contact and extend from a left lateral side seam and/or a right lateral side seam. 
       FIG. 3  is an illustration of a close-up view of a right dart  22  from the exterior side of the garment. The point, or apex, of a dart is the end of the dart. The right dart  22  shown in  FIG. 3  has a top point  24   b  and a bottom point  26   b . In some embodiments of the shapewear garment, the left dart has at least one point, and the right dart has at least one point. In some embodiments, the left dart has a top point and a bottom point. In some embodiments, the right dart has a top point and a bottom point.  FIG. 1  illustrates a shapewear garment with a left dart  20  having a top point  24   a  and a bottom point  26   a , and a right dart  22  having a top point  24   b  and a bottom point  26   b . In some embodiments, the length of the left dart from the top point to the bottom point is from about 2 inches to about 8 inches. In some embodiments, the length of the right dart from the top point to the bottom point is from about 2 inches to about 8 inches. In some embodiments, the length of the left dart is equal to the length of the right dart. In some embodiments, the length of the one or more darts in a shapewear garment depends on the size of the garment. In some embodiments, the length of the one or more darts is dependent on the fabric elongation, the fabric modulus, and/or the anatomy of the wearer. 
     In  FIG. 3 , the dotted line indicates where a fold  31  is located on the interior of the garment to take in the fabric. The fold  31  is not visible from the exterior of the garment.  FIG. 4  illustrates the interior view of the dart  22 , including seam  30  and fold  31 . In some embodiments, the fabric wedge  32  that is taken in to create the dart  22  is cut or otherwise removed from the garment. As an alternative to cutting the fabric, a dart can be created by gathering or folding a portion of fabric at least partially located in the abdominal region  16  of the shapewear garment  10  and sewing the fabric along the gather or fold, such that the fabric wedge  32  that is taken in to create the dart  22  is left as part of the garment. Either way, the seam  30  attaches two formerly separated areas of the fabric to narrow the region. 
     The “intake” of a dart is the amount of fabric that is removed at the widest part of the dart. The intake is the distance between the seam  30  creating the dart and the fold  31  in the fabric, as shown in  FIG. 4 . In a dart having one point, the widest part of the dart is typically at the edge of the piece of fabric. In a dart having two points (as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 ), the intake of the dart is located in between the top point and the bottom point.  FIG. 4  illustrates a view of the right dart  22  from the interior of the garment. In the dart  22  shown in  FIG. 4 , the intake  28  is between the top point  24   b  and the bottom point  26   b . In some embodiments of the shapewear garment  10 , the widest part of the dart is located halfway between the top point and the bottom point. However, the position of the widest part of the dart can vary by anatomy, shape of the dart, and position of the dart on the garment. 
     In some embodiments, the width of intake  28  of the left dart  20  is from about 0.5 inches to about 2 inches. In some embodiments, the width of intake  28  of the right dart  22  is from about 0.5 inches to about 2 inches. However, the width of the intake can also depend, at least in part, on the anatomy and size of the intended wearer, the shape of the dart, and the position of the dart on the garment. 
     In some embodiments, the seam of the dart stretches with the fabric of the shapewear garment. In some embodiments, the thread used to create the seam  30  is polyester, cotton, nylon, or a blend thereof. In some embodiments, the seam  30  is a zig-zag stitch. In some embodiments, the seam  30  is a baby zig-zag stitch. In some embodiments, the zig-zag stitch is a 3-step zig zag stitch. In some embodiments, the seam  30  is an overlock stitch, a two-needle pull-out stitch, or a pearl marrow stitch. 
     In some embodiments, the one or more darts are placed generally vertically on the garment. In some embodiments, the darts can extend across the abdominal region at a diagonal in any direction (relative to a vertical centerline of the garment). Referring to  FIG. 5 , in some embodiments, the left dart  20  and right dart  22  are placed an equal distance from a vertical center line  34  of garment  10 . In some embodiments, the distance d t1  between a top point  24   a  of the left dart  20  and a vertical center line  34  of the shapewear garment is less than the distance d b1  between a bottom point  26   a  of the left dart and the vertical center line. In some embodiments, the distance d t2  between a top point  24   b  of the right dart  22  and a vertical center line  34  is less than the distance d b2  between a bottom point  26   b  of the right dart and the vertical center line. For example, in the embodiment illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 5 , the top point  24   a  of the left dart  20  and the top point  24   b  of the right dart  22  are placed closer to the vertical center line  34  than the bottom point  26   a  of the left dart  20  and bottom point  26   b  of the right dart  22 . The darts are therefore placed diagonally on the abdominal region  16  of the shapewear garment  10 .  FIG. 5  illustrates an axis extending from the left dart  20 , creating an angle α with the vertical center line  34 , and an axis extending from the right dart  22 , creating an angle α′ with the vertical center line  34 . In some embodiments angles α and α′ can each range from about 1 to about 50 degrees, including about 1 degree, about 5 degrees, about 10 degrees, about 15 degrees, about 20 degrees, about 25 degrees, about 30 degrees, about 35 degrees, about 40 degrees, about 45 degrees, and about 50 degrees. For example, angles α and α′ can be between about 10 degrees and about 30 degrees. In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 5 , angles α and α′ are about 20 degrees. In some embodiments, left and right darts  20 ,  22  can be placed such that they are parallel to at least a portion of the left and right edges of the garment  36 ,  38 . For example, the darts can be parallel to the tapered edges between the hip and waist. 
     The shapewear garment  10  can be any type of garment configured to cover a wearer&#39;s abdominal area. In some embodiments, such as the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 , the shapewear garment  10  has a left leg portion  40  and a right leg portion  42 . In some embodiments, the shapewear garment  10  does not have a left leg portion or a right leg portion. In some embodiments, the shapewear garment  10  is a lower-body garment. In some embodiments, the shapewear garment  10  is an upper body garment. An upper body garment can be any upper body garment known in the art, including camisoles, slips, tanks, short-sleeve garments, long-sleeve garments, pull-on corsets/waist cinchers, step-in corsets/waist cinchers, bodysuits or any other upper body garment or top. In some embodiments, a lower edge of the garment is raw cut. A raw cut edge does not have a seam or bonding along the edge. 
     In some embodiments, the entire shapewear garment  10  is made from fabric having generally the same elasticity and weight throughout. In some embodiments, the abdominal region  16  has lower elasticity than other regions of the garment. In some embodiments, the abdominal region  16  has higher elasticity than other regions of the garment. In some embodiments, the abdominal region  16  is 1-ply fabric. In some embodiments, the elasticity of the abdominal region  16  in the vertical direction is greater than the elasticity in the horizontal direction. In some embodiments, the elasticity of the abdominal region  16  in the horizontal direction is greater than the elasticity in the vertical direction. In some embodiments, the abdominal region has balanced four-way stretch. 
     The shapewear garment  10  can be the same fabric throughout, it can have regions with different fabrics, or it can be one fabric with different types of stitches in different regions. For example, the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1  has areas  46 ,  48  formed using different knit stitches. The areas can be placed in regions where high breathability is desired, for example, below the waistband  44  or on the inner thighs. For example, the garment shown in  FIG. 1  has a right leg portion  40  and a right leg portion  42 , and has areas  48  with different knit stitches on an inner thigh area of the left and right leg portions. 
     In some embodiments, the front side  12  is formed of a first fabric panel, the back side  14  is formed of a second fabric panel, and the first and second panels are joined at side seams of the garment. In some embodiments, such as the one shown in  FIG. 2 , the front side and the back side are formed from one fabric panel that is joined at the vertical center seam  52  on the back side of the garment. In some embodiments, the shapewear garment has a region of lighter-weight fabric  50  along a vertical center line of the back side. An elastic band can be attached to the vertical back center seam  52 . In some embodiments, the front side and the back side are formed seamlessly. 
     Also disclosed herein is a method of making a shapewear garment having an abdominal region and at least one dart. A method of making a shapewear garment includes the steps of providing a front side with an abdominal region and a back side, where the front side and the back side include a knit fabric containing from about 20% to about 60% elastane. The method further includes joining the front side and the back side at the sides of the panels to form a garment and sewing at least one dart extending at least partially across the abdominal region. In some embodiments, the method includes sewing a left dart and a right dart at least partially across the abdominal region. In some embodiments, the method includes providing a front side and a back side that are seamlessly connected. In some embodiments, the method includes providing a separate front side and back side and attaching the front side to the back side. In some embodiments, the method includes sewing the front side to the back side. In some embodiments, the method includes bonding the front side to the back side. In some embodiments, the method further includes providing a left leg portion and a right leg portion.