Patent ID: 7426776

Claim:
A process of forming a nonwoven fabric with microsponges comprising: obtaining a nonwoven base comprising fibers having a first side and a second side and having a weight of greater than about 2 oz/yd 2 ; stitching the nonwoven base with a stitching yarn in elongated spaced apart rows of stitches to form a stitched nonwoven fabric, the rows of stitching having a stitch shape factor greater than 0.54, wherein the stitching yam has a tenacity greater than 1 gf/denier; forming a plurality of microsponges by impinging the first side of the stitched nonwoven fabric with a collimated fluid stream with from about 100 to 200 joules per gram while supporting the stitched nonwoven fabric on a supporting member having areas impervious to the collimated fluid and pores in the supporting member which are pervious to the collimated fluid, and; wherein the pores of the supporting member have a pore shape factor that is at least as great as the value of the stitch shape factor of the rows of stitches and the ratio of the distance between the rows of stitches to the average width of the pores is from about 3:2 to 5:2.