Patent ID: 8016971

Claim:
A method of making an absorbent article with a waist relief area, comprising, providing a web of outer cover material wherein each first relief hole defines a hole perimeter moving in a machine direction; cutting a plurality of first relief holes in the web of outer cover material; at least partially covering the plurality of first relief holes with an overlay material wherein the portion of the overly material spanning the first relief holes defines a fringe; cutting a plurality of second relief holes in the fringe, wherein a second relief hole is positioned entirely within the hole perimeter of each of the first relief holes and wherein each of the first relief holes defines a first relief hole area and each of the second relief holes defines a second relief hole area less than the first relief hole area; and cutting the web of outer cover material in a cross-machine direction to define a plurality of discrete absorbent articles wherein each cut extends through each first relief hole and each second relief hole to form a waist relief area.