GB2187634A - Multiway garment - Google Patents

Abstract

A wraparound garment having a width and length thereto, said garment being pleated lengthwise, starting at one lateral edge and extending over approximately three quarters of the width of the skirt, the remaining quarter being unpleated to form an apron (24). The garment may be wrapped about the waist of a user with the apron (24) locating over a pleated portion (23) of the skirt, so as to give the appearance of a kilt, or beneath the pleated portion (23), so as to give the appearance of a fully pleated skirt. Preferably at least the pleated portion (23) is reversibly finished, whereby the garment may be reversed so as to provide the appearance of a still further fully pleated skirt different from the first skirt. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Multiway garment This invention relates to skirts which are constructed to be wearable so as to present more than one appearance. It particularly relates to a skirt having pleated and unpleated sections of fabric, whereby the skirt may be worn to present the appearance of a kilt on the one hand or a fully pleated skirt on the other hand.

In Canadian Patent 626,624 (Schwartz) there is described a skirt which comprises a pleated portion of fabric, the laterally opposed edges ofthefabric being attached together along a seam to form a fully pleated skirt. The pleating is reversibly finished, a construction of this type being shown in for example Canadian Patent 458,893 (Brennan) and U.S. Patent 2,898,601 (Presson). Reversibly finished pleated skirts of this nature are widely known in commerce as of the present time.

Schwartz further describes an apron which is secured along one edge thereof to the seam ofthe pleated skirt. Fastening means comprising buttons and corresponding button holes are provided on the waistband of the skirt to perm it the skirt to be worn with the apron in overlapping relationship with the pleats so as to present the guise of a kilt, or, by reversing the garment, whereby the apron is hidden from view, so that the garment presents the guise of a fully pleated skirt. It will be remarked that in order to present itself in either of two guises, it is required for the Schwartz skirt to be reversibly constructed.

Such construction is time consuming and exacting, and garments ofthis nature are relatively expensive.

I havefoundthat bythe simple expedient of forming a skirt as a wrap-around garment which comprises a pleated panel offabric and an apron joined together along one edge thereof lengthwise ofthe skirt, leaving the laterally opposed edges ofthe pleated panel and the apron free, such skirt may be worn so as to present the guise of either a kilt or a fully pleated skirt, without necessitating the garment being reversibly finished.

I havefurtherfoundthatwherethe pleating ofthe foregoing skirt constructed in accordance with my invention is reversibly finished, the skirt may be worn so asto present not lessthanthreedifferent guises. Thus, with the obverse face ofthe garment outwardly, the garment may be wrapped with the apron in overlaying relationship with the pleats to form a kilt, or underlaying relationship with the pleats so as to be hidden from view and thereby form a fully pleated skirt. When the garment is reversed, whereby the reverse face of the skirt faces outwardly, the apron, if also reversibly constructed, may be similarly worn in overlaying orunderlaying relationshipwiththe pleats, to presentthe appearance of a kilt or a fully pleated skirt different to the appearances presented when the obverse face is outward.

There are certain practical difficulties in constructing the apron to be reversible. Thus, where thefabricoftheapron is ofsingle layer, seams and darts formed on the one side will martheappearance of the other side. This may be overcome by constructing the apron of two layers offabric, but this will tend to unduly increase the weight of the apron and adversely affect its hang from the waistband. Moreover, a kilt is traditionally worn by femaleswith the apron openingtothe left hand of the wearer.Where the garment is reversed and worn as a kilt, the apron would open to the right hand side of the wearer, and so be aesthetically unacceptable to many persons. Forthesereasonsitmaybe preferred to construct the reversible pleated garment without incurring the disadvantages of reversibly constructing the apron, whereby the garment is intended to be worn with the apron in underlaying relationship with the pleats and so hidden from view when the reverse face of the garment is outwardly facing, whereby the garment will be capable of being worn in any ofthree distinct guises.

The above aspects, advantages and objects of my invention will be more clear, and other aspects, advantages and objects will be revealed in the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1-shows the obverse face of a length of fabric from which the skirt of the invention may be constructed, with an exemplary, schematic, repeating patterning on the surface thereof; cut to show indefinite length; Figures 2 and 3 - show respectively in more or less flat form the obverse and reverse faces of a skirt constructed from the length of fabric in accordance with the invention; Figures 4-6 inclusive are perspective frontal views ofthe skirt of Figures 2 and 3 in wrapped around form, showing the alternative guises in which it presents itself.

Referring to the drawings in detail, a portion of fabric is identified therein by the number 10. Forthe purpose ofthis description the word "length" will refer to the top to bottom dimension of the material, which forms the length of the skirt. As woven, the weft of the fabric will normally be selected to lie along the length ofthe skirt.

Fabric 10 is a single ply and is provided with a patterning which may be typically woven in and which comprises a series of parallel bands 12 of colour or colours running along the length ofthe fabric equally interspaced with bands 14 of a contrasting colourorcolours. Still further bands 16 of colour our colours run transversely along the fabric.

Whilefabric 10 is desirablyunitarilyformed, itmay be made up from one or more pieces offabric material suitably sewn or otherwise joined together.

It should be emphasized thatthe particular patterning shown is exemplary only, and that other patterns as are aesthetically desirable may be employed as are generally known in the construction of reversibly pleated skirts.

Fabric 10 is knife pleated along its length in such a manner as to partially mask bands 12 ontheobverse face 20 ofthe fabric and to fully mask these bands on the reverse face 22. A portion 24 of the fabric on the right hand side of the skirt 26, as seen in Figure 2, remains unpleated,to thereby form the apron of the skirt. The lateral dimension of apron 24 is approximately one third of the lateral dimension of the pleated panel 23, as measured with the pleats closed; these proportions may vary somewhat, depending upon the degree of overlap desired when the skirt is wrapped about the waist of a wearer, as will be more particularly described herein below.

The effect of pleating the fabric in this manner isto provide a more or less uniform colour, being that of the bands 14, on the reverse face 22 of skirt26, whereas the pattern on the obverse face 20 ofthe skirt comprises alternating bands of colour 12 and 14, which together with transverse bands 16 form a plaid or check design. Otherthan in the provision of apron 24, the construction and design considerations to this point are generally identical to the construction and design of a reversible knife pleated skirt.

With reference to Figures 2 and 3, it will be appreciated thatthe patterning of apron 24 tends to complementthe patterning ofthe pleated portion of the obverse face, as is atypical in kilt construction, whereas the patterning of the apron 24 on the reverse face (Figure 3) is dissimilarto that ofthe pleated panel 23.

Skirt 26 comprises a waistband 30which reversibly finishes the upper edge of the skirt.

Waistband 30 is provided with a pair of spaced apart buttons 32 on the obverse face and an underlaying pair of buttons 34 on the reverse face. A pair of spaced apart button holes 36 are formed adjacentthe laterally opposed end of the waistband to permitthe skirt to be wrapped and fastened about the waist of a person with the lateral sides in overlapping relation as will be further described. Desirably the means for fastening the skirt in this manner should permit substantiallythe whole of the lateral width of apron 24 of the skirtto overlap, or be overlapped by, a lateral portion ofthe pleated panel 23 when the skirt is worn.Other means for securing the waistband such as bythe use of linked buttons, such are commonly used for fastening togetherthe cuffs of shirtsleeves, loop-pilefasteners, hooks, eyes and press studs may also be used, and still other securing means will occurto persons in the art.

Referring nowto Figures 4 - 6, skirt 26 is shown in Figure4with the obverse face 20 outwardlyfacing, and with apron 24 in overlaying relationship with pleated panel 23 oftheskirt, so giving the typical appearance of a kilt.

In Figure 5, skirt 26 is again wrapped with the obverse face 20 outwardly, but with the apron 24 in underlaying relationship with and completely hidden buy a portion of the pleated panel 23, thereby giving the appearance of a fully pleated skirt.

In Figure 6, the reverse face 22 ofthe skirt 26 is outwardlyfacing, and apron 24 is again positioned in underlaying relationship with a portion ofthe pleated panel 23 ofthe skirt, thereby giving the appearance of a fully pleated skirt, but dissimilar to the appearance of the skirt of Figure 5.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that many changes may be made to the particularly exemplified structure so asto achieve the benefits of the invention, and it is intended that all such changes be encompassed within the spirit of the accompanying

Claims (10)

claims. CLAIMS

1. A wraparound skirt (26) comprising a pleated panel 23 and an apron (24); said pleated panel (23) and said apron (24) being attached together along one edge thereof lengthwise ofthe skirt (26), with the laterally opposed edges of the pleated panel and the apron being free, and fastening means (32,34,36) permitting the skirt (26) to be worn with said apron (24) in underlaying or overlaying relationship with a laterally opposed portion of said pleated panel (23) of similar lateral extentto said apron (24), so asto be presentable in not less than two different guises.

2. Awraparound skirt (26) as defined in Claim 1, wherein said pleated panel (23) is reversibly finished to have a first pattern (12, 14) on the obverse face (20) thereof and a second pattern (14) different from said first pattern on the reverse face (22), whereby a skirt (26) is presentable in not less than three different guises.

3. Awraparound skirt (26) as defined in Claim 1, wherein said pleated panel (23) and said apron (24) are unitarilyformed.

4. Awraparound skirt (26) as defined in Claim 1, wherein said apron (24) locates on the right hand side of said pleated panel (23) when viewed from the obverse face (20) of the garment.

5. Awraparound skirt (26) comprising a pleated panel (23); an apron (24); said pleated panel (23) and said apron (24) being interconnected at one lateral side thereof lengthwise of the skirt (26), the other lateral side of said pleated panel (23) and said apron (24) being free; a waistband (30) extending along the upper edge of said pleated panel (23) and said apron (24) and connected to said upper edges; said waistband (30) having opposed free ends thereto; fastening means (32,34,36) associated with said waist band (30) adapted to secure said waistband (30) about the waist of a wearer with said apron (24) selectively located in a first position behind a portion of said pleated panel (23) ofthe skirt (26), in which position it is substantially completely hidden from view, so as to give the appearance of a fully pleated skirt, and in a second position in front of a pleated panel portion of said skirt so as to give the appearance of a kilt.

6. Awraparound skirt (26) as defined in Claim 5, wherein said pleated panel (23) and said apron (24) are unitarilyformed.

7. Awraparound skirt (26) as defined in Claim 5, wherein at least said pleated panel (23) is reversibly finished.

8. Awraparound skirt (23) as defined in Claim 5, wherein said apron (24) locates on the right hand side of said pleated panel (23) when viewed from the obverse face of the garment.

9. Awraparound skirt (26) as defined in Claim 5, wherein said apron (24) has a transverse width of approximately one third of the transverse width of the pleated panel (23).

10. Awraparound skirt constructed and arranged substantially as herein particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings.