Method and System for Automatic Appliqué Design

Abstract

A automatic appliqué system and method including a user input element configured to receive a selection of an alignment stitch pattern, an attachment stitch pattern and a border stitch pattern, a processor executing a set of instructions and a sewing element being controlled by the processor based on the set of instructions to sew the alignment stitch pattern into a base material, sew the attachment stitch pattern aligned over the alignment pattern of the top material thereby attaching the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern and sew the border stitch pattern around the edges of the top material.

1 . A method, comprising:
 sewing, by a sewing means, an alignment stitch pattern into a base material;   sewing, by the sewing means, an attachment stitch pattern into a top material that covers the alignment stitch pattern, the attachment stitch pattern attaches the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern; and   sewing, by the sewing means, a border stitch pattern around the edges of the top material.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the attachment stitch pattern is a substantial duplicate pattern of the alignment stitch pattern. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a portion of the base material that receives the alignment stitch pattern is loaded in an embroidery hoop. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the sewing is performed by automatically moving the embroidery hoop within an embroidery unit of a computerized sewing machine. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the border stitch pattern is a high-density stitch pattern. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the border stitch pattern is a repeating design of shapes that substantially alters a shape of the top material as defined by the attachment stitch pattern. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving input from a user to select a shape of the of the alignment stitch pattern and attachment stitch pattern.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the shape of the stitch patterns are selected from a plurality of pre-programmed stitch patterns stored in a computer memory. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 receiving input from the user to modify the selected one of the pre-programmed stitch patterns.   
     
     
         10 . A automatic appliqué system, comprising:
 a user input element configured to receive a selection of an alignment stitch pattern, an attachment stitch pattern and a border stitch pattern; 
 a processor executing a set of instructions corresponding to the selection received by the user input element; and 
 a sewing element being controlled by the processor based on the set of instructions to sew the alignment stitch pattern into a base material, sew the attachment stitch pattern aligned over the alignment pattern of the top material thereby attaching the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern and sew the border stitch pattern around the edges of the top material. 
 
     
     
         11 . The automatic appliqué system of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a memory storing sets of instructions corresponding to each of a plurality of pre-programmed stitch patterns, wherein the alignment, attachment and border stitch patterns are included in the plurality of pre-programmed stitch patterns. 
 
     
     
         12 . The automatic appliqué system of  claim 10 , wherein a portion of the base material that receives the alignment stitch pattern is loaded in an embroidery hoop. 
     
     
         13 . The automatic appliqué system of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 an embroidery unit that automatically moves the embroidery hoop within the sewing unit. 
 
     
     
         14 . The automatic appliqué system of  claim 10 , wherein the border stitch pattern is a high-density stitch pattern. 
     
     
         15 . The automatic appliqué system of  claim 10 , wherein the border stitch pattern is a repeating design of shapes that substantially alters a shape of the top material as defined by the attachment stitch pattern. 
     
     
         16 . The automatic appliqué system of  claim 10 , wherein the sewing of the stitch patterns is performed by a computerized sewing machine. 
     
     
         17 . The automatic appliqué system of  claim 11 , wherein the user input element is further configured to receive input from the user to modify the selected one of the pre-programmed stitch patterns. 
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including a set of instructions that are executable by a processor, the set of instructions being operable at least to:
 receive a first selection of an alignment stitch pattern;   instruct a sewing machine to sew the alignment stitch pattern onto a base material;   receive a second selection of an attachment stitch pattern the attachment stitch pattern being a substantial duplicate pattern of the alignment stitch pattern;   instruct the sewing machine to sew the attachment stitch pattern into the top material, attaching the top material to the base material, wherein after sewing the attachment stitch pattern a portion of the top material extends beyond an area bounded by the attachment stitch pattern such that the portion of the top material is to be trimmed to form edges of the top material in the area of the attachment stitch pattern; and   instruct the sewing machine to sew a border stitch pattern around edges of the top material.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein the instructions are further operable to:
 instruct an embroidery unit to move an embroidery hoop including a portion of the base material within a sewing area of the sewing machine.   
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein the computer readable storage medium and the processor are included as components of the sewing machine.