Method of forming a custom-fitted single seam stretchable fabric skirt

Abstract

A method of forming a custom-fitted single seam stretchable fabric skirt is provided, and a stretchable fabric skirt is provided in accordance with the methodological process.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of forming a custom-fitted single seam stretchable fabric skirt, the method comprising:
 selecting the fabric, by:
 conducting a stretch test to determine whether the fabric stretches at least twice its original dimension, so that the direction of greatest stretch will extend substantially horizontally around an eventual skirt wearer's body when worn; 
   preparing the fabric, by:
 straightening and squaring unfinished raw edges; 
 trimming unfinished raw edges; 
 trimming selvage edges; and, 
 trimming excess fabric beyond what is needed to loosely wrap the fabric completely around the widest part of an eventual skirt wearer's body, and in a manner so as to keep an approximate two-inch lengthwise portion of extra material for seam allowances and just in case adjustments become necessary during the formation of the custom-fitted single seam stretchable fabric skirt; 
   conducting a sew test on the excess fabric to determine fabric behavior in response to addition of fusible stay tape, sewing machine characteristics, individual machine settings, available machine feet, and notions, various needle sizes, and to establish stitch preference;   physically delineating the bottom hem so that the delineation is maintainable through the remaining skirt formation steps;   fitting the waist elastic in correspondence with the waist of the eventual wearer, and removably securing the waist elastic into a fitted condition;   draping the prepared and bottom-hem-delineated stretchable fabric on the body of the person who will eventually wear the skirt by stuffing the unhemmed edge of fabric under the fitted and removably secured waist elastic, as worn around the waist of the eventual wearer of the skirt;
 while the fabric is draped around the eventual skirt wearer:
 making design choices for printed fabrics including which crosswise end of fabric will be a hem edge, where a hemline will be specifically when there is a border print, and marking it, as well as where to locate large design motifs for visual artistry; 
 choosing a location of the single seam of the skirt with respect to the eventual wearer's body and orienting the draped fabric accordingly, so that the seam location is maintained throughout the fitting of the skirt, 
 sliding the fabric up under the waist elastic worn around the eventual wearer's waist, until the physically delineated hem is at a desired height from the floor about the eventual skirt wearer's legs, 
 fitting the single seam by pulling and stretching the fabric until the eventual wearer is satisfied with snugness and fit of the skirt and then pin-marking the single seam while the stretchable fabric is in the fitted condition so that at least two pins, as markers, align vertically above each other forming a line between them corresponding to the desired vertical location range of the single seam, 
 fitting the skirt length by checking to make sure the hemlines on either side of the fitted and pin-marked single seam are aligned and securely located for proper desired length, wherein the hemline is parallel to the floor, and 
 fitting the waistline so as to evenly distribute fullness of skirt around the waist elastic while maintaining positioning for the fitted and pin-marked single seam and fitted skirt length by folding any excess stretchable fabric over the waist elastic and pin-marking by inserting at least two pins horizontally along the fabric fold over the top of the waist elastic; 
 
   removing the stretchable fabric from its draped condition around the eventual wearer;   transferring the pin-marked single seam into a visual seam drawn onto the stretchable fabric, by smoothing the stretchable fabric and aligning the physically delineated hem along a straight line and then drawing the visual seam along the line intersecting the at least two pins of the pin-marked single seam;   trimming excess material outside of secured portions of the single seam allowing for some additional fabric to potentially facilitate final adjustments and also trimming excess material above the pin-marked waistline leaving enough material to form a waist casing for the waist elastic;   placing the fitted stretchable material around the eventual wearer again;   making final fitting adjustments to skirt length, single seam as located on the skirt, and waistline placement, as needed;   removing any excess stretchable fabric, after final fitting adjustments, by removing the fitted waist elastic and sliding fitted skirt down off of the body of the eventual wearer;   sewing the single seam, as finally adjusted and in accordance with sewing machine settings, adjustments and stitch preference as determined by the fabric characteristics and stitching behavior resulting from the sew test;   sewing the bottom hem as finally adjusted and fitted and also in accordance with the fabric characteristics and stitching determinations resulting from the sew test; and,   reintroducing the previously fitted waist elastic and sewing the waist elastic with a corresponding casing, as finally adjusted and custom fitted to the shape of the eventual wearer of the stretchable fabric single seam skirt.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the skirt includes a liner. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the waist casing template is formed to conform to a wearer having a high waist. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the waist casing template is formed to conform to a wearer having an uneven waist. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the skirt is formed as a mini length skirt. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the skirt is formed as a midi length skirt. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the skirt is formed as a maxi length skirt. 
     
     
         8 . A method of forming a custom-fitted single seam stretchable fabric skirt, the method comprising:
 providing fabric that stretches more than twice its original dimension;   trimming excess fabric beyond what is needed to loosely wrap the fabric completely around the widest part of an eventual skirt wearer's body;   physically delineating the bottom hem of the skirt;   fitting the waist elastic in correspondence with the waist of the eventual wearer;   wrapping the fabric around the lower body of the person who will eventually wear the skirt by placing the unhemmed edge of fabric under the waist elastic, as worn around the waist of the eventual wearer of the skirt;   sliding the fabric up under the waist elastic worn around the eventual wearer's waist, until the physically delineated hem is at a desired height from the ground about the eventual skirt wearer's legs;   pulling and stretching the fabric until the eventual wearer is satisfied with snugness and fit of the skirt and then pin-marking the single seam while the stretchable fabric is in the fitted condition so that at least two pins, as markers, align vertically above each other forming a line between them;   checking to make sure the hemlines on either side of the single fitted and pin-marked single seam are aligned and securely located for proper desired length;   distributing fabric around the waist elastic and folding any excess stretchable fabric over the waist elastic and pin-marking at least two pins horizontally along the fabric fold over the top of the waist elastic;   removing the stretchable fabric from its wrapped condition around the eventual wearer;   aligning the physically delineated hem along a straight line and then drawing a visual seam along the line intersecting the at least two pins of the pin-marked single seam;   trimming excess material outside of marked portions of the single seam allowance and also above the pin-marked waistline;   placing the fitted stretchable material around the eventual wearer again;   making final fitting adjustments to skirt length, single seam location and waistline placement, as needed;   removing the fitted waist elastic and sliding fitted skirt down off of the body of the eventual wearer;   sewing the single seam, the bottom hem and the waist elastic with a corresponding casing, as finally adjusted and custom fitted to the shape of the eventual wearer of the stretchable fabric single seam skirt   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the skirt includes a liner. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the waist casing template is formed to conform to a wearer having a high waist. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the waist casing template is formed to conform to a wearer having an uneven waist. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the skirt is formed as a mini length skirt. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the skirt is formed as a midi length skirt. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the skirt is formed as a maxi length skirt. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the skirt is formed to include a box pleat. 
     
     
         16 . A stretchable fabric skirt, the skirt formed in accordance with a process comprising the steps of:
 providing stretchable fabric that stretches at least twice its dimension, so that the direction of greatest stretch will extend substantially horizontally around an eventual skirt wearer's body when worn;   straightening and squaring unfinished raw edges;   trimming unfinished raw edges, selvage edges and excess portions of the fabric beyond what is needed to loosely wrap the fabric completely around the widest part of an eventual skirt wearer's body, and in a manner so as to keep an approximate two-inch lengthwise portion of extra material for seam allowances and just in case adjustments become necessary during the formation of the custom-fitted single seam stretchable fabric skirt;   conducting a sew test on the excess fabric to determine fabric behavior in response to sewing machine characteristics and to establish stitch preference;   physically delineating the bottom hem of the skirt so that the delineation is maintainable through the remaining skirt process formation steps;   fitting a waist elastic in correspondence with the waist of the eventual wearer, and removably securing the waist elastic into a fitted condition;   draping the prepared and bottom-hem-delineated stretchable fabric on the body of the person who will eventually wear the skirt by placing the unhemmed edge of fabric under the fitted and secured waist elastic, as worn around the waist of the eventual wearer of the skirt;
 while the fabric is draped around the eventual skirt wearer:
 choosing a location of the single seam of the skirt with respect to the eventual wearer's body and orienting the draped fabric accordingly, so that the seam location is maintained throughout the fitting of the skirt, 
 setting a desired hem location by sliding the fabric up under the waist elastic worn around the eventual wearer's waist, until the physically delineated hem is at a desired height from the ground about the eventual skirt wearer's legs, 
 fitting the single seam by pulling and stretching the fabric until the eventual wearer is satisfied with snugness and fit of the skirt and then pin-marking the single seam while the stretchable fabric is in the fitted condition so that at least two pins, as markers, align vertically above each other forming a line between them corresponding to the desired vertical location range of the single seam, 
 fitting the skirt length by checking to make sure the hemlines on either side of the single fitted and pin-marked single seam are aligned and securely located for proper desired length, wherein the hemline is parallel to the floor, and 
 fitting the waistline so as to evenly distribute fullness of skirt around the waist elastic while maintaining positioning for the fitted and pin-marked single seam and fitted skirt length by folding any excess stretchable fabric over the waist elastic and pin-marking by inserting at least two pins horizontally along the fabric fold over the top of the waist elastic; 
 
   removing the stretchable fabric from its draped condition around the eventual wearer;   transferring the pin-marked single seam into a visual seam drawn onto the stretchable fabric, by smoothing the stretchable fabric and aligning the physically delineated hem along a straight line and then drawing the visual seam along the line intersecting the at least two pins of the pin-marked single seam;   trimming excess material outside of marked portions of the single seam allowing for some additional fabric to potentially facilitate final adjustments and also trimming excess material above the pin-marked waistline leaving enough material to form a waist casing for the waist elastic;   placing the fitted stretchable material around the eventual wearer again;   making final fitting adjustments to skirt length, single seam location and waistline placement, as needed;   removing any excess stretchable fabric, after final fitting adjustments, by removing the fitted waist elastic and sliding fitted skirt down off of the body of the eventual wearer;   sewing the single seam, as finally adjusted and fitted and in accordance with sewing machine settings, adjustments and stitch preference as determined by the fabric characteristics and stitching behavior resulting from the sew test;   sewing the bottom hem as finally adjusted and fitted and also in view of the fabric characteristics and stitching determinations resulting from the sew test; and,   reintroducing the previously fitted waist elastic and sewing the waist elastic with a corresponding casing, as finally adjusted and custom fitted to the shape of the eventual wearer of the stretchable fabric single seam skirt.   
     
     
         17 . The product of the process of  claim 15 , wherein the skirt includes a liner. 
     
     
         18 . The product of the process of  claim 15 , wherein the skirt includes a kick pleat. 
     
     
         19 . The product of the process of  claim 15 , wherein the skirt is a mini length skirt. 
     
     
         20 . The product of the process of  claim 15 , wherein the skirt fabric includes a large design motif.