Disposable/Reuseable Baptismal Garment

Abstract

This garment is for wear by males and females alike during water baptism by immersion. The garment is a white, one-piece garment which is put on by slipping it over the wearer's head and putting the arms through the short sleeves. The garment has four openings—one each for the head, torso and each arm. Each opening is reinforced by seam binding in order to retard any stretching or tearing.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/574,677, filed Aug. 08, 2011.

This garment is for wear by males and females alike during water baptism by immersion. The garment is a white, one-piece garment which is put on by slipping it over the wearer's head and putting the arms through the short sleeves. The garment has four openings—one each for the head, torso and each arm. Each opening is reinforced by seam binding in order to retard any stretching or tearing.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Practiced for thousands of years in Christianity, water baptism by immersion continues to be an essential part of conversion to the faith or thousands of churches around the world. Just as water baptism by submersion is integral to one's conversion, modesty for men and particularly women while doing so is of equal importance. For many, many years, one of the greatest difficulties in baptizing the candidate has been finding a way to keep the wet garment from exposing any facet of the candidate's physiology. Generally, when fabrics are wet, they tend to ding to the skin. Various methods of dress (such as wearing multiple layers, one very thick layer, etc.) have been employed to address the problem, but to no avail; if the fabric is too thick, the fabric will usually absorb so much water that the candidate has experienced great difficulty in exiting the baptismal pool due to the weight of the water-laden garment, and if there are several layers of fabric used, each layer absorbs water, causing a similar effect. This garment, however, has been made of a fabric that addresses all of these issues excellently (even down to its white color, which is preferred during baptism as it represents the purity and cleanness of heart and soul with which the candidate will emerge after baptism), to the point that it solves all of these age-old concerns. The size of the garment also meets the need of churches to be able to use a one-size-fits-most garment for baptism in that during a time of baptizing several people during one service, there is the ease of simply taking the first garment of a group and knowing that, regardless of whom it is handed to, it will fit and fully address any modesty concerns, which saves time and makes the experience much more seamless for the candidates as well as the baptismal attendants.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

This baptismal garment is constructed with flannel-backed/expanded vinyl (hereinafter referred to as “flannel-backed vinyl”). It is a lightweight, completely opaque, completely cling-free and highly water-repellant material affords the wearer several varied comforts. Its opaqueness and strong tendency not to cling to the wearer address the issue of modesty.

The material's ability to repel water also allows the garment to remain lightweight, hence there is no added water-weight for the person performing the baptism nor the wearer to bear when coming up out of the water and exiting the baptismal pool. The openings for the neck, sleeve and torso are large enough that the water simply flows through so billowing of the fabric is minimalized. Since the flannel is permanently fused to the back of the vinyl, it does not separate when wet and its softness keeps the wearer a bit warmer than they would normally be as well as keeping the candidate from being scratched by the vinyl. Flannel-backed vinyl does not stretch, give or change its shape when wet. It should be noted that though the garment will be used with a pair of scrub pants to be worn under the garment (simply for aesthetic purposes and an added measure of modesty), the scrub pants are not a necessity as the garment covers all necessary areas completely. Since flannel-backed vinyl is subject to extreme heat, the garment is to be hand-washed and drip-dried; it is not to be washed in a washing machine nor dried in a dryer. Due to the hearty sturdiness of this material, which is usually used to make Water-repellent table cloths, the garment may be reused multiple times as long as the care instructions are strictly followed, or it may be discarded after the initial use.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a frontal view of the garment indicating its shape and openings as well as the flannel-backed vinyl fabric and placement of seam binding.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The neck opening 20, armholes 30, and bottom 40 are edged with seam binding. The garment has two seams 50 which run along the arm and the length of each side. The garment is made of vinyl 60 with a fused flannel backing 70.

Claims

1. I claim that this garment has been made of a fabric that addresses all of the aforementioned issues excellently (even down to its white color, which is preferred during baptism as it represents the purity and cleanness of heart and soul with which the candidate will emerge after baptism), to the point that it solves all of these age-old concerns: The size of the garment also meets the need of churches to be able to use a one-size-fits-most garment for baptism in that during a time of baptizing several people during one service, there is the ease of simply taking the first garment of a group and knowing that, regardless of whom it is handed to, it will fit and fully address any modesty concerns, which saves time and makes the experience much more seamless for the candidates as well as the baptismal attendants.