Frilled bag

Abstract

A frilled panel, with frills extending from the top and/or bottom edges, that is attached to a panel of a bag as decoration. A cutter is used to produce cuts that form the frills.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to shopping and gift bags, and, more particularly, to an accessory for attachment to a bag.

BACKGROUND

Shopping and gift bags are available in various dimensions, colors, styles and materials, including (but not limited to) paper or plastic. Many have a rectangular bag compartment with an open top and U-shaped handles extending from the top front and back edges. The outside panels of the bags may be colored, with our without patterns, letters, words and other informational or design elements.

Such bags are widely available in the marketplace. Mass produced using bag manufacturing equipment and readily available materials, such bags are relatively inexpensive. While the manufacturing process minimizes cost, it also limits the features that may be incorporated into a bag. For example, conventional manufacturing processes do not allow texturing, e.g., ruffling or frilling, bag features. Even if the equipment to incorporate such features into a convention bag existed, manufacturers loathe modifying their manufacturing line for a particular customer.

What is needed is a method and article for adding frills and ruffles to a bag, without changing the bag manufacturing process. To be cost effective and practical, the article must not only be aesthetically pleasing, but must also be readily attachable to a conventional bag and suitable for mass production.

The invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems and solving one or more of the needs as set forth above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To solve one or more of the problems set forth above, in an exemplary implementation of the invention, a frill strip for decorating a bag includes a flat or folded sheet of material with frills cut on an edge. An adhesive applied at the time of attachment, or an adhesive strip, or a mechanical fastener such as a clip, or magnetic fastener, or a glue, such as a microwave cured glue, or other attachment means now known or hereafter developed, is provided along the spine to facilitate attachment to a panel of a bag. A cutter is used to produce cuts that form frills. A filled panel, with frills extending from the top and bottom edges of the panel, may also be formed and attached to a panel of the bag.

Another exemplary frill sheet includes a plurality of adjoined folded sheets, each having opposite frilled edges and an intermediate spine separating the frilled edges. The filled edges overlap without concealing lower frilled edge layers. A plurality of the resulting assembly, a “frill tile,” can be overlapped and affixed to a panel of a bag.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other aspects, objects, features and advantages of the invention will become better understood with reference to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings, where:

FIGS. 1 and 11 are perspective views of an exemplary bag adorned with exemplary frill panels according to principles of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an exemplary frill panel with optional exemplary adhesive strips according to principles of the invention; and

FIGS. 3 and 12 are perspective views of an exemplary frill sheet according to principles of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a side view of a plurality of exemplary frill sheets with adhesive sandwiched between sheet layers according to principles of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a plurality of exemplary frill sheets with adhesive sandwiched between sheet layers according to principles of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an exemplary overlapping frill strip comprised of folded layers of frill sheets with adhesive sandwiched between sheet layers according to principles of the invention; and

FIG. 7 is another perspective view of an exemplary overlapping frill strip comprised of folded layers of frill sheets with adhesive sandwiched between sheet layers according to principles of the invention; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a plurality of exemplary overlapping frill strips, each comprised of folded layers of frill sheets with adhesive sandwiched between sheet layers according to principles of the invention; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a bag adorned with a plurality of exemplary overlapping frill strips, each comprised of folded layers of frill sheets with adhesive sandwiched between sheet layers according to principles of the invention; and

FIG. 10 is a front view of a bag adorned with a plurality of exemplary overlapping frill strips, each comprised of folded layers of frill sheets with adhesive sandwiched between sheet layers according to principles of the invention; and

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the figures are not intended to be drawn to any particular scale; nor are the figures intended to illustrate every embodiment of the invention. The figures illustrate exemplary embodiments, which are non-limiting examples of embodiments that incorporate one or more features of the invention. Some of the figures illustrate optional features. The invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments depicted in the figures or the specific components, configurations, shapes, relative sizes, ornamental aspects or proportions as shown in the figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

By way of example and not limitation, the material may comprise tissue paper, crepe paper, some other paper or thin plastic sheet or textile that is suitable for cutting to form frills. The strip may represent a portion of a roll of material or an isolated strip.

As used herein, a frill is a feature of a decorative border comprised of a plurality of adjacent narrow strands, that are comparatively long, usually of uniform width, attached to and extending from a root opposite the decorative border. The frills may be bent or curled in various directions and radii to provide a full 3-dimensional decorative fluffy garland. The frills may have various shapes, including, but not limited to generally rectangular, flower petal shaped, or other naturally occurring or geometric shapes or combinations thereof, without departing from the scope of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an exemplary frill panel according to principles of the invention.

FIGS. 1, 2, and 11 are perspective views of an exemplary bag 200 adorned with frill panels 100 and a frill panel 100 according to principles of the invention. A frill panel 100 is sized to fit over the front and back panels 202, 204 of a bag 200 with the frills extending above the top edges of the panels 202, 204. In use, the frills may extend substantially above the edge of the bag, and may be ruffled with various curvatures and bends.

The frill panel 100 is either a wide frill strip attachable to a bag or a panel having a plurality of frill strips attached to it. By way of example, one or more frill strips 105 may be attached to a substrate 110 to form the frill panel. The substrate 110 may be a paper, cardboard, plastic, textile, woven or nonwoven, sheet. A plurality of adhesive strips 112, 114, 116 are provided for attaching the frill panel 100 to a panel of the bag 200. In another implementation, adhesive may be applied to the panel of a bag to define a point of attachment. The adhesive may be pre-applied or applied at the time of attachment. In the case of pre-application, the adhesive may include a removable backing

Referring now to FIG. 3, a perspective view of an exemplary frill sheet according to principles of the invention is shown. The sheet 201 includes opposite frilled edges 210, 215. The sheet 201 may be a portion of a long strip of material on which frilled edges 210, 215 are formed using any of the methods described above. An unfilled strip 220 known as a spine separates the frilled edges 210, 215. Layers of sheets 201, 202, 203, 204 may be adhesively joined together by intermediate adhesive strips 220, 221, 222, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The adhesively joined sheets 201, 202, 203, 204 may by offset so that their centerlines do not align. In such a configuration, the frilled edges 210, 211, 212, 215, 216, 217 overlap without concealing lower frill edge layers, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The resulting assembly is referred to as a frill tile 300. Though a portion of a spine 220 is exposed on the front side of the frill tile shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the entire spine 220 may be removed from sight at the front side of the panel by adjusting relative alignment of the sheet 201.

Now referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, a plurality of frill tiles 300, 301, 302 and 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305 are arranged in overlapping fashion to provide overlays 310 and 315. The overlays may be configured to cover one or more panels of a bag, such as the bag conceptually illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10. While a plurality of fringe tiles are illustrated, the invention is not limited to a plurality. Rather, one or more fringe tiles may be used in accordance with the principles of the invention.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. (canceled)

3. (canceled)

4. (canceled)

5. (canceled)

6. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

8. (canceled)

9. A frilled bag comprising

a bag structure comprised of including a front sheet, a back sheet and a top opening, said bag structure defining a receptacle between the front sheet and back sheet, said receptacle being accessible through the top opening,

a frill panel comprising a panel having a front surface, a back surface, and a three dimensional decorative element formed in a portion of said panel, and an attachment between the back surface of the panel and the bag structure, said attachment attaching the frill panel to one of the front sheet and back sheet of the bag structure.

10. A frilled bag according to claim 9, said attachment comprising an adhesive.

11. A frilled bag according to claim 9, said attachment comprising a magnet.

12. A frilled bag according to claim 9, said attachment comprising a mechanical fastener.

13. A frilled bag according to claim 9, said three dimensional decorative element comprising a plurality of adjacent narrow strands defined by a plurality of adjacent cuts in the panel.

14. A frilled bag according to claim 13, said adjacent narrow strands being curled strands.

15. A frilled bag according to claim 9, said frill panel comprising one frill panel of a plurality of frill panels, each of said plurality of frill panels being attached to at least one of the front sheet and back sheet.

16. A frilled bag according to claim 15, said plurality of frill panels including overlapping frill panels.

17. A frilled bag according to claim 15, said plurality of frill panels including overlapping frill panels, wherein overlapping frill panels include an upper panel with a top edge and a bottom edge and a lower panel with a top edge and a bottom edge, the bottom edge of the top panel overlaying the top edge of the lower panel.

18. A frilled bag according to claim 15, said plurality of frill panels including adjacent frill panels.

19. A frilled bag according to claim 15, said plurality of frill panels including abutting frill panels.

20. A frilled bag according to claim 9, said three dimensional decorative element comprising a plurality of overlapping sheets folded along a fold line, each sheet having a pair of free edges disposed apart from the fold line, and the free edges including cuts orthogonal to the free edges to form a plurality of strands.

21. A frilled bag according to claim 20, the fold line not being midway between the free edges.

22. A frill panel for a bag structure,

said bag structure comprised of including a front sheet, a back sheet and a top opening, said bag structure defining a receptacle between the front sheet and back sheet, said receptacle being accessible through the top opening,

said frill panel comprising a panel having a front surface, a back surface, and a three dimensional decorative element formed in a portion of said panel, and an attachment between the back surface of the panel and the bag structure, said attachment attaching the frill panel to one of the front sheet and back sheet of the bag structure.

23. A frill panel for a bag according to claim 22, said attachment comprising an adhesive.

24. A frill panel for a bag according to claim 22, said attachment comprising a magnet.

25. A frill panel for a bag according to claim 22, said attachment comprising a mechanical fastener.

26. A frill panel for a bag according to claim 22, said said plurality of strands being adjacent narrow curled strands.

27. A frill panel for a bag according to claim 22, said frill panel comprising a plurality of overlapping sheets folded along a fold line, each sheet having a pair of free edges disposed apart from the fold line, and the free edges including cuts orthogonal to the free edge to form the plurality of strands, said plurality of strands comprising the three dimensional decorative element.

28. A frill panel for a bag according to claim 27, the fold line not being midway between the free edges.