Abstrict A functionally coordinated nursing slip and nursing bra enable
a working mother to breast feed her infant without having to make
any indecorous motions that attract unwanted attention, in order
to adjust her nursing undergarments. This is accomplished without
affecting the stylishness, strap adjustability, or concealment otherwise
provided by the slip. Similarly, the functionality of the nursing
bra is not reduced. The coordination arrangement allows the opened
slip to be fully supported by the nursing bra. The opened slip parts
are retained handily by the coordinated bra so that reclosure is
easily done. Thus all need for the mother to seek total privacy
in nursing is eliminated, and she can nurse around other persons
with minimal embarassment.
Claims I claim:
1. A coordinated nursing slip, for breast feeding an infant while
wearing a subjacent coordinated nursing bra having features that
are harmoniously complementary to said slip, in order to allow
(a) convenient and decorous simultaneous opening of the bosom of
the slip and the nursing flap of the bra as a unit, and
(b) support of the opened slip by the bra, and
(c) handy retention of the opened slip shoulder strap front end,
so as to prevent it from becoming inadvertently lost during nursing,
and
(d) easy reclosure of the unitary slip bosom and nursing flap,
comprising:
a slip with
openable strap fastening mens for attaching the front end of each
shoulder strap of said slip to the corresponding apex of the bosom
of said slip or to a bra retaining location, and
second fastening means for attaching the inside of said bosom just
below each apex of said bosom to the outside of the corresponding
nursing flap of said subjacent bra just below the closure clasp
of said flap.
2. A coordinated nursing slip according to claim 1 wherein said
second fastening means is permanent, such as stitching or equivalent.
3. A coordinated nursing slip according to claim 1 wherein said
second fastening means is separable, using a hook-loop type fastener
patch or equivalent.
4. A coordinated nursing slip according to claim 2 or 3 wherein
said openable strap fastening means is a locking-plug to push-to-release-socket
type of fastener such as Bonnie.RTM. or equivalent.
5. A coordinated nursing bra, for breast feeding an infant while
wearing a superjacent coordinated nursing slip having features that
are harmoniously complementary to said bra, in order to allow
(a) convenient and decorous simultaneous opening of the bosom of
the slip and the nursing flap of the bra as a unit, and
(b) support of the opened slip by the bra, and
(c) handy retention of the opened slip shoulder strap front end,
so as to prevent it from becoming inadvertently lost during nursing,
and
(d) easy reclosure of the unitary slip bosom and nursing flap,
comprising:
a nursing bra with
fastening means for attaching the outside of each nursing flap
of said bra just below the closure clasp of said flap to the inside
of the bosom of said superjacent slip just below the corresponding
apex of said bosom.
6. A coordinated nursing bra according to claim 5 wherein said
fastening means is permanent, such as stitching or equivalent.
7. A coordinated nursing bra according to claim 5 wherein said
fastening means in separable, using a hook-loop type fastener patch
or equivalent.
8. A coordinated nursing bra according to claim 6 or 7 further
comprising:
retaining means for attaching each closure clasp strap of said
bra to the front end of the adjacent shoulder strap of said superjacent
slip, such that each of said closure clasp straps of said bra becomes
a handy slip shoulder strap retaining location.
9. A coordinated nursing bra according to claim 6 or 7 wherein
the closure clasp of each nursing flap of said bra is the same device
as the openable strap fastening means of said superjacent slip,
such that each nursing flap closure clasp anchor location on said
bra becomes a handy slip strap retaining location, and the front
end of each shoulder strap of said superjacent slip can then be
connected either to the corresponding apex of the bosom of said
slip, or to replace the adjacent closed nursing flap of said bra
when said adjacent nursing flap is opened to nurse.
10. A coordinated nursing bra according to claim 8 wherein said
retaining mens is a locking-plug to push-to-release-socket type
of fastener such as Bonnie.RTM. or equivalent.
11. A coordinated nursing bra according to claim 9 wherein said
closure clasp of said bra and said openable strap fastening means
of said slip are locking-plug to push-to-release-socket type of
fasteners such as Bonnie.RTM. or equivalent.
12. A nursing slip, for breast feeding an infant while wearing
a subjacent nursing bra, with features to allow
(a) convenient opening of the bosom of the slip to access the nursing
flaps of the bra, and
(b) handy retention of the opened shoulder strap front end, so
as to prevent it from becoming inadvertently lost during nursing,
comprising
a slip with
openable strap fastening means for attaching the front end of each
shoulder strap of said slip either to the corresponding apex of
the bosom of said slip, or to an alternate retaining location at
the closure clasp strap of said subjacent bra.
13. A nursing slip according to claim 12 wherein said openable
strap fastening means is the same device as the closure clasp of
each nursing flap of said subjacent bra, such that each nursing
flap closure clasp anchor location on said bra becomes a handy slip
strap retaining location, and the front end of each shoulder strap
of said slip can then be connected either to the corresponding apex
of the bosom of said slip, or to replace the adjacent closed nursing
flap of said bra when said adjacent nursing flap is opened to nurse.
14. A nursing slip according to claim 13 wherein said openable
strap fastening means of said slip and the closure clasp of each
nursing flap of said subjacent bra are locking-plug to push-to-release
socket type of fasteners such as Bonnie.RTM. are equivalent.
15. A coordinated nursing slip according to claim 2 or 3 wherein
said openable strap fastening means is the same device as the closure
clasp of each nursing flap of said subjacent bra, such that each
nursing flap closure clasp anchor location on said bra becomes a
handy slip strap retaining location, and the front end of each shoulder
strap of said slip can be then be connected either to the corresponding
apex of the bosom of said slip, or to replace the adjacent closed
nursing flap of said bra when said adjacent nursing flap is opened
to nurse.
Description BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the clothing arts, and particularly
to a novel slip and bra which are coordinated to enable a working
or socially active mother to nurse her baby in semi-public surroundings
with minimal social embarassment. The attention-attracting problems
of conventional commercially available undergarments are eliminated
by the invention.
2. Prior Art
A serious and currently unsolved problem exists today for the many
mothers who want to wear fashionable clothes to actively participate
in business and social affairs, and who also wish to be able to
nurse their infants conveniently. There are nursing bras and nursing
nightgowns, but no other nursing undergarments are commercially
available for a working mother.
A most serious deficiency is the lack of a nursing slip or camisole.
With a conventional slip, a mother has to pull a regular slip shoulder
strap down over her shoulder quite a distance in order to nurse
her baby. This is virtually impossible with some kinds of outerwear
sleeves, and the action is always awkward and uncomfortable, as
it is accomplished only with a lot of indecorous motions that invariably
attract attention.
The option of simply not wearing a slip is not always available.
This short cut is not appropriate with many fashionable clothes.
The use of a half slip is also inappropriate under light-weight
fabrics and knits, and the waistband makes it uncomfortable to wear
after the birth of a child.
Thus there are no suitable alternatives to wearing a slip when
a slip is called for fashionably or practically.
SOCIAL OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTOR
In today's society, nursing mothers need no longer be separated
from other persons in order to nurse a child if a coordinated and
less awkward slip and nursing bra combination were available. A
mother could get ready to go to work, including getting fully dressed,
and then still nurse her baby at the last minute before taking the
child to the babysitter or nursery.
A breast fed baby can have 8-12 ounces of formula given by the
babysitter during the day and still be nursed by the mother otherwise.
This will provide her child with the very valuable natural immunities
and other health benefits of nursing. But to minimize the use of
formula, a mother really needs to be able to modestly nurse her
baby socially on many occasions, as well as in various places, all
of which would be made feasible if quick and non-awkward clothing
adjustments were available. Then others in the vicinity would see
the event as being completely natural, and easily and modestly accomplished.
It would not be a major hassle in any way, as it proves to be with
conventional undergarments. In particular, new undergarment arrangements
are needed to eliminate all of the attention-getting motions connected
with the present requirement to pull the conventional slip shoulder
strap down the arm.
With such new undergarment arrangements, the present need for a
mother to resort to bottle feeding in many places outside the home
can be eliminated. Then the baby can receive all of the physical,
developmental and emotional advantages of breast feeding that numerous
studies have shown to exist.
If an infant is given one or two ounces of formula from the age
of two weeks on, as a break for the mother and for the enjoyment
of the father and other relatives, then the infant will not balk
at being given a daily bottle while the mother works. This perspective
of a more reasonable role for bottle feeding could be achieved if
more children were to be nursed.
Thus this inventor directed her efforts toward new nursing undergarment
arrangements.
PRACTICAL OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTOR
This inventor realized that, as a very practical matter, a nursing
slip should be stylish, with adjustable shoulder straps to shorten
or lengthen the slip to match the lengths of various dresses and
skirts. The nursing feature should be invisible so that it could
be worn as a regular slip after the nursing period is over. Thus
the design of the slip's bosom should not have any visibly obvious
separate nursing flap, as for example, the obvious separate nursing
flap of the nursing bra. In addition, the nursing slip should be
able to conceal the nursing feature or separate flap of a nursing
bra worn underneath.
While it is important to provide for a completely integrated functional
combination of the nursing slip or camisole and nursing bra, it
is also desirable that these undergarments are not permanently tied
together. Then they can be worn separately. There should be no requirement
for a particular nursing bra embodying its coordinated feature to
always be worn with a particular slip that similarly embodies its
own feature of coordination. The system of coordination should be
as simple and unobtrusive as possible, and it should allow the mother
to select from her wardrobe any feature-equipped bra to go with
any feature-equipped slip or camisole, on any occasion.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention allows the coordinated nursing slip and bra to be
worn separately when desired. In combination, the slip bosom and
the bra nursing flap open and close decorously and efficiently as
a unit since they are surface connected. This surface connection
also supports the slip when its shoulder straps are disconnected
to open the unitary bosom. The opened slip shoulder straps are retained
on the bra so that they do not become lost during nursing under
the wearer's clothing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a full length nursing slip according to the present
invention, that has been opened on one side, thereby revealing those
portions of a subjacent coordinated nursing bra also according to
the present invention, that become visible.
FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention in which
the coordinated nursing slip and nursing bra are permanently attached
by stitching.
FIG. 3 depicts the manner in which the present invention can be
retrofitted into a conventional slip and a conventional nursing
bra.
FIG. 4 shows the invention utilizing identical fasteners of the
locking-plug to push-to-release-socket type for both the nursing
slip and the nursing bra clasps. However, the clasps are oriented
identically.
FIG. 5 presents the preferred embodiment, which employs on improved
clasp orientation.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The cloth structure of the slip 1 in FIG. 1 is regular and conventional,
but the slip can also be opened in accordance with this invention
to permit the mother to nurse. The slip is supported by two conventional
shoulder straps 2. Each shoulder strap has a conventional adjustment
fitting 3 to shorten or lengthen the slip. But unlike the regular
slip, detachable clasp fasteners 4 and 5 are shown closed on one
side of the bosom 6 and open on the other side. On the opened side,
the shoulder strap adjustment fitting has slipped out of view behind
the wearer's left shoulder. On the closed side, the slip parts 2
3 4 and 5 completely hide from view the subjacent shoulder strap
of the subjacent nursing bra 7. On the opened side, the bra comes
into view when the apex 8 of the bosom is lowered. The nursing bra
has a nursing flap or drop cup 9 which is opened by detaching the
closure clasp fasteners 10 and 11. The front end of the opened slip
shoulder strap can be handily retained by connecting fasteners 4
and 12 which anchor it to the nursing bra closure clasp strap 13.
When not in use, fastener 12 is kept hidden in an invisible fabric
loop of the closure clasp strap. The nursing bra shoulder strap
14 has its own adjustment fitting 15. The fasteners shown in FIG.
1 as well as the remainder of the figures, are of the locking-plug
(such as 5 on the slip and 11 and 12 on the bra) to push-to-release-socket
(such as 4 on the slip and 10 on the bra) type. There are a great
variety of equivalent fasteners which will work acceptably. But
those of the Bonnie.RTM. type are very convenient, hold well, and
are extremely easy to release by pressing. Note that a small ribbon
loop 16 provides the conventional anchoring to the apex 8 on the
slip, while a similar conventional ribbon loop 29 provides the anchoring
at the apex 30 of the nursing flap 9 of the bra. The closure clasp
strap 13 is attached to the apex 17 of the bra.
A most important connection is made in FIG. 1 between the nursing
flap 9 of the bra and the lowered portion 18 of the bosom of the
slip. This is accomplished on an area-holding basis by means of
hook-loop fastener patches 19 and 20. They are shown separated slightly
for illustrative purposes, and they are smaller than one would use
in practice for drawing convenience. 19 is on the outside of the
subjacent bra, while 20 is on the inside of the superjacent slip
bosom. So that sweaters and knits can be worn over the bra without
a slip, 19 should be a patch of the soft loop type, while 20 becomes
the mating sticky hook type patch. The function of the locked-together
patches is to allow convenient and decorous opening of the bosom
of the slip and the nursing bra flap or drop cup as a unit. Reclosure
of this unitary structure after nursing is also very easy and decorously
accomplished. Furthermore, once the bosom is reclosed, the wearer
does not have to grope around for the shoulder strap end, which
has been positively retained. The patches also allow the bra shoulder
straps to support the slip perfectly during nursing, even though
the slip shoulder straps have been disconnected. Hence reconnection
of the slip shoulder straps is simply done, as the strap is never
too short to reach a fallen slip apex, since the apex is positively
retained and cannot creep down during nursing. The area of the hook-loop
patches can be adjusted to provide the degree of retention required
by the physical characteristics of the wearer. The favored texture
of patch holding surface for this type of undergarment service is
found in Craft Weight Velcro.RTM..
In FIG. 2 the separable hook-loop patch is replaced by permanent
stitching 21. The area around the apex 8 of the bosom is sewn to
the nursing flap or drop cup 9. This makes a unitary flap that is
readily controlled by by the closure clasp locking-plug 11 and the
push-to-release-socket 10. The front end of the slip is held up
by the stitching 21. The obvious disadvantage of this arrangement
is that the slip and bra cannot be worn separately. After the nursing
period is over, the slip is not available without disassembly and
reconstruction, which is required by the cutting of the slip shoulder
strap above the adjustment fitting 15 where it has been attached
to the bra shoulder strap 14 by stitching 22.
FIG. 3 illustrates the retrofitting of the invention into a conventional
slip and a conventional nursing bra. A sewing kit for accomplishing
this would contain hook-loop patches 19 and 20 and a key-ring type
of threadable overlapping split segment ring 23. Referring to FIG.
3 in a conventional slip the ribbon loop 16 at the apex 8 of the
bosom 6 is connected permanently to the slip shoulder strap 2 by
a permanently closed oval or ring that must be cut away and hence
does not appear in the figure. This oval is replaced by the threadable
and removable ring 23 which is shown in FIG. 3 providing the function
of retaining the front end of the slip shoulder strap by anchoring
it to the closure clasp strap 13 of the bra 7. 19 is a looped fastener
patch sewn to the outside of the nursing flap 9 while 20 is the
mating hooked fastener patch sewn on the inside of the lowered portion
18 of the bosom of the slip. 11 is the plug and 10 the push-to-release
socket constituting the nursing flap closure clasp. 14 is the bra
shoulder strap whose length is controlled by adjustment fitting
15. It is easy to reconnect the slip shoulder strap 2 to the slip
ribbon loop 16 using the threadable ring 23 after the unitary flap
has been closed by uniting the closure clasp fasteners 10 and 11.
The hook-loop patches are again shown peeled back for drawing convenience.
In practice, the orientation of the patch corners that is shown,
that of being pointed toward the apexes 8 and 30 is good. In practice,
the apexes are themselves quite pointed, which is hard to show in
the figure. Also, in practice, there need not be much area between
the patch and the border of the nursing flap or the slip bosom around
each apex. While the area of the patch itself can usually be made
much larger than required for holding purposes, ordinarily 3/4 inch
patch squares, situated on the diagonal as illustrated in FIG. 3
are adequate for most retrofit applications. This size of patch
does not damage the slip appearance and, once the nursing period
is over, the slip can again be worn as a regular slip without giving
any suggestion of its earlier function.
Examination of FIG. 4 shows that the push-to-release-socket fastener
10 serves to anchor either the slip shoulder strap plug fastener
4 or the bra nursing flap plug fastener 11. When the flap is closed,
fastener 4 goes into socket 25 to close the unitary bosom created
by the adherence of patches 19 and 20. Note that a twist in the
closure clasp strap 13 is required, which is disadvantageous. This
is caused by the fact that plug fasteners 4 and 11 have the same
orientation with respect to the surface of the wearer's body.
THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIG. 5 which depicts the preferred embodiment, eliminates the
need to twist the closure clasp strap 13 by means of adding a second
socket fastener 28 on the closure clasp strap. Some other fastener
orientations have been altered to illustrate that a number of variations
are possible. Here, the orientations of 26 27 and 28 are opposite
to their counterparts 4 25 and 10 of FIG. 4. The recommended preferred
embodiment fasteners for straps are Bonnie.RTM., while the recommended
hook-loop patches are Craft Weight Velcro.RTM.. Although it is not
recommended and therefore not shown in the preferred embodiment,
the reader will recognize that, given the new orientation of fasteners
26 and 27 fastener 10 will now engage fastener 26 to retain the
slip shoulder strap 2 without any need to twist the closure clasp
strap 13. Thus two closure clasp assemblies are the minimum number
required. There is a distinct advantage of convenience in operation
to have both 28 and 10 present, for then the slip strap can be retained
while the nursing flap is being closed, assuring that the front
end of the shoulder strap will not be lost during that operation.
Also, in practicing the preferred embodiment, one should locate
the hook-loop patches as tightly as possible into the apex regions,
which depends upon the shapes of the nursing flap of the bra and
the bosom of the slip.
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