Narrow elastic fabric

Claim 1

A narrow elastic fabric suitable for use as a waistband for an article of apparel comprising: transversely extending monofilament filling yarns having a denier of from 400 to 2,000 to provide stiffness in the transverse direction of the fabric, said filling yarns woven with a set of longitudinally extending warp yarns, said set of warp yarns having a longitudinally extending center portion and two longitudinally extending edge portions, said center portion having a plurality of elastic yarns having a spandex core wrapped with a yarn that is set in its wrapped configuration, at least some of said elastic yarns being leno woven with nonelastic warp yarns with the leno woven elastic yarns on the face surface and the leno woven nonelastic yarns on the back surface of the fabric whereby the fabric has a transverse concave configuration, said center portion also having nonelastic yarns woven in a plain weave, said edge portions of said fabric comprising texturized yarns whereby the fabric has smooth and soft longitudinal edges, said fabric having from 5 percent to 50 percent elongation in the longitudinal direction, a uniform modulus of elasticity of from 1 to 5 pounds per inch of width at 15 percent elongation and having less than 3 percent shrinkage when washed or dry cleaned.