Quilted elastic composite fabric

Claim 2

A quilted composite fabric having a thickness of at least 6 mm, a unit weight of at least 75 g/m 2 , a density of no greater than 0.05 g/cm 3 and stretchability of at least 25% in at least one direction, the composite fabric comprising a gathered fibrous layer, an elastic fabric layer containing elastic spandex fiber which amounts to between 1/2 and 10% of the weight of the elastic fabric layer and no more than 5% of the total weight of the quilted composite, the layers being quilted with thread that forms spaced-apart patterns of stitches extending along the composite fabric.

Claim 3

A quilted composite fabric of claim 1, wherein the elastic fabric layer is a multi-needle stitched nonwoven fabric in which the stitching thread is an elastic thread that forms parallel patterns of stitches along the elastic fabric layer, the parallel stitch patterns havinq a spacing of 2 to 10 parallel stitch patterns per centimeter and the stitch spacing being in the range of 2 to 15 per centimeter, the unit weight of the elastic fabric layer amounting to no more than one-half of the total weight of the composite fabric.

Claim 4

A quilted complosite fabric of claim 2 wherein elastic thread is made of a spandex polymer.

Claim 5

A quilted composite fabric of claim 2 or 3 wherein the gathered fibrous layer is formed from a carded staple fiber batt which is quilted to and located between two of the elastic fabric layers.

Claim 6

A quilted composite fabric of claim 3 or 4 wherein a woven or knitted outer layer is included in the quilted composite fabric.

Claim 7

A process for producing a quilted elastic composite fabric comprising the steps of: providing a fabric layer containing latently elastic fibers which amount to between 1/2 to 10% by weight of the fabric layer, quilt-stitching the fabric layer to a web of substantially nonbonded fibers with quilt-stitching patterns that are spaced in the range of 12 to 200 mm apart to form a quilted composite, with the thusly formed quilted composite in a relaxed condition, activating the latently elastic fibers sufficiently to provide to the resultant quilted composite fabric a stretchability of at least 25% in at least one direction and a density of no greater than 0.05g/cm 3 .

Claim 8

A process for producing a quilted elastic composite fabric comprising the steps of: providing a fabric layer containing latently elastic fibers which amount to between 1/2 to 10% by weight of the fabric layer, quilt-stitching the fabric layer to a web of substantially nonbonded fibers with quilt-stitching patterns that are spaced in the range of 12 to 200 mm apart to form a quilted composite, with the thusly formed quilted composite in a relaxed condition, activating the latently elastic fibers sufficiently to provide to the resultant quilted composite fabric a stretchability of at least 25% in at least one direction and a density of no greater than 0.05g/cm 3 .

Claim 9

A process of claim 6 wherein the latently elastic fibers are spandex fibers whose elastic characteristics are activated by heating the quilted composite fabric at a temperature of at least 70° C. for a sufficient time to shrink the spandex fibers and reduce the fabric area by at least 25% while increasing its thickness at least 2.5 times

Claim 10

A process of claim 7 wherein the heat treatment is at a temperature of at least 1OO° C. and the thickness increases at least 10-fold.