FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a receptacle for a miniature toy doll and relates particularly, though not necessarily exclusively, to such a receptacle which can be attached to a child's garment so that the child can carry the doll in the receptacle when wearing the garment.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Toy dolls have almost universal appeal and every year millions of dolls are manufactured around the world to satisfy the needs of children everywhere. In some cases, such as the Barbie Doll, toy dolls have become cultural icons. In many cases, when a child receives a doll, the doll acquires an individual identity given to it by the child during play so that the doll acquires a personality or character which is unique to that doll in the eyes of the child. In this way, a child may develop a strong attachment to a particular doll and powerful feelings of affection may be evident in the child's relationship to the doll. To some extent, the strength of the relationship formed with the doll may reflect what doll manufacturers call the "play value" of the doll.

Dolls come in all shapes and sizes, some dolls being made as life-like as possible and others having a distinctly grotesque appearance. Recently, miniature dolls have again become popular and manufacturers have been producing a vast array of miniature doll's accessories intended to enhance the play value of the miniature doll's. Many children, particularly girls, enjoy carrying their doll around with them, especially as the bonds of affection between the doll and the child grow. With larger dolls, the doll may be carried by cradling in the arms, or by using a toy basinet or toy perambulator. However, a miniature doll is less convenient to carry in view of its small size, since it

cannot be easily cradled and it is too small to carry in a toy basinet or perambulator. Therefore, there is a tendency for miniature dolls to become lost or misplaced, due to the child laying the doll aside rather than having to cope with the inconvenience of carrying the doll in an undignified manner. As a consequence, a miniature doll can generally only be carried in the child's fist or in the child's pocket or in its mother's handbag, none of which enhances the dignity and/or affection given to the doll by the child as its relationship with the doll develops. In other words, the inability of the child to carry the doll in a dignified manner tends to have a negative impact on the play value of the doll.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention was developed with a view to providing a receptacle for a miniature toy doll which enables the doll to be carried in a dignified manner.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a receptacle for carrying a miniature toy doll, the receptacle comprising a pocket within which the doll is received, the pocket being adapted to hold the doll in a generally upright position with at least the doll's head visible through an upper opening provided in the pocket.

Preferably the receptacle further comprises means for attaching the pocket to a child's garment whereby the child can carry the doll in the receptacle when wearing the garment. Typically said attaching means comprises a patch of iron-on adhesive whereby the receptacle can be permanently attached to the garment.

in one embodiment the pocket is formed with first and second apertures at a lower end through which the doll's legs can protrude. In another embodiment said pocket comprises a first band of elastic material extending in a generally

horizontal direction across the front of the receptacle and adapted to pass over the torso of the doll . Advantageously a second band of elastic material extends from the first band to a lower edge of the receptacle and is adapted to pass between the legs of the doll.

The pocket may be formed from a flexible material, or preferably a flexible, elastic material such as a stretch fabric. Advantageously said pocket may be sewn from a single piece of stretch fabric.

Preferably said upper opening of the pocket is large enough to allow the doll's arms and upper torso to also be visible when the doll is held in the receptacle. In one form an upper end of the pocket is shaped so as to form a hood over the doll's head with at least the doll's face still clearly visible. In another form the receptacle is designed to have the appearance of a normal pocket of a garment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the nature of the invention a preferred embodiment of the receptacle for carrying a miniature toy doll will now be described in detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front perspective view of a first embodiment of the receptacle with miniature doll received therein;

Figure 2 illustrates the receptacle of Figure 1 with the doll removed;

Figure 3 is a rear perspective view of the receptacle of Figure 1 with the doll received therein;

Figure 4 is a pattern used to cut out the fabric to manufacture the receptacle of Figures 1 to 3;

Figures 5A, 5B, 6A, 6B and 7A, 7B illustrate alternative embodiments of the receptacle without the doll; and,

Figure 8 illustrates an embodiment of a holder in the form of a wall hanging for storing dolls when not in use.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A first embodiment of a receptacle for carrying a miniature toy doll as shown in Figures 1 to 3 comprises an elongate pocket 10 within which the miniature doll 12 is received. The pocket 10 is formed with first and second apertures 14 at a lower end through which the legs of the doll 12 can protrude. Also, as shown in Figure 1, the pocket 10 is shaped so as to hold the doll 12 in a generally upright position with at least the doll's head clearly visible through an upper opening 16 provided towards an upper end of the pocket 10. In this embodiment, the upper opening 16 of the pocket 10 is large enough to allow the doll's arms and upper torso to also be visible when the doll 12 is held in the receptacle as shown in Figure 1. Preferably the upper end of the pocket 10 is shaped so as to form a hood 18 over the doll's head with at least the doll's face clearly visible.

This embodiment of the receptacle further comprises means for attaching the pocket 10 to a child's garment, such as a T- shirt or windcheater, whereby the child can carry the doll 12 in the receptacle when wearing the garment. The attaching means may comprise a patch 20 of iron-on adhesive as shown in Figure 3 , so that the receptacle can be permanently attached to the garment. Alternatively, the attaching means may comprise a strip of hook and loop fastener material, such as that sold under the trade mark VELCRO.

The pocket 10 is preferably manufactured from a flexible material, typically a flexible, elastic material such as stretch fabric of the kind used for manufacturing T-shirts

and other children's garments. However, the pocket may also be manufactured from a moulded plastics material if desired. The embodiment of the receptacle illustrated in Figures 1 to 3 is sewn from a single piece of stretch fabric using the pattern 22 illustrated in Figure 4.

The pattern 22 for the pocket 10 comprises first and second side pieces 24 and a central lower piece 26 which together form the lower end of the pocket 10. The side pieces 24 are folded over and sewn together end to end, and the lower piece 26 is folded upwards and sewn to the band formed by the side pieces 24. Thus the side pieces 24 and lower piece 26 together form the first and second apertures 14 at the lower end of the pocket 10. The upper half of the pattern 22 comprises a pair of wings 28 which are sewn together along seams 30 to form the hood 18 at the upper end of the pocket 10. Darts 32 may be sewn into each wing 28 to give the hood a more rounded hollow shape. Preferably, the pattern 22 is cut to a size and sewn together so that the upper opening 16 and hood 18 must be stretched slightly to receive the miniature doll 12 within the pocket 10 so that the resilient nature of the stretch fabric helps to retain the miniature doll in the pocket 10 in use.

Figures 5A and 5B illustrate a second embodiment 34 of the receptacle for carrying a miniature toy doll. In this embodiment the receptacle 34 comprises a piece of base fabric 36 cut and sewn in the shape of a conventional pocket for a garment. In this embodiment a pocket is formed by a first band 38 of elastic material extending in a generally horizontal direction across the front of the base fabric 36 and sewn at each end to the sides of the base fabric 36. The band 38 is designed to pass over the torso of the doll (not illustrated) when the doll is inserted through an upper opening 40 formed by the first band 38, and due to the resilient nature of the elastic material will hold the doll in a generally upright position. Advantageously a name tag

42 is sewn to the first band 38, which serves the dual function of identifying the doll to which the pocket belongs, as well as providing a convenient "handle" which can be grasped to draw the first band 38 outwards to a position as shown in Figure 5B when inserting the doll in the pocket.

This embodiment of the pocket further comprises a second band 44 of elastic material which extends from the first band 38 to a lower edge of the base fabric 36 and which is adapted to pass between the legs of the doll when placed in the pocket. The second band 44 is designed to prevent the doll from slipping out of the pocket from underneath the first band 38 when the receptacle is subjected to jolting, for example, while the child is running or jumping. The first and second bands 38,44 of elastic material together form first and second apertures 46 at the lower end of the pocket 34 through which the dolls legs can protrude.

As in the first embodiment of Figures 1 to 3, the base f bric 36 is provided with means for attaching the pocket 34 to a childs garment, such as a patch of iron-on adhesive so that the receptacle can be permanently attached to a garment.

Figures 6A and 6B illustrate a third embodiment 48 of the receptacle for carrying a miniature toy doll which is similar to the embodiment of Figures 5A and 5B. Similar parts are identified with like reference numerals and will not be described again. The most significant difference between the embodiment of Figures 6A and 6B and that of Figures 5A and 5B is that the receptacle 48 of Figures 6A and 6B is not provided with a second band of elastic material extending from the first band 38 to the lower edge of the base fabric 36. Thus, in this embodiment the first band of elastic material 38 must be sufficiently resilient to hold the doll in a generally upright position in the pocket. The only other difference is that the base fabric 36 is formed with an upper portion 50 on which is provided means for attaching the

pocket to a childs garment, such as a patch of iron-on adhesive or a strip of hook and loop fastening material. Thus, in this embodiment the base fabric 36 of the pocket is suspended on the garment from the upper portion 50, rather than having the whole of the base fabric 36 adhered to the garment.

Figures 7A and 7B illustrate a fourth embodiment of the receptacle for carrying a miniature toy doll. In this embodiment, the receptacle comprises an elongate pocket 52 formed by a front portion 54 sewn to a base fabric 56 in the shape of a conventional pocket. The pocket 52 is adapted to hold the doll (not illustrated) in a generally upright position with at least the dolls head visible through an upper opening provided therein. As in the embodiment of Figures 6A and 6B, the base fabric 56 is provided with an upper portion 58 having means for attaching the pocket to a childs garment.

Advantageously a range of receptacles may be manufactured from different fabrics of suitably bright and attractive colours using the same basic pattern. Typically, a range of miniature dolls 12 is also produced having a variety of skin and hair colours and different facial features and styles and types of clothing. If desired, the doll's clothing may be made from the same or matching fabric as the pocket 10 of the receptacle. One or more pockets may be attached to a child's garment by the application of heat, for example by ironing-on using a conventional hot iron. Advantageously, the garment may be washed with the pocket attached to the garment, preferably with the doll removed!

When the garment to which the pocket is permanently attached requires washing, or when the child wishes to swap the doll being carried in the pocket with an alternative doll, it is desirable that means be provided for conveniently and securely storing the dolls when not in use. Figure 8

illustrates an embodiment of a holder in the form of a wall hanging 60 which may comprise a rectangular piece 62 of fabric having dowels provided along an upper and lower edge respectively for suspending the wall hanging 60 on a wall, such as a child's bedroom wall or cupboard. In this embodiment of the wall hanging, a plurality of pockets 48 similar to that illustrated in Figures 6A and 6B are attached to the fabric 62 for storing unused dolls (not illustrated) .

From the above description of preferred embodiments of a receptacle for a miniature doll it will be appreciated that the receptacle significantly enhances the play value of a miniature doll. The receptacle provides at least the following advantages:

(i) it allows a miniature doll to be carried by a child in a convenient and dignified manner, thus facilitating a greater "bonding" between the doll and the child;

(ii) it can be permanently or removably attached to a garment and is washable with the garment;

(iii) it can be manufactured in a variety of coloured fabrics and sizes;

(iv) it can be used as a decorative applique for a child's garment thus enhancing the appeal of the garment;

(v) it is of simple construction and inexpensive to manufacture; and, (vi) it can be permanently or removably attached to any suitable garment.

Numerous variations and modifications will suggest themselves to persons skilled in the relevant arts, in addition to those already mentioned above, without departing from the basic inventive concepts. For example, it is not essential that the upper opening 16 be sufficiently large to expose the arms and upper torso of the doll 10. The upper opening 16 may only be large enough to allow the face of the doll to be visible like a papoose. All such variations and modifications are to be considered within the scope of the present invention, the nature of which is to be determined from the foregoing description and the appended claims .