Elastic nonwoven sheet

A method for making a multilayer nonwoven sheet that is elastically stretchable in machine direction, the method comprising:

• providing an elastically stretchable nonwoven sheet comprising at least two layers of nonwoven materials, wherein one layer is an elastically stretchable nonwoven comprising spunbonded elastic fibers formed from a thermoplastic elastomer polymer material, wherein one layer is a stretchable facing layer comprising spunbonded crimped multicomponent fibers;
• providing a low elongation nonwoven sheet having a lower elongation at break at least in cross-machine direction when compared to the elastically stretchable nonwoven sheet;
• and
• co-feeding the elastically stretchable nonwoven sheet and the low elongation nonwoven sheet to a bonding station where the sheets are joined by melt-bonding in pre-defined patterns, wherein the elastically stretchable nonwoven sheet is fed to the bonding station under a pre-tension in machine direction and hence in a machine-directionally pre-stretched state, while the low elongation nonwoven sheet is fed to the bonding station either under no pre-tension, or under a pre-tension that leads to a machine-directional pre-stretch that is less than the machine-directional pre-stretch of the elastically stretchable nonwoven sheet.