Nether garment having a fly front and method of making same

A nether garment having an interior and comprising a knitted tube flattened to provide fold lines at opposite sides of the garment, said fold lines defining a front panel and a rear panel, said front and rear panels being integrally united at said fold lines as parts of a single piece of knitted tubular fabric, said tube having a top waist opening and a pair of bottom leg openings, each of said openings having a band circumscribing said opening, said leg openings being defined by a seam connecting the front and rear panels and extending from an inner side of one of said pair of leg openings across central parts of the knitted tube and terminating at an inner side of the other of said leg openings,

• a fly assembly in said front panel between said seam and the waist opening comprising
• a linear fly opening having a length from a top end to a bottom end defined by a pair of closely-spaced parallel fabric edges formed by a cut in said front panel, and
• a pair of fabric fly flaps, each flap being sewn to said front panel along an associated one of said fabric edges by a seam extending the entire length of said opening,
• said flaps being coextensive in length with said fly opening and overlapping each other and the front panel at one side of the fly opening, top margins of both flaps being adjacent the top end of said fly opening and bottom margins of both flaps being adjacent the bottom end of said fly opening, thereby providing a triple layer of fabric along the full length of the fly opening at one side thereof,
• said triple layer being sewn together by two lines of stitching respectively extending through both of said flaps and said front panel along the top and bottom margins of said flaps, leaving a free edge on each flap remote from said fly opening and extending parallel to said fabric edges between said lines of stitching, a first one of said flaps being positioned on the interior of the garment, a second one of said flaps being positioned intermediate the first flap and the front panel,
• said first and second flaps defining between them a transversely open tunnel extending from said fly opening to the free edges of said flaps, and
• the second flap and said front panel defining between them a pocket closed at one end by the seam sewing said second flap to the associated fabric edge of said fly opening.

A method of making a fly assembly in a nether garment having an interior and comprising a knitted tube with a front panel and a rear panel, said tube having a top waist opening and a pair of bottom leg openings, said leg openings being defined by a seam connecting the front and rear panels and extending from an inner side of one of said pair of leg openings across central parts of the knitted tube and terminating at an inner side of the other of said leg openings, comprising the steps of:

• cutting the front panel of the tube to produce a pair of closely-spaced parallel fabric edges defining between them a fly opening of a given length;
• providing a pair of fabric fly flaps, each having a marginal edge of a length corresponding to said given length, associating each of said marginal edges with a separate one of said parallel fabric edges, and positioning said flaps overlying one fabric surface of the front panel of the tube outwardly from said fly opening;
• sewing together said associated marginal and fabric edges respectively with separate seams running the length of said fly opening;
• everting said flaps through said fly opening to position said flaps at an opposite fabric surface of the front panel, with both flaps extending in the same direction over said opposite surface along the fly opening, thereby forming a triple layer comprising a first of said flaps in an interior side of the garment, said front panel of the tube on an exterior side of the garment, and a second of said flaps between said first flap and said front panel;
• uniting said triple layer by lines of stitching along said flaps at opposite ends of said marginal edges, leaving a free edge on each flap extending generally parallel to said marginal edge remote from said fly opening between said lines of stitching;
• said first and second flaps defining between them a transversely open tunnel extending from said fly opening at one side to the free edges of said flaps at the other side, and
• the second flap and said tubular fabric defining between them a pocket closed at one side by the seam sewing said second flap to the associated fabric edge of said fly opening.

A nether garment having a top waist opening and a pair of bottom leg openings, a front panel of fabric extending from the waist opening to the leg openings, and a fly assembly in said front panel comprising:

• a linear fly opening having a length defined by a pair of closely-spaced parallel fabric edges in said panel;
• a pair of generally rectangular fabric fly flaps, each flap being sewn to said panel along an associated one of said fabric edges by a seam extending the entire length of said opening;
• said flaps being coextensive in length with said fly opening and having a width at least forty percent of their length and overlapping each other and the front panel at one side of the fly opening, both flaps having top margins adjacent the top of said fly opening and bottom margins adjacent the bottom of said fly opening, thereby providing a triple layer of fabric along the full length of the fly opening at one side thereof;
• said triple layer being united by two lines of stitching respectively extending through both of said flaps and said front panel along the top and bottom margins of said flaps, leaving a free edge on each flap extending parallel to said fabric edges remote from said fly opening between said lines of stitching, a first one of said flaps being positioned interiorly of the garment, a second one of said flaps being positioned intermediate the first flap and the front panel;
• said first and second flaps defining between them a transversely open tunnel extending the full width of said flaps from said fly opening to the free edges of said flaps;
• and
• the second flap and said front panel defining between them a pocket closed at one end by the seam sewing said second flap to the associated fabric edge of said fly opening.