emily butcher.
luxury jacket trend research.
warm tones, short length and pockets.
long, sleek and traditional.
practical details in built on pockets.
vintage tones and sharp corners.
MENSWEAR JACKETS THEN AND NOW.
Research into the trends within the luxury market showed me that many of the jackets had a lot of similar details and qualities to vintage menswear. This let me to research into menswear from the early 1900, looking into the shapes, fabrics and details the garments held.
Leading on from my research into the components in a work wear jacket, I wanted to look into pockets in modern jackets. In todays world, men carry very different belongings due to the change of lifestyle compared to 1900’s worker, yet having a place to hold them is just as important for todays working men.
developed pocket research.
what the working jacket contained then and now.
Through my research process, I thought about what men carry now compared to what they would have carried on an average working day. These lay flat images show the difference and what a large percentage of modern men hold with them. This informed my designs as I knew the contents of the pockets and therefore could look into measurements and getting the best agronomic design.
Gender: Male. Age: 18-30. Life Stage: Young Professionals. Social Status: Middle Class. Lifestyle: Busy, working lifestyle in the city with lots of travelling. Enjoys keeping fit and healthy. Always keeping social, with nights out, dinners and work events. Food, fragrance and gadgets: Enjoys eating out in small, unique London cafes where they can grab a quick bite. They wear a strong, expensive scent, designer fragrances. iPhone 6s, iPad, laptop for work and socialising, maybe have a work phone. Brand Preferences: COS, All Saints, Fred Perry, Ben Sherman, Ted Baker, Zara. Aspirational Brands: Chanel, Selfriges, Harrods, Acne Studios, Gucci. How much they spend on clothes: Suit and Workwear £200, trousers £60-80, tops up to £50, shoes £150. What are their influences in life: Their work and being successful, their relationships and being close to friends and family, discovering new places and travelling, being organised and getting their life set up. What are their key interests: Socialising, sport, health, creative practice, music, fashion, beauty. Daily Routine: Early start to work in the city, traveling by train and tube or bike, lunch at small, arty cafe in London, working hard and late but socialising in the evening with friends over a drink and dinner. If not socialising then gym in the evening followed by healthy cooking. Do they have different colours for work and the weekend: Yes.
colour palette + fabrics.
warm, autumn tones + wools.
shorter to medium length jackets.
medium to long length jackets.
design development from chosen idea.
developing pocket types, styles and placement.
developing my collar and revere shape.
After the design process, I developed my collar and revere shape reflecting my chosen jacket design. After workshops with tutors, I was fairly confident in completing this section of the pattern making process. One part of the task that I found difficult was forming the desired shape of the collar and revere. I started by using fashion tape on a mannequin to mark my break point and marking out the shape, I then developed the pattern, shown in the photos above and toile them in calico. I adapted each pattern after evaluating the toile until the collar and revere that reflected my design best was achieved. This process was time consuming but I’m glad I kept trying to get the best fit rather than going with the first pattern I did.
FOrming a first jacket pattern.
Due to the construction of my jacket having a side panel and two-piece sleeves, I chose to develop my pattern from a men’s fitted jacket block. By doing this it allowed me to have all the components I needs and gave me a basic fit to build. When I constructed my collar and revere by hand, I used the block I was developing on Modaris by printing it out on the plotter as a single piece, this meant that my collar would be the perfect fit to the jacket pieces. From this I created the under collar as well as the top collar by mirroring the collar pieces that I digitalised in. Other changes that I made to the block was shortened the front, back and side panel as well as forming the back into a whole piece, giving a looser and more casual feel with a square shape. These pattern pieces made up my first pattern draft that I would then toile in the 3D software to evaluate the fit and shape.
Producing a 3d toile. I had only ever produced 3D toiles for simple garments, such as t-shirts, plan trousers and raglan jackets. Therefore when I came to stitching my jacket pieces in desk of stitches from my variant, I found it harder to place the pieces in an effective way. I had a lot of problems with the lines of stitching crossing over, as I had to attach many different pieces together and then to another piece of the pattern. For example, I needed to sew my front, back and side panel together and then stitch the sleeves into the armhole that was creating. However, after a number of attempts I managed to get it right, the image shown presents the successful lay out that produced a working 3D toile. After this task, I feel a lot more confident with the 3D software as the process of problem solving each attempt taught me different ways to solve errors. In a similar way to drafting my collar and revere, I’m glad I pursued and worked to get a functioning toile as it informed me on what to change regarding my pattern.
The side seams are laying in the right position along the side of the body and not at an angle.
The hem of the jacket is at the same level of my design, just by the hips.
The side panels are curving into the body underneath the armhole giving the look at it is fitting into the body.
The back piece of the jacket is dipped in also and curved as if it was fitted into the body, different to how the front is sitting.
Techincal Flat For First Fit Report. I created a technical flat illustration in Kaledo Style, showing the shape and details of the jacket such as pockets, buttons and stitching. I find that a more successful technical flat is produced when I take more time to form the right shape and size allowing people viewing it to understand the design fully, ideal for 3D toile reviews. Completing my first fit report early on in the project was highly useful, it gave me time to explain my design and get feedback and opinions on how to develop the pattern. Ttutors and I pushed the idea by straighten the seams to give a looser fit as well as adding a yoke to develop the work wear style.
changes to the pattern from toile review.
attaching the revere to the front. After drafting out the collar and revere of my jacket, I digitalised the collar section as well as the revere and facing section. The facing was then attached to the front pattern to form the right pattern piece for the collar and revere jacket. These two images show the process that I took the complete the task. I first married the two pieces together, moving the marriages to match up the shoulder points and then cut the piece out as a whole. I had used all the tools within this process before but not to complete a task similar to this one therefore doing this improved my understanding of how the tools and functions can be used.
creating a yoke pattern. Following feedback and advice from my 3D toile review, I developed the back piece of my jacket. I firstly used the mirroring tool, sym 2 points to create a whole back piece removing the back seam and then I moved onto the process to form a yoke. Due to the tools in 3D fit, I was able to draw on a desired line for the yoke while the garment was on the body and then brought it into Modaris to cut the pieces from each other. I had never used this function within the 3D software before but it informed me on how I can change and create style lines in a quick and effective way without having to continuous toiling the jacket in fabric. This is a process I will continue using within my pattern development.
The yoke added to the back fo the jacket sits straight and expresses the work wear style as its a strong menswear feature. It adds a simple but effective detail to the plain, whole back piece.
toile making + Evaluating.
The collar and revere is equal and sits at the same break point of my design. I feel that this is a section of the jacket that I will not need to change.
The sleeve fitted well and sat rounded on the shoulder as well as hanging in the correct form. However, similar to the length of the jacket, the sleeve measured too long on the male body. Therefore I will re-measure and adjust the pattern by 6cm.
The jacket length that I created from measuring the mannequin looked too long when toiled in fabric therefore I will shorten the length of the front, back and side panels by 2.5cm.
changes to produce final pattern. From the evaluation of my fabric toile, I moved back to the Modaris software to make slight changes to the pattern pieces. I shortened the length of my jacket as planned by 2cm; I shortened the length of my front, side panels and back pieces to achieve a balanced hemline. As well as shortening the hem, I also shortened the sleeves but by a larger amount. When I fitted to a model, I found that the sleeves were very long when the cuff hem was pressed up therefore I measured and shortened before the under and top sleeve by 6cm. I then set up a new variant, made a marker and re-printed my pattern ready for the jacket in real fabric to be constructed.
final jacket lay plan.
creating interfacing pieces.
I developed my needed interfacing pieces from my finalised jacket pattern pieces. I used the under sleeve, top sleeve, back and front pieces to mark the size and shape of the interfacing pieces. As you can see from the images shown, I created interfacing for the cuffs and lower back at 4cm to strength to the hem and rolled cuff. Then producing interfacing for the whole front piece and the back neck, keeping both parts from pulling when the lining was attached. I used a similar technique to this when I created my yoke; I created style lines and then cut them out, forming a new pattern piece, a quick and easy method that saved measuring and building the pieces as a whole shape.
interfacing pieces lay plan.
lining pattern process. Before this project, I had never produced a garment with lining therefore I had no knowledge on how to adjust the pattern pieces and form the lining shell to go into the jacket. However, I realised how simple this process was through a quick workshop where creating new pattern pieces and making small changes to allow of room was thoroughly explained. This method of watching and then completing works the best for me and I know understand the lining process completely. For my jacket, I adjusted the under sleeve up by 2cm to give a comfortable fit and then halved the back piece to form the lining back section constructing it together with the back seam and a small pleat. This meant that I took a step back with my back pattern piece and had measure and cut the piece but the Modaris tools made this quick and easy. Overall, the building of the lining pattern was successful however I realised after I had printed the pattern out that my front piece still had the facing piece attached, shown in the image on this page. This is incorrect for the front lining piece, as with the construction of the lining I would attach the facing section in my chosen fabric. Therefore, I used the same process and method that I did when attaching the facing section onto the front but took the facing shape away, producing the correct pattern piece which I then printed out with the single piece setting.
lining pattern lay plan.
digital Print samples.
Prints designed with influence from work wear material, machineary and modern day work places.
sewing the lining shell.
Lining Pleats and processes.
pocket placement.
final jacket construction.
Order of Assembly: Construction of Jacket and Lining shell: Cut all needed pattern pieces out of fabric, interfacing and lining. Interfacing all fabric pattern pieces. Construct the patch pockets and sew onto fronts. Sew together the front and side panels. Sew the yoke to the back section. Attach the front, side panels and back together. Join the shoulder seams together. Pin the collars right side together and sew around producing a sharp point. Join the under sleeves and top sleeve section together and attach into the armhole. Repeat process for the lining shell. Putting the lining into the Jacket: Pin the two collars and revere facings together right side together, sew ensuring a sharp point. Press the hem up 5 cm, pinch the seam allowance at the hem together and stitch together slightly, sink stitch along the back panels. Ensure that the jacket is the wrong way round and pin the lining and jacket hem together, sewing from 5cm on the facing down to a 1cm seam allowance at an gradient leaving a gap in the back center. Pull the sleeves the wrong way round, pinching the jacket and lining together and pin, sewing around. Pull the sleeves through the hole left in the arm and press. Pull the hem through the hole left in the arm and then stitch the remaining together. Pull all through the hole in the arm, press and then stitch the hole in the arm closed. Press and hang.
critical evaluation. Evaluating and analysing this unit, I feel that overall it has been very successful. Through workshops, producing patterns and learning different construction methods I have learnt a lot of different techniques, which has increased my knowledge of, garment engineering processes. As well as developing skills within pattern cutting by hand and using the Modaris software, I have learnt a lot about the timings of constructing garments. This was shown when I came to sewing my jacket and lining shell as I didn’t have time to finish off details such as patch and welt pockets. Therefore, my final jacket didn’t have all of the pocket details that I had planned. However I still toiled them and learnt the process for future use. I also learnt that change is natural in the construction process, this was shown when my design changed as I tested the placement of the pockets on the garment to see what fitted best, a process that you can’t do on a flat piece of paper. Another process that I developed was printmaking and digitally printing fabric. For my designed menswear jacket, I made a selection of prints and chose one to form into my lining fabric. If I was to design the lining print again, I would have thought about the size of the print more in-depth and made sure that my pattern piece could be matched giving a more flowing look to the inside of the jacket. Staying on the topic of the lining, I had a problem with adding my patch pocket due to the fact I didn’t realised that I would have to sew the pocket onto the opposite side to the one I designed it to be on therefore when I attached the lining and pulled it through to the right side I realised my mistake. Evaluating my final jacket, I am very proud of what I produced and I know fully understand many processes that I had no knowledge of before this unit. My jacket is the cleanest and well-finished garment I have constructed and I took a lot of time at each stage to ensure that I was completely the task correctly. If I were to complete this unit and make my designed jacket again, I would pay more attention to the needed pattern pieces for each fabric type as I found that a few times I added the wrong pattern pieces. Another thing that I would pay more attention too is the small details, like pockets and top stitching’s, making sure I had enough time to finish these details well. However, my knowledge of the construction process has increased and I have learnt a large range of different skills that I will take forward into future projects.