SOPHIA CHURCH GARMENT ENGINEERING: LUXURY JACKET
I began my project by looking into luxury jackets. When I first think about a luxury jacket, Burberry’s trench coats are always first to mind, so this is something I wanted to look into first. I noticed that all their trench coats were made In similar material, none seem to be made in wool. This is something that influenced by designing. As I knew I wanted to make a coat with wool I thought about the classic Burberry style and how I could being this into my own designing.
The sea... My projects have always steamed from inspiration of the sea. So for this project i began by looking at sea inspired coats, which lead me on to finding 1930’s fishermen coats. The strong collar and rever’s interested me and helped inform my design process. I also thought about my consumer profile and who i wanted to design for. It was important to chose a consumer that had a love for the sea as much as I enjoy designing with this influence. My projects have always been based around my love for the sea as it is something that really inspires me. Another aspect of this project that is important to me is print, I love colour and I got into fashion design through my love of creating prints. I aim to show my inspiration through doing a digital print.
While researching coats I came across 1930’s fishermen coats. I felt like this linked in with my theme well, with the inspiration coming from the sea. I loved the high exaggerated collar of the coats and how they were made for a function to ultimately keep the fishermen warm, compared to coats made today for a style statement.
COAT DESIGNS LINE UP
DESIGNS
DESIGNS
FINAL 5 DESIGNS
I was ill during the fir report session so I missed the opportunity to get feedback on the fit of my jacket. This also meant I didn’t do a 3D fit as I wanted to move ahead and start a toile, rather than get left behind on the 3d fit stage.
As I knew I wanted to have my lining digitally printed I got started with doing some marbling as I felt this design tied in with my sea theme. I also found images of an aerial picture in Iceland, I loved the colours of the images and I felt it resembled my marbling prints. From this I put together different prints, incorporating the two.
I tested out four samples of different designs for digital print. From this I picked my favorite one and made this into a large print. I set up a file to make the size of the fabric lining. Once the print was done I had to prepare the fabric by washing it.
SHOULDER PAD
Critical Evaluation
This project has allowed me to broaden my knowledge on how to make a jacket to an industry standard level. I have learnt ways to make a coat that follow luxury brand criteria. This project has been a critical part of my development to becoming a designer. Although my main focus is designing I know it is important to know exactly how garments work and to know the process taken to make them. At the beginning of the project I struggled to come up with a theme, which slowed down the designing process. I found it difficult to think of unique coat shapes. This is when I decided I wanted to make something traditional that had more traditional techniques than interesting shapes to the garment. I designed a simple collection, which I felt could be improved upon so I chose a design I liked and then adapted this in different ways until I got the shape of a jacket that I liked. I feel my designing process of drawing out a simple collection, picking one that I feel works best and developing this further is a good technique for me when I am designing. From learning this on this project, I will continue with this technique. Once I had my design finalised I began adapting the ladies fitted jacket on Modaris. Running alongside this I had been manually pattern cutting my collar and rever. This combination of technologically and manually pattern cutting is a skill that I found very useful learning. It worked well to draft the collar first by hand, as drawing the shape I wanted proved easier this way. However to develop my Lectra skills I would hope to be able to learn to draft a collar and rever from Modaris so I could broaden my skills of having manual and technical pattern cutting. Alongside making our own designed jackets we put together a traditional blazer. Learning this process of how to exactly put together a jacket, from the shoulder pads to how to insert the lining, was extremely beneficially to my overall jacket. Learning step by step the order of assembly meant any mistakes were solved so my designed jacket did not face these mistakes. There were many small elements to putting a jacket together that I did not know before this task, meaning my final coat had these luxury finishing touches. The Lectra software for this project has been very beneficial to my learning. It made the making period and easier experiences with being able to change the pattern quickly and then print accordingly. Although I feel confident working with Modaris, Kaledo and Marker manager, I have struggled in this project to work out the 3D process. This would have been something I would have wanted to expand my knowledge of, however I was ill during this period and once I returned it seemed sensible to begin the toiling process to be up to speed with everyone else. As the overall learning requirement was to learn how to make a luxury jacket, I felt withheld to design something that was extremely different. My own outcome of this project was to gain knowledge of the steps to making a luxury jacket, so designing something different would have not allowed this to happen. I am happy with my end result coat, as I have learnt how to achieve many processes that will aid my final year collection.