Lily Point Jacket
BRIEF:
This entire project was inspired by the experience of losing my transit pass twice in succession. I don’t always carry a bag with me, and when things are loose in my pockets (if I’m lucky enough to even have pockets), they’re at risk of falling out. I realised that if I had a pocket in my jacket sleeve, I would be able to tap card readers while never needing to worry about things slipping out of my pocket again.
Over the course of a year or so, I kept the idea in the back of my mind, taking note of whenever something annoyed me about my current jackets, and thinking about what features I would include in my dream rain jacket. The Lily Point Jacket is the result.
Roles:
Research, design, drafting, and sewing/construction
Process
I had a rough set of design requirements in mind before I even started. Some of the key features being sleeve pockets, modularity (being able to have a long and a short version and removable/swappable hood), no exposed zippers, and adjustable cuffs and hood. I began with sketching and inspiration gathering, creating a reference board to organise features and style elements, and refining overall design.
After many years of hand drafting my patterns, I decided to learn CLO for this project. Though this design was probably a bit complex for a first CLO project, I found the process of transferring sketches to digital 3D was hugely helpful for refining the design.
With the entire project pre-modeled in CLO, the assembly process was very smooth, although still very time consuming considering the sheer number of pattern pieces and the complexity of some components. I also didn’t have access to a plotter, so that unfortunately meant painstakingly tracing the patterns out on to paper before cutting and sewing could even begin. Overall, from first piece cut to finishing the jacket, it took about a week and a half to construct.
Features
I tried to pack every useful feature I could into this jacket. Aside from my main design requirements (sleeve pockets and convertible length), I integrated a removable hood, adjustable cuffs, exterior and interior pocketing, a cinchable waist, and ventilation. The exterior is three layer Gore-Tex, and the interior is fully lined with mesh and poly lining. All fabrics and non-custom trims used in this project were deadstock. Custom trims, including threaded eyelets and shock cord stoppers, were 3D printed in PLA.
