BA4 Reflective Journal

2nd Week of Project

This week was more on the technical side of the project.

I started of the week looking into the anatomy of a normal suit jacket:

and the measurement manual for a man's profile, so I would have a better idea of the proportions of a man when it cam to designing and pattern cutting.

Also, Roger (our technician) went through the basics of a suit like the types of tailoring; whether it be bespoke or for the high street, further look into the anatomy of a normal suit jacket, the components needed to make a suit (front panels, back panels, side panels, canvasing and interfusing for reinforcement and shape, welt pocket parts, jett pocket parts, ticket pocket parts, top collar, under collar, top sleeve and under sleeve), the types of hand stitching available to make the suit better fitted to your design idea and what fabrics to sue (wool, silk - extensive use of fusing and canvasing, etc.).

I felt that this introduction into the suit gave me a better idea on how I was going to design this suit like how I would need to include a few more layers of canvasing and fusing into the suit shape and fit as I am using dress tartan - it is slightly softer and flimsier than the wool tartan.

Later on that week

I wrote notes on the type of pockets available in tailoring, such as welt pocket and cash pocket, in case I was to include them in the making of my suit jacket. I also wrote notes on the types of hand stitching available for bespoke tailoring to help me decide which would help in the structure of my jacket and also aid in the look of it - i.e. a running top stitch along the lapels or even a stab stitch around the pockets

To make my life even easier when designing I researched the different ways collars can be made for men's tailoring, the sleeve types used, the trouser styles and the classic suit jacket designs:

All this information was from the Metric Pattern Cutting for Menswear.

Technical

For the technical this week, Roger taught us to make an accurate jett pocket and ticket pocket:

 

The way the jett pocket was made was the same as the way a ticket pocket is inserted, the only difference was that the ticket pocket had slightly smaller panels.

I learnt a lot from this technical as, it is one of those things you learn and can never forget. Also, even though it may look complicated to make it, it was rather easy thinking back on it now. Because I know now how to make these pockets, I plan on including two jett pockets in my final design, so I can include inserts of the Campbell of Loudoun tartan as the pocket lining and flaps, to add a contrasting pattern.