Selkie is a fashionable sweatshirt jacket that allows the wearer to wear it in areas that often switch between warm and cold temperatures. This is made possible with easily detachable sleeves that attach to the torso of the jacket itself so they’re always available when you want to put them back on. Selkie allows the wearer to go between areas with varying temperatures without having to wear and keep track of many layers. This can be helpful in buildings with inconsistent heat, or when, because of weather or increased activity, you know you will want to cool off later. Selkie also creates a fashionable look that can change throughout the day. The inner lining of the sleeves is made in complementing or contrasting colors to create a new color blocked look, on top of the changing silhouette. Selkie is a convenient article of clothing that keeps you comfortable and stylish while freeing you from having to change clothes or wear many layers.

Our idea for this project started last fall when one of our friends said something along the lines of ‘Whatever you’re working on, find some way that I can get dressed for when it’s cold everywhere in the morning, and not be overheated when it gets warm in the afternoon.’ That happened to be one of the problems we had independently identified  earlier, so we started brainstorming. A few ideas were passed around including one for a jacket with heating elements inside, like an electric blanket. We discarded that idea after talking about how inconvenient it would be to have to worry about charging your coat or replacing batteries. From there, we thought about clothing with detachable parts, like pants that zip off into shorts, but we discussed concerns about losing pieces. This led us to the idea of Selkie, a coat with semi-removable sleeves that attach to the torso of the jacket itself.

We tested out different designs with an old shirt until we agreed on the final one. We had an idea for a zipper going up the sleeve instead of velcro but for the sleeve to open up we needed the sleeves to be able to fully separate from each other and reconnect easily with one hand. We could have used another zipper to attach the sleeve to the torso but that would be difficult to line up and wouldn’t be very practical for quick changes for the same reason. We decided to to change the zippers to velcro and since it would be easier to attach and detach one handed. For the style aspect, we thought of the sleeves being lined with a contrasting color, so it would have an interesting color blocked pattern when in the short sleeve position. From there, it was all constructing. We cut, measured, sewed, and attached velcro.

This current version of the Selkie introduces a new category of fashionable transforming clothing but only shows a portion of its potential. There are better ways to construct the piece for ease of transition and polish. It could be made easier to switch with a series of drawstrings of some sort that would pull the velcro strips into alignment. Another alternative would be a line of magnets that would make the sleeves fall into place effortlessly without scratchy velcro. We could also experiment with different materials before putting finishing details on a final product