Rainey Day Projects...

I'd like to introduce to you the book that started off all the Rainspiration!

a little book of mine now full to the brim with ideas about coats and other such things! I mentioned in a previous blog how i got the name, and here is the original book (above).

The 'rain' theme started from a project set by my course, to design and make a beautiful coat, specifically a Rain Coat. anyway, this project has been going on for a few months now but I'd like to write about my coat so far. It is a little bit epic, and i have days where i go through loving and hating it. None the less, I am very excited! I couldn't put all my thoughts into this coat, its the most refined i could make it and my tutor still leaves me emails to tell me to avoid anymore tangents (until my graduate show anyway).

i'd like to share more of my design ideas, but there is to much for one blog. I'm considering starting another more image based site, deviant art has been recommended, i'll look into this and keep you updated.

It was only recently now that the coat has grown and grown, that i needed to get my head in line. and what a task that ended up being!!! apparently my room just isn't big enough. I started drawing on my walls, which is very uplifting! i recommend it to everyone who is lost in ideas. there is something about drawing on the wall that is so satisfying. Maybe because i was told off so many times when i was younger, at least now i've learnt to put paper up! so the image above is the starting point of my thoughts collecting. its now full of notes and lists and timetables. joy! but it must be done!

i even had a burst of energy the other morning to move all the furniture in the sitting room and now its a studio! i hope my house mates don't mind, half of them are home for Easter break. a nice surprise for their return?!

So i finally have my space to work, and I'm onto to toile 5, which should hopefully be complete and ready for a fitting session next Monday. fingers crossed!

and the coat looks like this:

nearly finished design ideas, there are 2 drawings because the concept is all about cogs, the idea of machinery turning and then turning other pieces... ideally this is a concept i'd like to continue into next year.

For now, its a coat of coats, a coat that can be worn, tied up, retied, let loose... full of beautiful contours and magic and stories. Fairytales and folklore. The concept started as an adventure, a road trip around Northumberland and that lead me to stories, cogs, maps and mystery... an incoherent bunch...

Just one Beautiful Coat, "a symphony of exquisite details" UK VOGUE

this is toile 4. a lot of changes marked. I've updated my patterns. i'll keep you posted on the sewing! toile 5 to be revealed soon!

I'm really hoping to have everything ready with enough time before my deadline to get a photoshoot organised. I have a lot of ideas for how i want the shoot to be, hopefully to gather some beautiful imagery for my folio.

I'm hopefully escaping to London for the day later this week, to collect shiny things (like the magpie i am) and bits and bobs for the coat. I'm very excited! also with the chance of meeting up with a wonderful friend while I'm there. Need to pick up some things for some side projects I'm starting for summer. Starting to save up for my Graduate Show so I'm hoping to design, make and sell some quirky accessories and clothing. More info on that as Rainey Days grows. Definitely heading down the road to York tomorrow, where my dearest sister might be helping me sort out my background images etc... the blog is still a working progress. much like my coat and Rainey Days. we'll grow together.

enjoy the journey.

x