A-Level textile design encourages students to work with a wide variety of skills and processes across the fields of textiles, fashion and interiors. This includes printed textiles, constructed textiles, embroidery, fashion construction, weaving and fabric manipulation. Learners are introduced to different techniques which they are then able to develop into personal final work. This can be clearly seen within the variety of imaginative outcomes produced this year.
Learners are encouraged to explore both historical and contemporary techniques and processes and to support their work with research into a range of suitable artists, designers, and trends. They are prepared for industry or Higher Education and all the learners from this year are continuing by pursuing degrees, employment or progressing onto the art foundation diploma course here at Dudley College.
I hope that you find the work inspiring. I am very proud of what the learners have achieved this year.
Clare Buchanan, A level Textile Design Tutor
Amii Cresswell-Stevens
Isabell Hignell
Olivia Hill
This collection of work is my response to the starting point of ‘decay’, where I took my own influence from zombies, mould and skeletons. I decided to take more of a ‘grotesque’ approach to my work, as I found that it allowed me to work closer with finer areas of texture and detail as well as working with quite a natural colour palette (though I did contrast this occasionally by incorporating green – I found this reinforced my influence from zombies.)
Throughout the project I prioritised working with texture-oriented techniques while trying to maintain quite a delicate and fragile type of aesthetic, I found that this worked well with my chosen combination of final techniques – aquafilm, embellishment and heat manipulation. Aquafilm has a delicate appearance and ability to be manipulated and easily layered amongst other things. Fabric manipulation, such as embellishing/tearing fabric worked well in my experimentation as I could work with how much texture and sheerness that I could provide. Using the heat gun on plastics would give a textured and destroyed appearance which I found emphasised my influence from zombies – I even dusted one of these samples with a green pigment.
For my final piece, I chose to make a top garment incorporating these three key techniques. I attempted to make the garment more structured by adding larger plastic samples across the waist of the garment and I layered aquafilm on-top of this. I also chose to add a shoulder strap of just aquafilm for a sheer but textured effect.
In September, I am going to study fashion textiles at The University of The West of England in Bristol.
Imamah Laraib
Banita Manak
This project was all about interiors as a starting point, I decided to take the route of the interiors of the body. By closely looking at the anatomy it allowed me to choose the right methods to show the complexities and how intricate these pieces that make up how delicate our bodies actually are. Throughout this project I had experimented with a wide range of techniques and towards the end I had chosen my favourite pieces and combined them together to make this final fashion piece, which is a compilation of the many ideas I had explored in this project.
Grace Steele
For this project I chose the theme “Decay” because I found it very inspiring and different from my earlier projects. I had many ideas for this project, but I decided to focus on architectural decay including rust and water damage.
Since I live in a deprived area, finding primary sources was not difficult. There were many buildings that I found interesting because of the decay and lack of upkeep. Although I chose to focus on architecture, for my final piece I created a fashion-based piece which consists of layering of different fabrics to create a distressed look. I think this is interesting because my original inspiration was Giles Deacons Fall 2012 collection which contains fashion pieces inspired by decay and burning. These dresses are interesting because of the colours scheme and the layering involved.
For this piece, I experimented with much more machine embroidery, slash & stitch, and knitting. I found this project to be the most inspiring I have created yet due to the variety of different techniques I was able to experiment with. My final piece was successful in creating the aesthetic I wanted to create so I am overall incredibly happy with the outcome.
Sarah Tavares
My final piece aims to reflect the decay of our society, but also the ghastly beauty behind it. Each tile is made to look distressed and torn away from the wall, symbolising that we as individuals are pulling away from what used to be the social norms, which can be perceived as a positive or negative movement.
On one hand, we are becoming a generation unlike any seen before, but we’re also pulling away from each other, sectioning off into groups and segregating ourselves from the rest of society. The red and brown threads also represent this pulling apart of society. The brown shows the material world that we are changing by doing so, the buildings destroyed by war, the cities levelled by hatred and the monuments built to commemorate them, but what good is a monument if nobody listens to what it’s trying to say?
The red thread represents the flesh that will always bind us, the unwavering truth that, at the end of the day, we are all human beings, and no amount of hatred and disgust can change that. That is what holds us together. The bold lettering and feminist logo are there to represent those brave enough to speak out through art and the risks they take by doing so, I can only hope to make as much of an impact on the minds of our decaying society as they do.
Daisy Williams
I wanted to explore how knitting could be manipulated to create a fashion garment in my piece. I was really inspired by the technique of knitting due to how it can behave with different wools and stitches. I focused heavily on the knitting machine which is an old fashioned and complex technical machine to create my top, which I found extremely interesting due to its various stitch styles.
Furthermore, in this exploration I focused on the use of the fair isle stitch, which originated in Scotland, because of how it allows you to create pieces of knit which are patterned in various colour combinations and styles. I specifically chose one geometric pattern and manipulated the colour and length in my piece, as I wanted to create an asymmetrical design without overwhelming the piece. I found that adding pleats in the knit helped break up the design and also add more dimension to the piece, furthermore, I found adding carefully placed holes and the use of crochet on the lower torso of the top added more texture.
Overall, I really enjoyed creating this piece as it was all decided by myself on where the segments joined together, how big they were and how each knitted part would have subtle differences compared to the next. Furthermore, I found that the colours and style were all cohesive. However if I was to add more I would include the crocheted pieces all around the bottom of the design, although I do think they are successful on their own.
A-Level textile design encourages students to work with a wide variety of skills and processes across the fields of textiles, fashion and interiors. This includes printed textiles, constructed textiles, embroidery, fashion construction, weaving and fabric manipulation. Learners are introduced to different techniques which they are then able to develop into personal final work. This can be clearly seen within the variety of imaginative outcomes produced this year.
Learners are encouraged to explore both historical and contemporary techniques and processes and to support their work with research into a range of suitable artists, designers, and trends. They are prepared for industry or Higher Education and all the learners from this year are continuing by pursuing degrees, employment or progressing onto the art foundation diploma course here at Dudley College.
I hope that you find the work inspiring. I am very proud of what the learners have achieved this year.
This project pivots around the abstract expression of existentialism. Exploring the concept that perhaps “existence is the problem of existence”, we are nothing other than what we make of ourselves.
I interpreted existence in this project to essentially be awareness, “existence” being the awareness.
With awareness there comes thoughts which conceivably can be said to be the response one has to the reality they find themselves in.
But what if the reality one might find themselves in becomes one’s “identity”, rather than one’s own thoughts and view of themselves?
I physically depict the struggle of coming to terms with the notion that we might only truly exist within those who are aware of our existence. Thus, self-perception this “identity” idea, at a constant threat of becoming defined by what others think of us instead of what we comply to think of ourselves. Do we conform to the labels we were born with, or try to defy them, what happens when we choose the latter option?
Is our ability to think detached from context, be it the labels society has made to identify us, the stereotypes surrounding those, our misunderstandings, restraining us from true unreserved understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
I depict these human limitations, these existential questions, by symbolising the part of ourselves that allows for thought itself, the neural system, alongside “chains of thought” trapping us.
My project follows the theme of forests and what that means to me; especially through the perspective of childhood. Seeing forests through the lens of childhood it allowed me to see the magical and fantasy side of it, it also connected me back to the calming and personal connection I had to forests as a child. I used various techniques to try and achieve this; I began this with using heat tools to melt organza to create a bark like textures. I then began to experiment with other techniques such as weaving, embroidery, crochet.
I also wished to include elements from naturally foraged items from outside in real forests and so within my weaving I included sticks and twigs. It was important for me to express through textiles the importance that nature has had on my life, weather that be through the connections to my childhood or the tranquil and therapeutic side of forests as a place I feel I can go to feel calm and relaxed; I personally believe my final piece included elements of both.
I took my final piece in a rather fantasy route, including large draping sleeves and a long simplistic skirt. It felt important that I didn’t over complicate the skirt element as I didn’t want to distract from the sleeves; there is also the reasoning that overcrowding my piece would cause a busy and somewhat chaotic look; something that would go against the tranquil and therapeutic side of forests that I love.
Overall, I believe that the fantasy childhood elements of my project came out successfully and that you can see it coming through within my final work; I achieved my goal from the beginning which was to create something personal to me with the connection I have to forests and the memories I have attached to them.
In this project I explored Land And Sea. I intended to do this visually and aesthetically, being inspired by the flowing forms and rich blues, greens and blacks of the sea. I also felt it was important to include in my work, a theme of working with found materials, specifically plastics, to set an example for how we can protect the sea and surrounding environment using textiles rather than pollute it further.
A lot of my work involved attempting to utilise plastic bags, as well as the offcuts from my other materials, in a way that was beautiful and created detail that effectively creates the same atmosphere as the ocean. I was inspired by the grand, flowing forms found in the works of Iris Van Herpen the fashion designer and brand, as well as Peter Gentenaar who creates sculptures using paper pulp.
A-Level textile design encourages students to work with a wide variety of skills and processes across the fields of textiles, fashion and interiors. This includes printed textiles, constructed textiles, embroidery, fashion construction, weaving and fabric manipulation. Students are introduced to different techniques which they are then able to develop into personal outcomes. This can be clearly seen within the variety of imaginative outcomes produced by the students.
Learners are encouraged to explore both historical and contemporary techniques and to support their work with research into a range of suitable artists, designers, and trends. They are prepared for industry or Higher Education and all the students from this year are continuing their education by pursuing degrees in fashion and textiles or progressing onto the art foundation diploma course.
I hope that you find the work inspiring. I am very proud of what the learners have achieved this year, particularly due to the additional challenges that Covid has presented.
For my personal investigation I decided to gain my inspiration from Digbeth in Birmingham. My project was based around the bold graffiti found on the walls. I found that experimenting with the embellisher complimented this project perfectly as it enhanced the nature of graffiti as it looked like sprays from a spray can. I also explored bold lettering, hand stich and machine embroidery to conduct my final piece. Positive words and phrases really inspired me through my project, due to such uncertain times in the world due to coronavirus I thought spreading positive messages for people to see on things such as their daily walks was beneficial to the indefinite times, we are living in. Clouds became the dominant theme from my original photographs to spread the well-being quotes in the local area. I then began to turn this into a garment of a dress to allow it to be showcased on the runway for people to see. The clouds became detachable form the piece to be able to place them in other places to be available for as many people to see as possible. To spread the message even more I also decided to make my own Instagram page to allow my work to be shared as much as possible.
My project evolved into work based on fast food, its aggressive marketing and the results of these ending up in the appearance of excess body fat. I looked at the packaging of fast-food items and started to manipulate them in different ways, gravitating towards the heat-based samples that shrunk and bubbled plastic materials like crisp packets. I used hand stitch work to add words onto these samples, words like EAT and CONSUME that reflect the immoral aims of food marketing.
I used tights, stuffing and rubber bands to create these 3d pieces that I intended to replicate to look of body fat, I used heat transfer techniques to put red lines onto the fabric that mirror the blood vessels in body fat, and then stitched into the largest sample with the text work. With these 3d pieces I also produced two masks constructed from the heated plastic and the stitched text-work, the focus being around the mouth area was intentional as the project is based around food consumption.
For my personal investigation I chose the theme of botany as I knew this project would keep me interested and could lead me in several directions, in terms of my project. After taking many photos and gathering lots of research from artists and other secondary photos I was able to start experimenting with samples and techniques such as weaving, printing, dying, stitching, sewing that then developed into samples such as screen printed and tie-dyed fabric, cut and fray samples, and fabric manipulation. All of this came together to inspire and create my final piece. A cut and fray printed panel skirt piece.
I took inspiration for my personal investigation from predominantly the Black Lives Matter movement. I decided to choose this as I felt it is an important topic that needs to be brought to light and talked about more. I was mainly influenced by the protests I attended and the protest signs for my final piece, so decided to go with a patchwork hanging piece. For this I used a variety of techniques such cut and fray, machine embroidery, hand stitch and melting plastic. I also wanted my piece to have an imperfect feel to it as many of the protest signs were rushed and messy and I wanted that to translate through my work.
