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
Precious Anozie
My project explores the emotional significance of personal possessions following my dad’s passing. Inspired by the theme ‘Surplus & Discarded’, I wanted to investigate how everyday objects can become memorial keepsakes that preserve memory and identity.
My final piece is a reconstructed waistcoat inspired by Martin Margiela, featuring embroidered imagery connected to my dad, including his rosary and the Costa logo, referencing a place we loved visiting together.
To create the piece, I used embroidery, machine stitching, and assemblage techniques with discarded fabrics and second-hand materials. I layered and reconstructed textile fragments to reflect themes of repair, remembrance, and transformation.
My intention was to transform personal memories into a wearable textile artwork that honours my dad’s presence through objects and shared experiences. By reworking discarded materials into something meaningful, I aimed to explore how textiles can preserve emotional connections and give new life to memories that might otherwise feel lost.
Charlotte Corbett
My project explores colour combinations inspired by 1960s and ’70s hippie and psychedelic fashion, with a strong focus on bold patterns and self-expression. I researched designers such as Mary Quant, Emilio Pucci, and Verner Panton, analysing how they use geometric shapes, repetition, and vibrant colours to create visually striking designs.
I was particularly interested in how circles, lines, and organic forms could be repeated and layered to generate movement and energy across a sample. This research deepened my understanding of how pattern and colour can be utilised to create powerful surface designs.
During the development phase, I experimented with multiple textile techniques, including fabric painting, printmaking, tie-dye, and appliqué. I developed both geometric and organic patterns, playing with the scale and placement of shapes to see how they affected the overall composition.
Driven by colour theory, I selected a sunset-inspired palette of oranges, pinks, and warm tones, which kept the collection cohesive while remaining bold and eye-catching. I also drew inspiration from disco imagery—particularly the mirrored surfaces of disco balls—which led me to incorporate layered shapes and reflective fabrics for added texture and movement.
My final piece is a shift dress that marries a classic 1960s Mary Quant-inspired silhouette with 1970s colour and pattern influences. I chose a simple silhouette to ensure the surface design remained the focal point. Using appliqué, I layered various fabrics and shapes to build depth. The repeated circular motifs and contrasting panels proudly reflect my artist research whilst maintaining an original flair.
Overall, my project is successful in demonstrating a clear evolution from initial research to the final outcome. I have synthesised influences from multiple artists and tested various techniques to develop my own unique ideas.
To refine my work further in the future, I would experiment with a wider range of techniques and machine-stitch around the appliqué shapes to achieve a more polished, professional finish.
Brooke Edwards-Dalley
Component 1: In this project, I explored the use of flowers, mainly inspired by costume dresses from Bridgerton and Little Women, as well as historical women’s dresses such as those worn by Marie Antoinette and Queen Victoria. I created an ankle-length gown with 3D flowers dropping down the full length of the dress to bring attention to how flowers grow and how the body is almost like a flower bouquet.
I created a more fitted, structured top half so I could use more intricate techniques such as beading, machine embroidery, and appliqué. This gave a good balance between the less perfect flowers falling down the dress and the small details that were only visible due to the structured and lighter background.
I used small pink flowers I had photographed, as well as blossoms, to inspire this more delicate part of the dress, as I wanted to make sure all of their details were portrayed in the bodice. I noticed that detailed sleeves were a massive part of the costumes I researched. I used American smocking to create detailed sleeves and had the same 3D flowers placed randomly around them.
Component 2: In this project, I explored protection and a more unique take on it: how British children during the 1940s war needed protection and their journey of fleeing to safety. I researched images taken from this era to see what was popular, and I found that things such as collars, floral prints, dark colours, and gathering were very common in this period.
I created a little girl’s dress with some of these features, as well as adding smocking and embroidery to put my own take on the style. The smocking is inspired by the dirty, muddy floors they were stuck with, while the colourful embroidery brings attention to the youth and innocence in this whole period. I created a suitcase to illustrate the children fleeing from home, as well as a helmet, which a lot of children had to carry round with them for protection in unexpected circumstances.
I created a running theme of red throughout all the pieces to bring attention to the bloodshed. I also messily machine-embroidered words into the objects; this was to make the objects feel more personal to an individual, as if they had been taken straight from a child in the war.
Erin Lawley
For Component 1, I chose to explore a highly personal theme: my lifelong love for the sea. I developed my sketchbook by experimenting with various textile samples, drawing direct inspiration from the anatomical traits of marine life, particularly octopuses.
The tentacle became a dominant motif throughout my research, heavily influencing the drafts for my final designs. I knew I wanted to incorporate three-dimensional elements to make the garment visually striking whilst ensuring it remained entirely wearable. Integrating sculptural tentacles alongside voluminous ruffles proved to be a highly effective way to achieve this.
I am immensely proud of the final piece and believe it perfectly captures the essence and movement of sea creatures, just as I originally intended.
Erica Northam
This project explores the theme of ‘Canals and Narrowboats’, which is one of my personal fascinations. I wanted to investigate both rural and urban canal imagery, different boat types and interiors, vivid boat painting, ‘Roses and Castles’ canal folk art, and the industrial history of waterways.
These felt objects were designed to resemble historical bargeware (a ‘Buckby’ watering can) as well as objects that might be found on a modern narrowboat (a butane canister and a milk carton), embellished with patterns inspired by Roses and Castles. Relevant canal landscapes are featured on them, with details such as animals, plants, and local buildings.
I used dyed and printed fabric for my backgrounds, alongside appliqué, painting, and embroidery to create detail, and lots of hand felting for the floral patterns. Having experimented with multiple techniques and investigated many aspects of my theme, I synthesised them into a collection of appealing, colourful, detailed items that celebrate life and history on the waterways.
Caitlin Quaife
This piece is about opulence and the contrast between the poor and the rich.
I wanted to create something that looked magnificent. The reason rich clothing looked so beautiful in the past was due to the time taken to make it, but also the extreme separation between the poor and the rich.
I decided on a half-and-half dress, which shows that separation with a line down the middle. The poor side has rips and holes all over and uses tan fabric, showing the difficulty of keeping clothes clean, whereas the rich side has intricate hand-woven fabric with gold, alongside detailing on the front of the bodice which has taken a lot of time.
In the past, the quality of life was so different, and I really wanted to show that in this piece; alongside the lavishly rich, you also had the underpaid, terrible working conditions of the poor.
Madison Thornsbury
This textile garment explores the concept of surplus and discarded materials, and how they can have patterns and textures that make for beautiful and unique garments. This was done by treating the visual effects of erosion and rust as a symbol that anything can be considered beautiful.
To capture the organic beauty of neglected products, I used hessian fabric—something that would typically be used to transport items such as potatoes and then discarded—as a layered base. I added textures resembling peeling paint and jagged rusted metal using fabrics in a suitable colour scheme of mainly oxidised copper.
The silhouette is intentionally bulky and irregular to mimic the unpredictable patterns that are often found in things left to decay. This work is a way of proving that anything, neat or messy, can always contain beauty.
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
Anmolprit Kaur
Through my project I explored the theme of spring contrasting with the season of winter. I looked at how the season of spring is slowly disappearing due to the climate change as the transition of the weather is starting to go from the cold winter weathers to the humid summer temperatures skipping the warmth of spring.
To develop this idea, I wanted to look at a form of ‘solution’ to this by creating a garment suitable for both winter and spring weathers by utilizing layers of thinner fabrics combined with thicker fabrics and colours of spring to showcase this. Moreover, by creating different layered garments which can be easily added and taken off the garments would be functional in both weathers.
Erin McCabe
My component one topic is Urban and Rural. This topic came from my love of streetwear and subcultures such as grunge and the fashion found within these further induced the idea of urbanism. Rural came from my love of nature and the impact which urban fashion has upon the rural environments. This was the key focus of my project to explore the differences and also to find a solution to sustainable urban fashion.
To represent urban style, I chose denim as my material, the brown on the jumper came from earth tones such as tree bark. I weaved denim through my knit to represent how these ideas can be complimentary. My garment is fully sustainable as it is made from secondhand materials. The silhouette of the garment was inspired from the 90s grunge scene.
wanted to create a dramatically oversized jumper to reference the style of grunge singers such as Kurt Cobain.
Eve Oram
This project is themed around jellyfish and inspired by their vibrant colours and patterns. The piece is a 3-piece set including a skirt inspired by the body of a jellyfish, slash and stitch arm cuffs and a beaded top with smocked/ stitched fabric inside.
The patterns on the skirt are inspired by pollution and include bubbles made from a paper straw, dyed bubble wrap under a heat press and dyed string. The inside of the skirt was stuffed with recycled plastic bags. The outer layer of the skirt is made from organza which shines which reflects different colours in the sun mimicking neon jellyfish.
Gracie Roberts
For this project I explored the use of recycled materials, experimenting with ways of reusing and upcycling to promote ideas of sustainable fashion and more thoughtful design. I used a combination of everyday recyclables like plastic bags mixed with old clothes, of which I focused on my use of denim, sourced from old jeans.
For this I was inspired by the ethos of Maison Margiela’s spring 2020 ready-to-wear collection, where designer John Galliano created and used a concept he termed “recicla”, which focuses on giving garments a new life through restorative design, each item in the collection was created from second-hand garments.
I was also inspired by the silhouette and use of raw weaved edges from Viktor and Rolf’s “vagabond” collection from autumn/winter 2016, in this collection they used scrap fabrics from past collections and worked them together in a new way.
experimented with various techniques to combine as many scraps of fabric as possible, focusing on maximising my use of materials and ensuring my project was entirely zero waste, I concluded by using weaving as well as taking inspiration from the creation of rag-rugs and using both within my final piece.
Mya Lee Round
My topic for component 2 was faces and I worked round the inspiration from famous pop artists such as Roy Lichenstein.
My piece is to overall show women empowerment by featuring girly expressions and symbolism. I worked off images I took to create the printing screens and therefore it allowed me to personalise my own work whilst adding key symbols of pop art into them.
Arwen Wilson
I was attracted to the themes of ‘Make Do and Mend’ and the historical context of the usage of the phrase. After a visit to The Imperial War Museum in London I was further inspired by a book, written during World War Two, of tips on how to care for clothing. Using free-machine embroidery techniques, I incorporated some of the text from the book into my own work.
I also researched traditional patchwork techniques and experimented with a range of mixed media such as rust dye, teabags dipped in wax, and stitched paper. For my final piece I decided to focus on everyday domestic items, an apron, oven glove and peg bag. A washing line seemed a fitting way of connecting and displaying these everyday items.
Finally, I felt it was important to use materials that were upcycled or readily available at home, therefore, I combined vintage fabrics from charity shops with teabags and old dress-making patterns and used tea, coffee, red wine and rust to add subtle colour to the fabrics.
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.
