Fashion and Textiles

This hands-on course, will enhance your creativity and introduce you to a huge range of skills. The course explores current themes and debates, such as sustainability and the impact of fast fashion, alongside building on your knowledge of the fashion industry through history. You will be encouraged to develop your own individual creative interests.

This course is ideal if you enjoy exploring new processes, designing garments and are passionate about fashion and textiles.

You will extend your visual recording skills through drawing, painting, photography and written research. Previous set themes have included Geometric Forms, Flowers and Leaves, Glittering Surfaces, Cultures. The development of your work requires you to analyse and evaluate your research, textile samples and final outcomes. The emphasis is very much on enabling you to express and refine your own individual response to a theme, through increasingly personal and independent work. You will be required to produce two substantial units of work: a portfolio of coursework, and another which incorporates an externally set assignment, for each level of the qualification, AS and A Level. Most of the work is practical and studio/workshop based. There may also be whole class discussions and lectures on the main theoretical aspects of the course. Your lecturers will work closely with you and you will be encouraged, as the course progresses, to develop your own individual interests. Your work will be assessed informally throughout the course. A final grade is determined by an externally moderated; end of course assessment of the portfolio unit, and the Externally Set Assignment unit, for each of the two levels. Please note that work in textiles is time-consuming and will require considerable additional work outside of class time.

What topics will I study?

Sketchbooks are used extensively to record research, both visual and written, and the development of your ideas throughout projects. Fashion and textile skills such as hand and machine embroidery, felting, printing, appliqué, pattern cutting, knitting, etc are introduced and an experimental approach is encouraged to develop ideas.

You will also undertake research to enable you to acquire knowledge of the work of artists and designers in fine art, textiles and fashion. Researching and referring to the work of other artists and designers is an important element of the design process and is a requirement of the course. You will be given guidance in the study of relevant artists designers and craftspeople throughout the qualification.

You will:

• Study a range of techniques and skills, including pattern cutting, printing and hand and machine embroidery
• Develop practical textile skills and independent, creative thinking through theme-based projects and research
• Take part in annual fashion shows, including working with external partners such as Princesshay Fashion Shows and the Royal Albert Memorial museum
• Visit exhibitions in London to experience the work of others, both contemporary and historical

What experiences will I get?

You will take part in annual fashion shows and will visit exhibitions in London and Paris to experience the work of others.

This course can be combined with other courses to make a full time programme and it goes well with most other subjects.

Future Steps: You could progress to study a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Exeter College and then go on to university courses such as fashion and costume design, textile and surface pattern, fashion photography and promotion. Future job roles might include fashion designer, tailor, surface designer, retail buyer, upholsterer, fashion illustrator, embroiderer or fashion merchandiser.

You will need eight GCSEs at grade 4 or above, including English Language and Maths. This subject requires a grade 4 or above in GCSE Art or a related subject, such as Textiles. If you are not taking Art GCSE, you will be required to show a portfolio of work and or undertake a creative attribution project.

The Art and Design Faculty has numerous art studios, a print workshop, a ceramics workshop, a 3D workshop, photographic darkrooms, fashion and textile workspace, a Learning and Resource Centre (LRC), IT rooms with industry standard software eg: Photoshop, Flash, Motion, Stop Motion Pro and Final Cut Pro software on PCs and Macs.

There are some costs of materials and resources, for an indication of what these might be please click to view the fees for September 2018.

There may be an opportunity to participate in a residential visit abroad.