Experimenting with textiles, fashion and jewellery

With textiles, fashion and jewellery design, the tactile qualities of materials can be as important as their appearance.

When experimenting you should consider how your design will feel as well as how it looks.

Experiment with different textile materials such as threads, yarns and fabrics. Try combining them in different ways.
Use techniques such as knitting, weaving, stitching and fabric manipulation. See what different textures, shapes and forms you can create by altering the tightness, looseness or size of your technique.
Experiment with metal and wirework.
Use paper manipulation techniques, such as folding, pleating, cutting, scoring and joining in different ways.
Apply different finishes to paper and card – it is easy to make paper and card look like other materials. For example, metallic paint will give it the appearance of metal.
Experiment with found and recycled materials.
Make for fashion design to experiment with ideas and to help work out the construction of a garment. Use cheap fabric, such as .
Make samples of motifs in different sizes and assemble them together in different arrangements.

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