Unit 8 - Working to Textiles Briefs

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Unit 8: Working to textiles briefs

Introduction
Textiles involve manipulating materials and their structures and creating visual effects. Think about all the textiles that you use - not just in the clothes that you wear. From curtains to bedding, carpets to wall coverings, textiles can be designed and made to create hundreds of different effects to fulfil many different purposes.

Unit 8 encourages you to respond to specialist textile briefs. To do this, you need to learn more about textile materials, and the techniques and processes that go into making them.

Textile briefs
When you analyse a textile brief, think about what the textile is going to be used for and what effect you want to create with it. This involves asking questions like:

• what is the purpose of the design?
• what is the target market - who will use it and what will they use it for?
• what are the preferences of the target market? Textiles used in manufacturing clothing for babies will be different to those used in clothes for older people
• what production processes will be involved (CAD, printing, weaving, knitting, embroidery, felting, etc)?
• how much will producing the textiles cost?

The manufacturing company Hainsworth supplies textiles for many different purposes.

We find out what a customer wants, then we explore their ideas and dreams and find out what we can manufacture to meet them.

Try this
Imagine that you have been given a brief to design a new scarf or bag for your school or college. You'll need to think about the following points before you start designing your product.

• What is the scarf/bag intended to do - is it functional or decorative? How will its purpose influence its design?
• What do you know about the target market? How can you find out what is important to them in terms of the design of these garments?
• What production processes would be involved in making the textiles and the trimmings for these garments?
• How much will it cost to produce a prototype of your design? What materials will you use and how long will it take?

Textile materials
To meet a textile brief, you'll use a lot of your knowledge about materials and their properties. Once you know what the textile will be used for, you can consider:

• whether you will use natural or synthetic materials

• what weight of material will be most suitable
• the best types of yarn and threads to use
• the dyes and inks you'll use to create your designs.

You may want to incorporate non-traditional materials in your textile - designers have used everything from glass to paper, stones to flowers to create special effects.

Hainsworth manufacture textiles for a wide range of purposes including fire fighting, military uniforms and industrial applications.

We've always specialised in certain types of textiles. Originally we concentrated on manufacturing cloth for uniforms for governments both here and overseas. That led us into making protective textiles for the fire service. Business was good until the 1950s but then it started to decline and we decided to diversify in other areas. We bought a number of businesses that complemented our own and that gave us new products and expertise. Hainsworth is now made up of a group of specialist textile divisions which are world leaders in their fields.

Try this

• Read the Hainsworth profile and make a list of all the different types of textiles they manufacture.
• Research new textiles, particularly those used for specific purposes such as retarding fire. You'll find information on the Internet about some of the new technologies that are now being employed in specialist textile production.
• Think about the scarf/blazer that you want to design for your school or college. What will determine the type of material that you use? What colours would you incorporate in your textile design? Write a list of questions that you could use in a customer survey to find out what your fellow students (your customers) would like. Remember to consider practical as well as aesthetic issues - such as should the material be washable, how expensive will it be to produce, how heavy will it be to wear, etc.
• Investigate different materials that you could use to make your product, and draw up a table that shows the benefits and drawbacks of different types of textile. Evaluate at least six different textiles to find out which one would be most suitable for the purpose. 

Textile techniques and processes
To meet your brief you'll use techniques and processes both to make the basic textile and to embellish it, so you'll find out more about:

• construction methods such as weaving, knitting and felt-making
• hand and machine embroidery
• printing, including mono, stencil and resist.

Finally you will think about how you're textiles can be assembled (i.e. cut, assembled and joined together) to make your finished product.

Hainsworth carries out a wide range of processes in its mill.
From a manufacturing point of view, we're unique because we're a vertical mill. That means that we get in the raw wool, manufacture the yarn through carding and spinning, weave, dye and finish it then make it into products, all in one place. It's quite an operation when you consider that some cloths go through fifty separate processes before they are completed. No other company has looms that can finish textiles up to the width that we can. That gives us a competitive advantage and also means that we can produce a diverse range of products on site. We can use our looms to produce lengths of textiles for uniforms, blankets or covers for snooker tables.

Try this

• How many construction methods are you familiar with? Create a portfolio to display your skills in weaving, knitting, felting, sewing, dying, fabric printing, etc.
• Which of these methods would you use to make your scarf or bag? Can you incorporate design and making elements that will differentiate your product from the rest?
• Are there any processes that you will have to 'buy in' - i.e. things that you can't do yourself to complete the garment? Who would supply these services - and how much will it cost?

 

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