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Major Textile Project
Textiles and Design Major Textile Project forum questions
Investigation, experimentation and evaluation
If you are making a wearable textile art, what do you need to justify for this?
If you are making a wearable textile art, what do you need to justify for this?
The Board of Studies' definition of the word justify is to "support an argument or conclusion". There are two areas in the supporting documentation where you are asked to justify certain aspects of your design work.
The first is in the Design
inspiration section. According to the Textiles and
Design (T&D) syllabus (page 36) you need to show
"justification of creative and/or innovative
design". The marking guidelines (which can be found on
the
Board of Studies 
' web site expand on this point to
explain that the markers are looking for "clear
communication of the design inspiration by justifying
particular creative and/or innovative design ideas or
techniques developed from the design inspiration". So
this means that you need to demonstrate clearly how the
design ideas or techniques which you have put forward in your
designs can be directly linked to your design inspiration,
and explain why you chose to use those particular design
ideas or techniques.
The second time you are asked to justify is in the Investigation, experimentation and evaluation section. The syllabus will tell you to "justify the use of: materials, equipment, manufacturing processes". The marking guidelines state that a very good response "provides thorough details of materials, equipment and manufacturing processes used and justifies their use on the basis of comprehensive investigations". So again you need to state clearly and in detail what you have done, and why you have done it that way. A good answer will show that you investigated which materials and equipment to use, and the best ways to make your textile item in order to achieve the desired effect (materials: fabrics, linings, interfacings, threads, trims, closures, beads, etc; equipment: sewing machines, overlockers, blind hemmers, and their related accessories, hand tools, looms, knitting machines, etc).
This investigation needs to be done progressively, beginning when you are deciding which fabrics to use, right through to working out the best way to do your hems, sew on your beads, etc. So, with your wearable textile art piece, as with any textile item, the marker should be able to look at your item, then your supporting documentation and know why you chose the materials, why you used certain pieces of equipment to make your item, and why you made it the way you did.
With applying techniques throughout the MTP, are there any marks gained for different, creative and contemporary techniques? Or are all techniques equal in some sense?
Your MTP should demonstrate "creativity/innovation and a degree of difficulty in the use of design features and/or specialised fabrics and/or construction techniques" (refer to the Marking guidelines for more detailed information). Notice the use of and/or above. Yes, you must show creativity/innovation and a degree of difficulty in your MTP, but not necessarily in all three areas listed above. So you could, for example, use the simplest construction techniques, but demonstrate your creativity/innovation in your choice of design features and/or specialised fabrics.
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