TEACHING TEXTILES TOOLKIT
THIS IS A FREE TOOLKIT PRODUCED AND COLLATED BY DATTA VIC. JOIN US TO ACCESS OUR EXTENSIVE LIBRARY OF DESIGN & TECHNOLOGIES RESOURCES |
This toolkit is intended to be a helpful resource for teachers of Design & Technologies and VCE Product Design & technologies. It includes links to resources that you can use with your students. If you have any great resources you're happy to share, please send them through to Laura at pl@datta.vic.edu.au and we'll add them to the toolkit. |
TECHNOLOGIES IN SOCIETY |
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This is a great resource for teachers implementing the Design & Technologies - Technologies in Society context. It includes material addressing sustainability, ethical design, First Nations fashion and cultural influence on design. |
RENOWNED DESIGNERS |
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Martin Grant In 2025, NGV hosted an exhibition of the work of one of Australia's most successful fashion designers. The fact sheet which accompanied the exhibition was designed to support students of VCE Visual Arts, but a lot of the information is helpful for PD&T students also. |
Mary Quant - Fashion Revolutionary - An introduction for Teachers Members can log in and access this great PD recording from 2021. Bendigo Art Gallery took us on a virtual private tour of their Mary Quant, Fashion Revolutionary exhibition. It covered key items, Quant’s impact on the world of fashion and the way fashion of the time reflected advances in technology as well as the political climate. |
Alexander McQueen: Mind Mythos Muse
This 2022 NGV exhibition might be over, but the website lives on, and has some great material for you to use in the classroom. It includes all the labels, information on the exhibition themes and recorded panel discussions about McQueen's work. |
Piinpi - Contemporary Indigenous Fashion Members can log in to access this resource. Bendigo Art Gallery’s First Nation’s Curator Shonae Hobson takes us a virtual tour of Piinpi, Australia’s first major survey of Indigenous Australian Fashion. This resource package includes: the recording of the webinar, chat transcription, document of useful links from Bendigo Art Gallery & slides from all presenters. |
Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto NGV still has some great material on their website from their retrospective on Chanel, including curator Danielle Whitflield discussing The Little Black Cress - A Symbol of Modernity and Curator Favourites. You can access all the recordings HERE. |
200 Years of Australia Fashion This NGV article takes a walk through 2 centuries of clothing and accessories, from Dior to Dinnigan. |
MATERIALS & TECHNOLOGIES / FOOD & FIBRE PRODUCTION |
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The Woolmark Learning Centre The Woolmark Learning Centre offers step-by-step online learning paths about wool. This expert-led, in-depth digital coursework is free of charge and enables the transfer of knowledge along the global wool supply chain, inspiring a new generation of talent. |
The Australian Wool Education Trust has lots of helpful resources about the properties and production processes of wool. |
Wool4School is an annual student competition that offers a complete design experience in the classroom while introducing a new generation of students to the versatility of Australian wool. |
Tech for Textiles - Using the Cricut in Design & Technologies Members can log in and access this resource, which includes the recording of a 2022 teach meet delivered by Erica Noble which explored the functions of the Cricut machine and shared student projects. |
12 Mini Fabric Manipulation Samples Tutorial This features a demonstration of 12 miniature textile samples using a variety of fabric manipulation techniques, including trapping, layered ruffles and trapped threads. |
This tutorial stakes a step-by-step look at a variety of fabric dyeing techniques with indigo. |
Boiled Shibori with Dip Dye Tutorial Shibori is the art of creating three-dimensional fabric textures using a range of solid objects and heat manipulation. |
Cotton Australia has lots of resources on their Cotton Classroom website for both primary and secondary classes. These are aligned with Australian Design & Technologies curriculum, and offer lots of ideas for food & fibre production activities. |
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES IN TEXTILES |
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Digital Tools for Teaching Textiles Members can log in to access this resource, which features a recording of a virtual session from October 2021, which explored the world of STEM in Textiles. This session included:
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Sustainable 3D Printed Fashion - How and When 3D Printing Could Help Prevent Climate Change This video introduces us to Julia Daviy, an inventor and designer. She revolutionized the development of cleantech (solar energy, renewable energy, water tech, waste tech, organic products, green building) in the fashion industry. Daviy's work aims to minimise the impact in the supply chain of her brand of organic activewear by using a combination of tech, including additive manufacturing, digital design, and sustainable materials and started from there, bringing the transformative change to the fashion industry. |
The 3D Printed Fashion of Sophy Wong Mythbusters' Adam Savage discovers work of designer Sophy Wong and shows how she experiments with 3D printed garments to create accessories and clothing with unique topography and embedded electronics. She visits Adam in the Tested cave with a selection of her recent projects, including a full dress made from printed PLA plastic! |
This is a recording of an online information session from 2022. Bio-Inspired Textiles is a UK-based research project that explores how combining biology, material science and textile design can enhance sustainable and circular practice. Thanks to Professor Veronika Kapsali for giving us permission to share her work. |
Another Woolmark video, this one focuses on Helene Steiner - a designer and engineer who works at the interface between technology and science. She co-founded Open Cell with the mission to provide affordable lab space to early-stage start-ups innovating at the intersection of design and biology. She is the co-founder of Cell-Free Technology, where she develops computational and biological design tools for proteins and materials and leads the biomaterial platform at the fashion department at the Royal College of Art.
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The Fabric Link website has a great library of resources on textiles and emerging tech. It explores smart fabrics that respond to changes in temperature, light and pressure; can change shape; and can monitor the wearer's vital signs and health. Discover bio-inspired fabrics adapted from nature, including from: spiders, beetles, geckos and mushrooms. |
Smart Textiles: The Future of Wearable Technology Enhanced by AI This Medium article explores the rise of smart textiles, their real-life applications, and the cutting-edge research driving this transformative technology. |
This site has a great range of soft and wearable tech projects that you can try in the classroom including tools and materials lists and troubleshooting advice. |
Energy Harvesting Smart Textiles: A New Era of Self-Powered Fashion and Home Textiles This Fibre2Fashion article explores how technologies like piezoelectric, thermoelectric, photovoltaic, and triboelectric enable diverse applications from self-powered wearables to energy-efficient home furnishings. |
Innovative Textile Technology: Exploring the Future of Fabric The JD Institute of Fashion Technology published this article which examines some of the emerging new textile technologies contributing to the advancement of fabrics, such as smart textiles and fabrication. |
The ARC Research Hub for Future Fibres The Future Fibres Hub is part of Deakin University's Institute for Frontier Materials. It's work focuses on sustainability, circular economics and extraordinary Functionality, and it connects with industry partners to solve real world problems. |
This must-watch short film explores the work of Melbourne-based designer Amanda Morglund who makes fashion from fungi! She creates biodegradable and sustainable clothing using mushroom “mycelium” as a way to address the critical impact of the fashion industry on the environment. |
THE FASHION & TEXTILES INDUSTRY |
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Innovating the World of Textiles - the Future of Garment Making
Automation, sustainable technologies and socially-responsible manufacturing are reshaping the global fashion and garment industry. Find out more in this ITMA webisode from 2019: The Future of Garment Making.
Naturally Inspiring - Sheila May Carruthers This Woolkark video features an interview with fashion designer, advisor and global consultant, Sheila-Mary Carruthers. She starting her career in textile design, specialising in weave and print. Her career has seen her work with a number of global brands, including Nokia, Microsoft. and DuPont. This is a great way for your students to explore the fashion supply chain. |
Corporate Social Responsibility in Fashion This padlet on Corporate Social Responsibility in the Fashion industry is based on Oxfam's Corporate Responsibility report. |
What my jeans say about the garment industry This is a great activity from Fashion Revolution where students unfold the hidden cost of fast fashion through the life of a pair of jeans, the most polluting item in our wardrobes from an environmental and social standpoint. Students gain the awareness to impact change through their choices. The knowledge to become catalysts of positive change. The instruments to make a conscious decision: do we want to be consumers of fashion or Fashion Revolutionaries working for the benefit of all of us? |
UNITS OF WORK & CLASSROOM PROJECTS |
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Going Green in the School Canteen with Forest Learning This year 5 & 6 project explores rayon as a wood-based textile and gets students engaged in the design process and sustainable materials to create a reusable cutlery role. It's free, but teachers must register to access it. |
In 2024, DATTA Vic and Melbourne Museum collaborated with teachers to create a Future Eco Fashion resource which engages students in sustainable and ethical fashion design. This resource is an editable student portfolio that is based on speculative design and the environment. |
Kimono Japanese Language Learning Resource While this NGV resource based on their Kimono exhibition is for language students, it's still really helpful for Design & Technologies. It includes historical information, design elements, contemporary fashion, discussion questions and printable resources. |
Possum Skin Cloaks with Maree Clark This NGV resource is for primary students. They will discover how Clarke made her possum-skin cloak and the personal meaning of the design, then create a design representing significant places or journeys from their own lives. |
Accessory Design: Inspired by Comme des Garçons A 7-10 classroom activity from NGV, where students learn about the conceptual processes of designer Rei Kawakubo, Comme des Garçons. They will analyse and interpret Kawakubo’s designs and use her garments as inspiration for their own work, embracing the aesthetic of Comme des Garçons. Following a design process, students will design an accessory to accompany one of Kawakubo’s runway looks and create a sculptural prototype using simple materials. |
Clever Clothes is a great resource from the Design Museum on how wearable technology is changing our world. From intelligent watches to internet dresses; designers are adapting everyday wearable objects so that they are more useful, insightful and exciting.
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Fashion Illustration with Angie Rehe |
What She Makes Oxfam's What She Makes Action Guide is a great resource on ethical fashion for textiles students. They also have teacher notes and student worksheets which are benchmarked to the Australian Civics and Citizenship and Geography curricula but could be adapted for D&T. There's a downloadable game and a letter writing Activity Guide. |
Threads Fast Fashion Lesson Plans
The Global Goals Centre has produced a set of eight lesson plans which explore the impact of fast fashion on people and on the environment. These include Denim Detectives - What's Behind the Label, Factories: Have We Learnt Anything? and Fake Fashion. |
Disclaimer: These resources are the work of practising teachers or education providers. They have been sources and shared in good faith and for general information only. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DATTA Vic, nor do DATTA Vic endorse the accuracy or suitability of the information for any particular purpose. Note that this material has not been verified by VCAA. Responsibility in response to the material must be accepted by users. For VCE, teachers must refer to the mandatory documents in relation to the VCE Product Design and Technologies/Systems Engineering study designs from VCAA, which are available online and updated every year. For safety information, teachers must consult the relevant OHS Hazard Management section of the department's website. |
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