Our website has detected that you are using an outdated browser than will prevent you from accessing certain features. We recommend that you update your browser, simply click one of the following to download a new browser:

Skip to content Skip to navigation
Textiles

Emily Darlington

Textiles

Final year project

Celestial Vaulting [Read more]

Handwoven Corduroy in Mercerised Cotton and Shetland Wool

The collection is designed to represent and indulge our innate desire to look up to the sky. This is epitomised by the concept of celestial vaulting which describes the poetic sensation of falling into the stars, an experience in which the self temporarily dissolves, associated with benefits including increased wellbeing and optimism.

Geometric Patterning in Spun Silk

Woven fabric from the first warp of this collection, using 2/20s and 2/60s spun silk for a lustrous effect in this all-over pattern design, achieved using extra weft detailing.

Interrupted Pattern in Spun Silk

This piece accentuates the gradient in the dyeing of this warp, used to demonstrate the tonal variation in the blue of the evening sky. The addition of occasional picks of silk bouclé adds a few interludes of tactile interest across the cloth and hints of pattern embellish without overwhelming.

Initial Observational Study for 'Celestial Vaulting'

watercolour and pencil on paper.

Pattern Placement on The Body

Silk Fabric Visualisation

Exploring the visual relationship between my fabrics and the body.

Emily Darlington

Woven textiles for women's fashion exploring our fascination with looking up to the sky.

Celestial vaulting is a woven textiles collection inspired by mankind’s fascination with the night sky and its insinuation of the heavens. From the ancient Greeks to the modern-day, we have been attempting to observe, chart and explore the night sky fuelling the imagination and aspiration of countless generations and casting our collective gaze upwards. This has continued to be prevalent throughout the lockdown with news of the pandemic punctuated by lighter stories of the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn and NASAs triumphant exploration of Mars. The woven textile outcomes of this project are intended for use in the context of women’s ready to wear fashion- enveloping women in visions of the night sky and transcending their immediate surroundings. The fabric's serve as an exploration into the use of extra weft structures in hand weaving.

Final year project

Celestial Vaulting