A MALVERN teenager has won a top prize for a silk kimono she created.

Zo Rule, 15, won the under-16 section of the National Quilt Championship, held in Esher last week.

A Hanley Castle High School pupil, she made the kimono as part of GCSE work in textiles.

Because Zo is dyslexic, she has always found school work difficult, but the structured course work and teacher's support meant she could work in bite-sized pieces without having to tackle large essay-type projects.

In the run-up to making the kimono, Zo did work experience with Dinah Prentice, a Malvern Wells neighbour and one of Britain's leading textile artists.

She said: "Her work is so inspirational and breaks all the traditional ideas of textile art. I learned so much from Dinah, especially about working to full size plans."

She also took a silk paining course with Hereford artist Sarah Fincken, who again changed the way Zo saw textiles work.

"In those sessions I learned so many new skills. Sarah's use of colour and blending, especially of colours, I would never have imagined using, made me rethink my designs completely.

"She also understood my thinking as a dyslexic person, and instead of feeling put down, the times that I had with both Sarah and Dinah brought out a side in me I didn't know I had."

Without Zoe's knowledge, mum Sue entered the kimono into the competition in Surrey.

"She did it for her GCSE but the judges said it was way beyond A-level standard," said Sue.

Zo has already been offered a place at Matthew Bolton College in Birmingham, where she will study visual merchandising with a view to becoming a product designer.