This paper argues that a bricolage metaphor is a useful framework for understanding a crafts-based textile design practice that includes a values system that supports sustainability, and for making explicit the differences and parallels between a design and science research approach. The first part of the PhD included a literature review of design methodology, sustainability theory and psychology theory on values and worldviews, followed by an auto-ethnographic review of the author’s own past textile practice. This paper represents the next stage of the project and includes a literature review of bricolage as a concept across a variety of academic literature, and a synthesis of these findings with the outcomes from the auto-ethnographic review. Five characteristics of the bricolage metaphor have been identified in relation to the author’s practice: Using limited resources; Designer as Professional/Amateur; Craft Skill as Knowledge/Intelligence; Self Transformation; and Alternatives to Consumerism. This analysis will then inform an action research phase that tests pedagogic methods for developing sustainability mindsets in textile/fashion design students, with a deeper understanding and articulation of ‘sustainable designerly ways of knowing’ in a textile and fashion design context.