Children Design Development

 

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

For the children costume, I made another design but this time it is a boy costume (see fig.1). Comparing with the girl design (see fig.2), I tried to experiment with different color palette and textile pattern. On the girl costume, I used mostly pastel and feminine playful color like red, yellow and purple whereas the boy costume used prominently red and brown paired with white as the base. The main inspiration for the boy costume is the deep red textile from Sulawesi.  

Fig. 3 dappu'

The cross with space or breaks between each motif on this woven fabric is called dappu' which has a deep philosophy about the potential of disharmony and separation within any relationship, and aim to remind the Sulawesi people to be aware of this potential and work to avoid conflict (Threads of Life, 2022). The dappu' fabric is used as the vest on the design.

Fig. 4 Pallawa

Another traditional textile I incorporated on my design is this long woven band called Pallawa. This band are used as a ceremonial belts, ties for hats and border on clothing by South Sulawesi people. Pallawa is made by using tablet weaving technique. "It's a traditional weaving technique where the warp yarns are threaded through small square tablets which were made of bone or tortoise-shell in the past. These tablets are rotated to form the sheds and the resulting textile will be a narrow warp faced band called pallawa"(Threads of Life, 2022). I decided to add the Pallawa as the border for the utility-style belt on the costume. (see fig.1). 

Fig. 5 Crochet shirt

For the costume design, I made it rather simple with white shirt as the base paired with vest to make it similar with the girl costume which also has a shoulder vest on it. The white shirt is made from crochet squares and has a blue-colored thread border (see fig.5) around it which is inspired from 'cabana chic' 2025 children fashion trend. Cited from Maisonette (2025), Cabana chic is an effortless, summer style with a touch of retro bold stripes. It uses lightweight fabric like cotton or linen with woven texture and scallop edges, paired with sunhat or raffia accessories making it perfect for seaside vacation outfits. I think it matches the style that I was going for, and it also perfect for children clothing because not only does it use comfortable lightweight fabric like linen, but it also has a playful and colorful decorative features like the color-contrast thread border. 

For the pants, I use the similar stripes pattern as in the girl costume but in red color which are called "Lurik".  Another embellishment that I included on the design is beads and tassels that is used on the belt and on the hat. 

References:

Maisonette (2025). Le Scoop - Stress Less. Parent Better. - Maisonette. [online] Maisonette.com. Available at: https://www.maisonette.com/le_scoop/top-kids [Accessed 3 May 2025].

The Thread of Life (2022). Sulawesi. [online] Threads of Life. Available at: https://threadsoflife.com/pages/sulawesi [Accessed 3 May 2025].