During my last trip to the Philippines, I rediscovered how special its indigenous textiles are. They're too beautiful to be limited to placemats. I decided to have fun with them and ended up hand-sewing a vest and a pair shoes for my 16-month old daughter.

I bought this fabric from Silahis in Old Manila. They carry thousands of Philippine handicraft products, some new and some old. None of them are dated. It crossed my mind, as I was cutting the fabric, that it might be vintage! Gilet made with Balud handwoven textile and neon lime thread. Balud refers to handwoven loom patterned with bands of tiny ikat weft motifs arranged between multi-colored warp stripes, made by the Maranao People from Lanao del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines.

My cousin Alessa gave me leather and this hand-woven fabric from Anthill. On a whim I decided to use them for these slip-on shoes. I think the neon thread is unexpected and interesting. The textile was turned sideways to make the triangle tribal pattern look like a whimsical row of bows down the front of the shoes. It was really hard to sew leather with just a needle!