Selandang

Selandang or shoulder scarves are made from a single panel woven on a backstrap loom. The motifs on this textile are the same that are used on the larger sekomandi textiles that are made by weavers of the To Mangki Karataun ethnic group in central Sulawesi.

The shoulder scarf became used throughout the Indonesian archipelago when the woman’s blouse, called a kebaya, became used as national dress. Prior to this many traditional communities did not use a shoulder cloth as traditional dress.

The central pattern on this textile is a tosso balekoan (niddy noddy) used for making skeins of yarn after the threads are spun from handpicked cotton. After being skeined the threads are then wound into balls of yarn so they are ready to warp an ikat tying frame to create patterns that would later be woven into a textile.