The palette and moodboard I provide here are personal combinations I created for #AprilChallengeByAndrea (Week 1 – The Red Dress), the pattern challenge I promoted on Instagram. The hex color codes are combined to create harmony with real pantone colors found among the current trends, 2025-26 trends (Photo credits below)

The story: “Sonia and Mirabelle* are two dynamic young women who co-founded a sustainable and dynamic online children’s clothing brand. Passionate about ethical fashion and new mothers themselves, they prioritize the use of organic materials, ensuring products that are respectful of the planet and the sensitive skin of little ones. But they want to break the stereotypes of eco-friendly fashion by creating colorful and playful pieces, imbued with joy and creativity. Their goal is simple: say goodbye to sad beige and neutral! They want also to offer girls an alternative to Barbie pink! to prove that ethical and organic clothing can also be fun, trendy, and full of life!”

*Any resemblance to persons living or having lived is purely coincidental and unintentional.

Draw a pretty pattern for a little girl’s dress with red as the eye-catching element in your design.

* What is your favorite red? What shade of red? What does this red remind you of from your childhood? Is it Little Red Riding Hood’s red? Is it a crushed raspberry red like your favorite jam? Is it the memory of your first scratch? A tendency toward pink or orange? Which one do you choose from the palette: Real Red? Coral Paradise? Poppy Red? Orangeade? (I picked these shades from Pantone current trends and forecasts for 2025/2026).

* Once you’ve found your own shade of red, choose the season that matches it. This can help to find the main motif (summer fruit? autumn mushroom? …)

* Draw a pattern while trying to visualize the dress being worn. What will you draw: A pattern for a sleeveless jersey dress? A pattern for a wintery design worthy of a Christmas story? This can help you find the right style or scale for your pattern.

* Your pattern design doesn’t need to be complex. It could based on a classic plaid, subtle ethnic stripes, or a simple illustration of your favorite berry…

* Pay attention to your client’s values ​​(here an ethical brand) and the assumed age of their customers (=the mothers!)

* Summon your inner child! Have you ever dreamed of wearing a beautiful red dress?

* To create and adapt a children’s clothing, you have to ask yourself a certain number of questions: what use? outdoor, casual, comfortable, specific use, etc. What constraints? manufacturing? What materials? smooth or plush…

* How to make durable clothing patterns? They must be easy to match! Why no a trendy pattern that is suitable for several seasons? (A summer dress still looks pretty with a cardigan over it!)

* A limited palette limits production costs and facilitates combination with other garments.

* Your pattern could be used also for: fabric, pouches, gift wrap,…

* Resources! A wealth of information “How to Create a Children’s Collection” on the Textile Addict website! And much more…essential (French) site! Just ask Google to translate it for you 😉

Dark cherry red is trendy!

* (Link) Take inspiration with the: Bright Red Moon (Lunar Eclipses) Color Scheme.

* (Link) Trendy red of the moment, check the moodboard from GoodMoods.

* Miranda’s advice: go check out the patterns and colors of children’s clothing in your supermarket! They’re definitely the latest trends. And rewatch The Devil Wears Prada (…or not!)

Red is the first color mastered by humans thanks to red ochre and madder. Red is political and religious, protective and warns of dangers.

Red evokes tales, Christmas, the ceremonial carpet, the theater curtain, opera…

Red is ambivalent: emotion and vitality but also passion, love and war.

Literature is inexhaustible on the subject of red; for my part, I always read with pleasure the writings of the French historian Michel Pastoureau, “Rouge, histoire d’une couleur” Seuil, 2016.