Melted May - Making a Woven Maypole Dress

My first process, whilst thinking up projects for this calendar, was to research the months. I thought about what sort of festivities happened in those months and I searched through images related to those months.

These are some of the beautiful pictures I found for May.

I loved the irises in this picture, but although it was cute it didn't give me a lot of scope for brainstorming.

Poster/Print: Month of May - Mai by VintageCabaret
Browse other posters on zazzle.co.uk

I loved the bright colours in the image below and the horoscope idea but I was already exploring the themes of Leo and Virgo for August.

Book of Hours - Month of May by VintagePets
Browse other Book of hours T-Shirts

I don't know much about Beltane but I began to think that it could form the basis of an interesting project of May.

What appealed to me most with the idea of Maypoles was the ribbons being woven in and out of each other.

This idea immediately got my brain ticking with how I could emulate this process in a textiles project.

I loved the idea that the Maypole was actually a giant loom from which a structure of ribbons was being woven.

I'd been looking at all sorts of looms, whilst working in this project, as I'd been given a rigid heddle loom. I already owned a peg loom and bead loom.

I wasn't interested in creating a perfectly woven piece of fabric. I was more interested in weaving chunky bits of fabric and handspun yarn with ribbons and wool and maybe even dried grasses etc.

Beltane by Mctira
Browse other Beltane Posters

When I originally doodled the scrappy picture below I wasn't entirely sure that I was going to make a dress for this project but thought I'd jot the idea down anyway.

I hadn't made any garment more involved than a wrap since finishing my costume degree... unless you count that hideous sweater I knitted... oh and I've made hats! So I wasn't sure if this project would be too much for me considering I had to work out a usable pattern and then weave the fabric.

As I wasn't sure about whether this project would be too much for me I started thinking about the possibility of using a doll as a loom. By that I mean either tying strings around a doll, or even a mannequin if I feel brave, and constructing a garment on top of the doll or mannequin.

I resigned myself to the fact that my Maypole dress probably wouldn't look like the one below! I loved the colours, however, so I wanted to make something that would be bright.

May Pole by melteddoodles
Make a postcard on zazzle

Above: My coloured doodle for the Maypole Dress Project.

As you can see from the images opposite and below I used rainbow colours for my Maypole dress.

I had no idea whether this dress would work and I had no budget for buying new materials so I just grabbed a selection of bright fabrics from my fabric stash and used them.

It's a shame I didn't have any hot pink and turquoise in my fabric stash so I could make the dress more like the one in my original doodle.

I also decided to make things easier for myself by not making the dress a wrap-around (as I'd drawn in my doodle). Partially this was because I wanted to keep the project as simple as possible, and partially it was because it wasn't a design that I felt worked as well with my Maypole concept.

What I thought would be the hardest project of the lot actually turned out to be very quick and effective.

Vital Statistics of the Finished Maypole Dress.

The size of the dress depends on the size of your mannequin.

Remember you can make mannequins to your exact size or you can either adjust them or pad them out with wadding until they're the right size.

Project Stats

Difficulty Level: Easy!

Time: Finished in an afternoon.

Skills:
Weaving
Knotting

Opposite: The front of the finished dress.

This project is the Seventh week of the Melted Fabrics Yahoo Group Craft Challenges.

I set the challenge of producing something with weaving.

I decided to start a Craft Challenge each week to encourage me to get these calendar projects done on time. After finishing the calendar I carried on inventing new projects each week. You can find them all listed in the lens featured below.

If you have trouble finding inspiration for craftwork then let me help you!

These challenges aren't just for me. If you'd like to join in please visit us.

The more, the merrier!