Not so many years ago, 'handmade' weddings were the norm. The cake would be made by a relative, the flowers by a friend of a friend - the food, photography, car and dress all taken care of locally and personally. Of course historically, the need to keep down costs was usually the motivating factor behind these wonderful contributions, but recent times have seen a resurgence of the handmade wedding not with saving money in mind, but in order to celebrate our new love of vintage, retro style and a heritage of handcrafting.There are countless ways to achieve the 'handmade' look with a splash of vintage style - Folksy and Etsy both have beautifully crafted items to purchase if you don't have the time or skill to create them for yourself.
If you are determined to knit something for the special day either for yourself or as a gift then Ravelry too has a whole host of patterns. There are wedding ring shawls, socks, wraps, traditional Norwegian wedding gloves and even knitted cake!
We are incredibly privileged to share the wonderful story of a contemporary handmade wedding with you. Mandy McIntyre of Twisted Threads in Geelong, Australia has one super knitter customer, Ruth, who knitted her daughters wedding dress and reception suit entirely in MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino. The bride and groom, Sarah and Adam decided on the 'handmade' theme for their wedding with the most stunning results!
When we planned our wedding we wanted to do a 1950's as we both love this time and it is who we are. Our theme was handmade and we sourced from small enterprises or small individual businesses like Twisted Threads where all the yarn was purchased. When we heard about MillaMia wool it also fitted in with our theme.
When we planned our wedding we wanted to do a 1950's as we both love this time and it is who we are. Our theme was handmade and we sourced from small enterprises or small individual businesses like Twisted Threads where all the yarn was purchased. When we heard about MillaMia wool it also fitted in with our theme.
Both gowns were knitted by Ruth (Mother of the Bride) using MillaMia yarn as her gift to the couple. The Wedding Gown design was inspired by a vintage pattern found in an old Nomotta pattern book which called for a cotton yarn, however Ruth substituted MillaMia wool instead. As she was knitting, Ruth realised that she would need to make the gown as 2 separate pieces given the weight of the garment. The skirt took over 400 hours to make and required 25 balls of wool. After that Ruth gave up counting her time and the number of balls!
The Reception Suit design (as seen above), also knitted in MillaMia yarn was taken from 'Knit Vintage' by Madeline Weston and Rita Taylor.
We loved building Lego together so it was used as much as possible.
Bride and Groom bears also knitted by Ruth.
With very grateful thanks to Sarah, Adam and Ruth for sharing the heart-warming story of this beautiful wedding.
(posted by Max)
It was such a pleasure to work with your beautiful soft wool.
ReplyDeleteI love the new colours and have knitted a jumper in the blue for the bride.
Sarah has lots of knitted items, which she has me create.
Thank you for your post.