WOODLAND FERN WEDDING DRESS

This is a baby-soft, lacy wedding dress, designed for a rustic woodland winter wedding.

I had always wanted to attempt the challenge of knitting a wedding dress, but it had to be a relatively quick knit. As much as I admire others who do knit extraordinarily elaborate wedding dresses, I did not want to spend 3 years knitting the thing! I have not been married in it yet, but I did happily become engaged while knitting it. :)

I had a few things in mind when I designed this dress.
I particularly wanted it to fit a gypsy/bohemian/forest theme.
I wanted it to be reusable, so it had to be not too ‘weddingy’ and able to be easily dyed a different colour and still look good later.
I wanted lace, but not too much, and I wanted it to be original and made of wool because…well, it’s cold in winter in the forest :)
I wanted a feminine, comfortable and flattering fit.

The dress is knit in the round from the bottom up to the armholes, where it splits for back and fronts, with a simple repeated lace insertion of staggered fern fronds, and shaping easily incorporated into the stockinette sections. It features a deep v-neck and eyelet holes under the bust through which to thread a velvet or silk ribbon. The lace insertion in charted, and the scalloped edgings are in written form.
The only seams to sew are at the shoulders, and sewing on the lace edging if you choose not to ‘knit’ it in.

Various coloured slips would suit this pattern, I wore a dusky pink in the photos. Because the dress is seamless and worked at a looser gauge, it will have a tendency to ‘grow’ slightly, so lining it with a soft cotton voile or silk is a good idea.

I designed this dress in one size, mine. I am an AU10, size small to medium. Bust 84cm/33”, just under 5’10” tall. The bodice section is 30cm/12“ long and of course is quite stretchy, so would accommodate a smaller or larger bust. The skirt section is designed to be 107cm/42” long, but can be adjusted to be shorter or longer.

This pattern is a description of exactly how I made the dress and I have included my own notes. You will need to know working in the round, basic lace knitting from a chart and from written form, and increasing and decreasing.

Materials:
1 (or 2 if knitting in the lace edging) x 80cm (32”) 4.5mm (US 7) circular needles
10 markers (8 can be the same, but 2 need to be unique)
2 x balls Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 3ply col. Frost 200g 960m per ball
Stitch holders or spare circular needle

Gauge:
On 4.5mm (US 7) needles, 20 sts and 25 rows in st st over 4”/10cm

Any questions or problems with the pattern, please message me.