Knit a Stunning Wedding Dress

I wasn’t that into knitting when I got married, but it never would have occurred to me at the time to knit a wedding dress. Now I’m a little sad there weren’t a lot of homemade elements in our celebration, but it doesn’t stop me from admiring people who do knit or crochet or otherwise make their own dresses, flowers and other things for their big day.

This dress is billed as the Peacock Wedding Dress from Nikarra Palmer-Simmons, but if I knit such a thing you can bet I’d be wearing it on any occasion I could think of just to show it off.

This gorgeous design is worked in lace weight yarn from the top down. The bodice is fitted and has decorative eyelets as well as a bit of beading. The full skirt features peacock feather lace and other lace designs, and it can be beaded as well. You’re going to want to click through to this pattern on Ravelry just so you can see the closeups.

Nikarra says the pattern was originally inspired by a design from Army of Knitters, but as it evolved it also includes some of Meg Swansen’s Spanish Peacock chart and the skirt is “heavily based” on a design from Irina Makarova.

She also notes that the dress is designed to be worn over an underdress and with a full tulle skirt to support its weight, particularly if you use the beads.

The pattern has four sizes, but the small and medium haven’t been tested at the time of this writing. The designer notes this pattern is best for intermediate to advanced knitters because of all the lace and the sheer size of the project. Lace is charted and written but comfort reading charts would help a lot with this project.

The pattern is free on Ravelry so if you’ve ever had a hankering to knit a wedding dress, or a dress fancy enough to be a wedding dress but you’re just wearing it to Costco, check it out. I would love to hear if you try it!

[Photo: Nikarra Palmer-Simmons]

I love the look of mesh tops for summer, but I don’t know that I would ever actually wear one that’s full of giant holes, even though I admit they look cool (in both senses of the word) on other people.

What I would wear, though, is something that’s still lacy but maybe a little bit more subdued, like this chevron lace knit top from Yarnspirations.

This easy to knit T-shirt style top is worked flat in two pieces from the bottom up, using and easy lace pattern that’s a repeat of 10 stitches and four rows (though the wrong side rows are just purled, so there’s only two rows you need to learn the pattern on).

It has little cap sleeves that are worked as part of the top by casting on stitches where you need them.

If you’re new to lace knitting this is a good one to try because the pattern includes both written and charted instructions, and the only skills you need are yarn over, knit two together, slip slip knit and slip 1 knit 2 together pass the slipped stitch over (which makes a centered decrease).

There are four size options available (which they claim is enough to cover XS to 5XL), with finished chest measurements ranging from 38.5 inches (that’s 98 cm) to 59 inches, or 150 cm. The amount of ease would vary widely depending on your size and the size garment you choose. For example the largest size is said to fit a chest measurement from 5258 inches/132-147.4 cm, which gives you a range of ease from 1-7 inches, or 2.5 to 17.78 cm, depending on your size. Just something to be aware of when you think about how you want it to fit.

The project calls for Red Heart Cotton Breeze yarn, which isn’t a yarn I’ve tried yet, but it’s a DK weight acrylic and cotton blend, which should make a lightweight top that’s great for summer.

Grab the free pattern from Yarnspirations.

[Photo: Yarnspirations]

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