Cath tried on several of our wedding dress designs - she was adamant she wanted something not entirely conventional and definitely not white! On her first visit she had a few ideas and went away to mull them over.

She chose everything made in the Valley for her wedding which was held in the Hebden Bridge Town Hall, just a confetti flutter from our little shop.

On Cath’s second visit we’d put out a few more of our spring summer designs, including a knee length cascade dress with a 20s style detail of chains knitted in around the hem. Our knits for this collection were very ‘watery’ after our valley was flooded last year. Sometimes you just have to give in to inspiration like that and scarcely a piece went without some kind of ripple or splash in its detailing.

Could we adapt one of those? Cath is beautifully tall and elegant and really looks lovely in a long dress. We took her measurements and made some sketches.

Together we decided it would work best to simply extend the detailed section rather than moving it down - it works well from the knee and moves as you do. Of course this is the part of the dress that takes longest to knit. C’est la vie. We also gave Cath the option of an alternative neckline to create a more subtle effect - which is the option she went for.

Knitting itself was fairly straight forward - although there was an anxious wait for the yarn which we have dyed to order by Paintbox Textiles. This is a fabulous dyer but our anxiety is that all the batches behave slightly differently on the machines so we have to do large test sections before we knit the final piece. When you’re working on a wedding dress to a deadline this is always a cause of nerves.

In the event it was perfect first time! Within a centimetre of the length we’d aimed for. Knitting can be so precise but you can never be sure until the final press.

The dress was a perfect fit - we were so proud that it skimmed Cath’s lovely figure, just as we anticipated. She looked gorgeous.

Congratulations Cath and Derek!