We’re used to seeing her frantically sewing on Channel 4’s Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, but Thelma Madine is currently taking a break so she can fly to Ireland to deliver some gúnas to brides waiting for their big day.
The Irish Sunday Mirror reports that every year, Thelma makes several trips to Rathkeale, county Limerick so she can deliver and fit massive frocks on Traveller brides-to-be.
According to the wedding dress guru, there has been no recession in the dressmaking trade despite the fact that the dreaded Budget hit Ireland earlier this week.
“It doesn’t seem to affect them in respect of that, because Travellers are very much family-orientated. Families put together and feel it’s a girl’s right to have the day she wants,” said Thelma.
“This year it’s really busy. We’re doing all the Rathkeale weddings so we have around 15 weddings in December alone. I’m flying to Ireland tomorrow. I have two trips over to Rathkeale before Christmas and another one after,” she added.
Thelma, showcasing one of her designs on the Late Late Show with Ryan Tubridy
Thelma revealed that she has had so many requests for her dresses that she recently had to move her workshop to a new, larger facility to cope with the demand.
“There are 23 people in the workshop now. We can do more orders but we do still turn away more than what we take on. We have a waiting list of eight months and it takes about 300 hours to make the dress,” said Thelma.
“We actually have orders from Australia and America because they watched the show,” she added.
Thelma will be returning to our screens in the New Year with a special one-off episode of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and she is already planning to write a second wedding book about writing memorable vows.
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