Toolbox
- tulle
- needle and thread
- French comb or barrette
- ribbon for trim (optional)
As you plan your wedding, you’ll fast discover that most wedding-related things are quite expensive, and you can easily overspend almost without realizing it. One of the surprise costs as you shop for your wedding day attire is the veil, which can easily cost a couple hundred dollars for the simplest of designs
. Before you casually add a veil on to your wedding gown purchase, consider making it yourself. With as little as $10 in supplies and an hour or two, you can create your own veil that suits you to a tee.
Gather the supplies
The main thing you’ll need, of course, is some tulle (a.k.a. netting). This is available in any fabric store and can be found in 72″ and 108″ widths. For a fuller veil, use the 108″ wide tulle.
Cut the tulle
Lay the tulle out on a large table (or a clean floor) and keep it folded in half lengthwise (this is how it was at the store). Put the folded edge nearest to you. At this point you have two layers of tulle.
Now fold the tulle in half crosswise by grabbing the rightmost edge and folding it over so that it touches the leftmost edge. At this point you have four layers of tulle.
Measure again how long you want the tulle to be (from the top of your head down) and cut the tulle to that length (keep it folded) if needed.
Now round off the top left edge of the fabric by pinning to mark it and then cutting in a smooth motion. If you need a guide, try a large serving platter. You want to be left with a quarter-circle shape:
Arrange the layers
Unfold the tulle completely. At this point you have one layer of tulle. The dashed red lines below show where the folds used to be:
Fold the tulle crosswise from right to left, but you don’t have to bring it all the way over. You can match the ends up for a single-length veil, or you can leave a few inches between the edges for a nice layered look. If you keep a shorter layer, it can be used as a blusher if you like. At this point you should verify that the length is exactly what you want and if it’s too long, cut one of the rounded ends shorter, as needed.
Gather the tulle
You will now have to decide if you want the edges of your veil’s two layers to come all the way up to the top of the veil or not. If you choose to have the edges come up to the top, the top of your veil will be puffier. This decision is particularly noticeable if you plan to put a ribbon trim on the edges, because the ribbon will clearly be only at the bottom or will go up to your head, depending on your choice. This picture illustrates the two variations:
For the first look above, you will gather up only the center portion of your tulle, as seen in the first diagram below. For the second look above, you will gather the entire width of the tulle, as seen in the second diagram below:
Once you have decided how much tulle to gather, do so with a needle and strong thread, weaving in and out with small stitches. Pull the thread to gather the stitched tulle so that it is only about 2 inches wide. Knot the thread securely.
These photos show the gathering process on a short “center only” veil that I made for my niece to play dress-up with.
Attach the comb or barrette
Now take your gathered portion of tulle and sew it securely to either a simple French comb or a barrette.
You can still wear a fancy tiara or decorative barrette if you like; just place it right in front of your veil on your head. If you wish, you may also be able to sew the veil directly to the tiara, depending on its style.
Decorate the veil (optional)
Your veil is ready to wear at this point, but you may want to decorate it further. A popular finishing touch is to sew a thin satin ribbon along the edges of the veil. You can do so easily with a sewing machine and some white thread. When sewing, don’t bother to try to get the ribbon right up against the end of the tulle — it’s far easier to just leave some extra and then come back and trim it later.
Now go back with scissors and trim the excess tulle right next to the ribbon. And don’t worry about trimming it perfectly. I promise that nobody more than 2 feet away from you will even be able to see it!
You may also choose to sew or glue tiny sparkling beads or gemstones randomly on your veil. If that’s what you like, then do it. It’s your veil, so it should be special and exactly the way you want it!
Congratulations! You’re done!
Here are two finished examples. My niece’s “play” veil is on the left and my actual wedding veil is on the right. This veil pattern can easily be adapted to any length and many different styles, from the simplest of play veils for little girls who want to play dress-up to beautiful full-length veils for the bride. Oh, and don’t forget those girls who are preparing for their First Communion. They will need their own veil for the ceremony!
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18 comments so far:
Just remember, goslings, nine yards makes a wedding veil! (that is two layers before according to height, and two layers after, with what’s left!)
great i had found a perfect page b4 telling and showing similar to this how to make different types of veils now it gone. This page will do thanks
Hi, love your work! And today I got my order of padding compound, which I look forward to using. I really admire your work.
Thank you so much, my daughter is getting married in October and asked if I would make her veil, this site is a godsend.
Thanks everyone! Margaret and fen, we’d love to see how your veils turn out
Gosh, I’d be very careful when you cut the tulle. Measure 10 times cut once and all…
Thank you for the detail instructions and pictures. I am getting married this fall and I just made my veil with tulle and satin ribbon. It came out great!!!!
Kia, that’s awesome! We’d love to see your veil if you want to send us a picture or post one to our Flickr group.
I was so happy to find these detailed instructions with pictures on the web when beginning to create the veil for my wedding. Every other website I saw left me confused as to how to begin. My veil is beautiful… thank you for your help! I can’t wait to walk down the aisle wearing my own creation!
Hi Mallory! We’re so happy you liked our instructions and came up with such great results. We’d love to see your veil if you want to send us a picture or post it in our Flickr group!
yrs is the first site that said right this is how y do it and heres the diograms thank god
Daughter is getting marraied in 2 weeks in Maui so we are going to make her own veil this time and I just got done spending over an hour looking on line for how to make it the easiest way, with diagrams, and you were the last one I came across. No one else had diagrams..!!! THANK YOU,THANK YOU, for your detailed instructions, Exactly what I was looking for…
Thanks Mandy and Sylvia. I’m so glad my diagrams could help you both! We’d love to see the veils you end up with. (Oh, and a Maui wedding? Yum!)
hey, thank you so much for this website! my best friend asked me to make her a veil for halloween as she’s going as a corpse bride! ill be following your instructions, only i plan to double the tulle, one black sheet and one red sheet! thank you once again for your help!
ellie, that sounds fantastic! You must show us a picture when it’s done!
Elle – I attached my black veil to a plain headband which I then covered with ribbon. I left the ribbon long at each end to make a tie that goes either under the chin or behind the neck (under my hair). The head band distributes the weight nicely.
Of course, this and a black dress are a quick Halloween costume. It also let everyone know exactly who to follow during our historical society cemetery walk.
I added a layer of a stiffer netting under the softer tulle. The puffiness lets me hold a scavenger list, my notes, or even a treat bag. It’s quite spooky in black but would probably look sophisticated in white or even a light pink.
Since I am ‘in mourning’ a layer of the veil is always over my face. Now I wish I had not gathered it in the middle. It is hard to see through – perfect for a disguise – difficult when doing other activities. But who knew I would get so much use out of it?
Thank you for the easy to follow directions all the other web site’s just did not show the detailed instructions as your’s did. Just finished a veil for my daughter who will be getting married in Oct, 2010. Thanks again Carmie
Thanks, Carmie! We’d love to see a photo of the finished veil if you want to share it with us