How to Make a Simple Bridal Veil
We had a great wedding. It was a low-key afternoon in Colorado with only our parents there. I found my dress secondhand. We did almost everything with a non-traditional approach. But since I wore a wedding dress, I also wanted to wear a veil. I’m not particularly old-fashioned; I just liked the idea of a veil. However, I quickly realized that veils are expensive. I wanted to keep it simple…I didn’t want beading, sequins, lace, or multiple tiers. So, after being unable to find exactly what I wanted, I decided to make my own.
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Make a Simple Bridal Veil
I’m going to walk you through the steps to make a veil like mine, but before I do that, I want to talk about two major things that will influence how your veil looks: fabric and poof.
Fabric: I did a lot of research on veil fabrics before deciding to buy my fabric. I didn’t want the veil to be too stiff; I wanted it to be soft and flexible. But I also knew I couldn’t afford silk tulle (Kate Middleton’s veil was silk tulle; see how soft it was?). During my research, I found this extremely helpful graphic from custom veil designer Veils by Roxanne (she looks legit if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of sewing a couple lines of thread in a piece of tulle…but you can do it!):
The fabric on the far left, bridal illusion, is the most commonly used fabric for bridal veils. It’s just tulle, and tulle is cheap (seriously cheap). It is stiffer than most other veil fabrics, which you can see pretty clearly by comparing it to the other fabrics in the lineup. You’ll notice that the veil fabric I wanted, silk tulle, is pretty much the exact opposite of the popular and affordable fabric I could easily purchase at my local fabric store. 🙁 But wait! What is this “English net” fabric? It looks a lot like silk tulle, so I did a little research. And here’s the deal: If you want something that has a silk tulle look and feel without having a silk tulle price tag, English net is your answer! In fact, this is the exact fabric I ordered, and I was extremely pleased with it.
Here is my veil:
Michele Hart Photography
Poof: The second thing you need to consider is the poofy factor. Do you want a more voluminous veil that has more height near the crown of your head? If so, a stiffer fabric, like tulle, will be your best bet, but you also want to consider the width of your veil. The wider the piece of fabric you have, the poofier the veil will be when it’s all bunched up and put on a comb. That said, whatever fabric you prefer, the instructions in this tutorial remain the same. So, if you’d like to make a simple bridal veil, read on!
Supplies
- Fabric–for this tutorial, I’m using tulle. If you want to use the fabric I used for my actual veil, you can buy it here.
- Iron and ironing board/pad
- Sewing machine
- Needle, thread, & scissors
- Measuring tape and something to mark your fabric
- Comb (plastic, wire, they both work–it will be hidden in your hair)
And here’s how to make a bridal veil:
Step 1: Gently iron out any kinks or folds in your fabric. Then, lay the fabric on large, flat surface. I’ll be using a piece of fabric that’s 55in wide and 30in long, so the finished product will give you an idea of how the measurements I’m using look.
Step 2: Using your measuring tape, mark where you’ll need to cut. Since I’m leaving the edges of the veil raw (i.e., I am not adding a ribbon trim or something similar), I cut very carefully.
Note: If you want to round the two corners on the bottom of your veil, you are more than welcome to do so! You’ll just need something round to trace, which will ensure that each corner is evenly cut. You could also get crazy with sewing (or gluing, if you’re not up for sewing trim) ribbon or lace along the edges. There are a million different veil cuts and style, but I’m just a simple gal.
Step 3: It’s time to sew. Set your sewing machine on the longest stitch length and sew a straight line of stitches along the top (one of the width sides) of the veil. Make sure to leave a long tail from your bobbin thread.
Step 4: The fabric may have bunched a bit while sewing the line in step #3. That’s okay. Flatten the fabric; then, sew a second straight line of stitches about one-half inch below the first line of stitches. Leave a long tail from your bobbin thread here as well.
You now have two parallel lines of stitches! Congratulations. That was the hardest part.
Step 5: Now it’s time to gather the fabric to morph it from a piece of flat tulle into a veil. To do so, hold the veil and gently pull the bobbin thread for each straight line of stitches. Your fabric will begin to gather.
If you end up with a bottle neck of bunching fabric, you can help it along:
Step 6: When your fabric is gathered enough to be the same length as your comb, tie the threads at each end. Trim the excess thread, as well as the excess tulle from the top.
Step 7: The veil is done, but you need a way to attach it to your head. Grab your comb and set it so that it’s curving up. Then, lay the gathered edge of the veil on the comb. Ensure the side of the veil that you’d like to be on top is facing UP.
Use your needle and thread to sew the veil onto the comb by sewing stitches around each comb tooth. When you’re done, tie knots in the threads on the end.
Put it in your hair with the comb teeth facing down and with the comb curving toward your head.
You can customize your veil in any way you’d like. You can use colored tulle instead of white/ivory; adhere rhinestones, ribbon, or decoration to the comb to cover up the stitches; or sew the veil onto another type of comb…whatever you want.
I truly hope that this tutorial helps you…it was a very rewarding project! Good luck!!
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I love the veil. I was wondering where you got a sample of the netting you used. It sounds exactly what my daughter wants but I don’t want to but it until I know it will be the right fabric.
Thanks.
I’m so glad I found your blog you have great ideas and projects.
Donna, thank you! This is the exact fabric I ordered: http://www.amazon.com/English-Net-Ivory-Netting-Fabric/dp/B006ZE3HDM Shoot them a message for a sample!
Love the veil! How much or what length of tulle did you use?
Thank you! It was 55in wide and 30in long. 🙂
Did you fold your veil in half before you stitched it? I’m just trying to work out how you can get it to go over your face
I only made a single-tier veil, but if you fold your fabric in half, you could make it two tiers and fold one over your face (a blusher). Check out this video!
I loved your tutorial. I made a sample veil from a yard of “nylon tulle” from JoAnne Fabrics. It seems very stiff & I could not get the wrinkles out, no matter how hard i tried —- cool iron, wetting the fabric & putting it in the dryer (the suggestion from the JoAnne’s sales person.
When you used the English Netting, did it arrive folded & wrinkled? I noticed in your instructions that you did say you used an iron. Was it easy to get the wrinkles out?
thanks, Karen
The fabric arrived in pretty good shape, but it did have some fold marks. I gave it a quick iron on a low-heat setting after I cut a piece with work with. Since we travelled to get married, I actually threw it in a giant box with my dress and we shipped it ahead of time. The day of the wedding, I just hung it in the bathroom when I took and shower, and it was fine! If you’re in Jo-Ann, ask them if they have any netting fabric that isn’t stiff. One of the Jo-Ann’s near me has mosquito netting for sale by the yard in white a few other colors, and that could work, too! (Check out the fabric I mean here…I just Googled it)
Wedding veils come in all sizes ranging from shoulder to cathedral length, but many people don’t realize just how easy they are to make.
Hello! Loved this tutorial! How would I go about putting an edge on the veil of ribbon etc? Is this done before or after you bunch it up?
Thanks!
Thanks, Jody! I didn’t trim mine, but check out this link and this video. You’d sew the trim on before you bunch it up 🙂
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I don’t want to spend a bunch of money on a simple veil as well!
For that English Netting fabric that you bought on Amazon, would you say the width is sufficient for a chapel length veil or would you recommend something wider?
Oo, that’s a tough question because I never even considered making a chapel-length veil! I did some Googling though, and it looks like most chapel-length veils are 100″ wide or more, and this fabric is only 52″ wide. It might look too bare around the bottom. Check out this veil from David’s Bridal…it looks like it’s 108″ wide and you can see how it drapes along the bottom. Plus it looks affordable 🙂
Wow! Thanks for your help Brittany! 🙂
You’re welcome, and good luck!
Have you seen or know of anyone who reused their mother’s veil? I have a 2 layer veil(short blusher and longer not quite chapel length) attached to “beaded crown” with hair comb. Would love to reinvent for my daughter to use for finger tip single layer veil. Assume I can deconstruct and reattach to comb with either some piece of crown or new piece?
I actually thought about doing that, but my mom never preserved her veil or gown, so they were really yellow 🙁 I would think that working with old fabric would be the same as working with new! Sounds like you have plenty to work with, too. I’ve never attached a veil to a crown, but I’d imagine you could also attach it to a small comb and stick it in her hair behind a crown if you didn’t want to attach to the crown. Good luck!
Ok is it me? Im an upholster and what i didn’t get (I didn’t see it ) when you lay your material out to cut how do you fold it? all loose ends at the bottom i presume ???? Also if you want your veil to attach on each side of your crown with a swag how would you fold that?….. My friend is doing a fishbone braid in the front to the back of her head ( lord know she has dream hair to her lower back) its a floral simple head band and they want to keep it simple…. all and any information is helpful…thanks….
Hi Shawn! A long fishtail braid sounds absolutely lovely! I just did a single-tier veil, so I didn’t fold it. I just had one layer of fabric that I bunched up on one end and attached to my comb. Check out this great YouTube tutorial on making a three different two-tiered wedding veils–since it’s a bit more complicated than a single tier, it’s nice to see it in video. And you can check out this video on how to add a veil to a headband. Good luck!!
Tulle has a stretch to it. Do you want the stretch to be length wise or width wise?
I don’t remember that it mattered…sorry!
How did you cut it? At what length did you cut for your fingertip length??
Hi Cara! I just cut it using regular sewing scissors. I cut very slowly and carefully since I planned to leave the edge raw (that is, I didn’t add trim or anything). As for the length, I just used a tape measure to measure the distance from the crown of my head, which is where I wanted to insert the veil, down to where I wanted the veil to fall. Then I added about 3 inches to work with for gathering the top and sewing it to the comb. Good luck!
Hello! Do you have to do the sewing part, or could you hand-stitch it?
You could definitely hand stitch it. It will just take longer 🙂
Thank you for this very clear tutorial! You gave me the confidence to do this. I just finished making my daughter’s veil using your instructions and it looks amazing! I made a couple of changes that worked out fine – I left 16 inches on each side ungathered, so there’s some side veil, which gives it nice flow. And I used a beaded metal comb and stitched it in, the stitches show a little but they’re tiny and on the top of her head. Again thanks so much for the clear instructions and nice conversational style.
Karen, thanks so much for stopping by! I am so happy to hear that the tutorial worked out well for you! Best wishes to your daughter on her upcoming wedding!!
Brittany my granddaughter ask me if I would make her bridal veil. Of course, I said I would, but I am scared to death! Do you cut the oval shape at the top for the comb or leave it straight across. She wants it to taper off down to the end of the finger tip. HELP
Hi Tricia! You can do it! I kept mine straight across at both the part that meets the comb and the bottom part that laid on my back. If you are going to cut an oval shape for more of a taper, you’d probably do that at the end that would be laying on her back. Check out this video I found…skip ahead to around 3:00, and she talks about cutting the oval shape. When I was making mine, I practiced on a few pieces of tulle remnants, too!
Waiting to hear from you
Hi! I was wondering about Drape Veils! Do you know how to make those? Is there a trick to it?
I’m sorry, I’ve never made one of those!
I made a Chiffon Cascading Waterfall veil a few years ago using an old veil pattern from the 1970’s I found on Ebay. I hemmed the veil 1/4″all around the Chiffon fabric to keep it from fraying. I hand sewed the fabric and I had to be very careful
because the Chiffon was slippery! Next I gathered the fabric and attached it to a Satin Headband. The result was a beautiful flowing Chiffon veil. Now I am hand sewing a 108″ Ivory Lace veil to an Ivory Pillbox hat like the Satin hats from the early 1960’s. My new veil cost only $33 for all of the materials. It matches the Ivory Satin wedding gown perfectly!
I don’t have a sewing machine or even know how to use a sewing maching. Would you think I’d be able to do this by hand sewing it? Any tips or tricks, since I know hand sewing can be very tedious. Thanks!
Yes you can hand sew. Double you thread and make about 1/4 inch between straights. Then slowly work it together. Hot glove to your comb gives a cleaner look.
How many yards did you buy for your veil?
I was working from a giant bolt, so I didn’t buy in yards. Sorry!
This tutorial was exactly what I needed! I followed the instructions wth a few exceptions and my veil was fabulous. I used the same tulle, but I bought 3 yards of it to make a long cathedral length veil. It was more of a photo prop than anything, as my husband and I eloped. I decided two days beforehand that I wanted something for dramatic windswept photos, so I combined this tutorial with a YouTube video for a DIY hair vine and made a really pretty comb to attach my veil to. I didn’t have a sewing machine so I actually just threaded jewelry beading wire through the holes in the netting and it made attaching the veil to the comb a breeze.
My only regret was not buying a higher quality comb- I spent $5 on a plastic comb from Walgreens, figuring it wouldn’t show so it didn’t matter, but it didn’t stay in my hair as securely as I hoped- although to be fair we were gallivanting around outdoors on a very windy day.
Also, if you have a cat, let them play with the leftover netting and they will love you forever.
Thank you so much for your note Sara!! I’m so glad you found this helpful. You sound like me…we eloped too and I just wanted something for the pics, really. Also, ditto on the cat thing…though they seem to love being involved in ANY sewing project I have. Congrats on your marriage!
Do you know how to put rhinestones and pearls on the veil (sparse at the top and more at the bottom in a random pattern)? Could I glue those on or would I have to sew them? Thanks for your very helpful info!