So even though I hadn't sewn anything other than cross stitched zombies and extremely basic sock repairs pretty much ever, I took a leap of faith and decided to make my own. I went to the very same Etsy shop linked in that blog post and bought a few yards of a rainbow-y floral fabric from China. I paid extra for speedy shipping and prayed it would arrive on time.
It was surprisingly easy!
What you need:
- Pretty fabric (make sure to get as many yards as you'd like for your final veil. I was planning on making a chapel veil of about seven feet but ended up with a nine-foot cathedral veil just because I loved the fabric too much to cut it down)
- Needle and clear or white thread that matches your veil
- Metal or plastic comb
- Fabric Scissors
How to make a DIY veil:
- Receive fabric while teleworking at home and fiancé is out of the house. Freak out over fabric. Move fabric into guest room to hide it from said fiancé until wedding day. Trim any uneven portions at the top and bottom of the fabric.
- Gently iron out any kinks or folds in your fabric.
- Use extremely limited sewing skills to hand sew or sew using a sewing machine, a running stitch (see a running stitch here!) at the top of the fabric (one of the width sides). Leave a bit of the thread hanging at the end, you'll need it later. Make a second running stitch about one-half inch below the first line of stitches. Same thing here: leave some thread hanging off of the end. You should now have two parallel lines of stitches.
- Gather fabric (see how here!) together using the two hanging lengths of thread at the end. Gently pull them to start pulling the fabric together into a gather about the width of the comb you plan to use.
- Secure the gather with extra stitches around the fabric. Toss cats out of guest room and close door so they stop trying to play with fabric.
- Sew gathered fabric at the top of the veil to a comb by sewing loops around each tooth of the comb.
- Attach the finished veil to you hair with the comb teeth facing down and curving in. Pose in veil glamorously in front of mirror.
And you're done! Seriously, this was an incredibly easy and fast project and ended up being one of my favorite details of my wedding and the thing people are most likely to comment on when they see my wedding photos.
I threw a fair amount of caution to the wind (the fabric was not as wide as the internet said it should really be for a veil — usually 55in wide and 30in long, I did not bother to cut the fabric into a more rounded shape as many tutorials suggested, if anyone looked too closely at my sewing at the gathering point they'd be appalled), but it worked out wonderfully.
What did you DIY that surprised you and/or worked out well?
Recent Comments
- Sandee: Hi Rachael, I just found your beautiful veil on Pinterest and was wondering if you are still doing the sisterhood… [Link]
- Margene M Cork: The bride has requested rhinestone beading all the way around the veil. It comes on a strand. What is the… [Link]
- Eva Lloyd: Beautiful material and a perfect idea when you're wanting to make your wedding even more personalised
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[Link] - Rachael: Hey internet friends! So many people liked and were interested in my wedding veil that I’ve decided I want to… [Link]
- Ariel: We hear you, Meagan. Our posts are written and scheduled weeks ahead of time, and so the timing on this… [Link]
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