A Simple but Stylish Wedding Veil Anyone Can Make

When my son's bride-to-be told me how much a wedding veil was going to cost, I was astounded. I asked if the high cost was because the veil has long, or was trimmed with antique lace. She told me the veil fell to just below her should blades and had only thin satin ribbon around the edge. I knew elaborate wedding veils were costly, running into thousands of dollars, but I had no idea that a simple wedding veil that my soon-to-be daughter-in-law was describing would be priced at over $200. I assured her I could make the same veil for about $15.

Items need to make a simple wedding veil:

-Wedding veil pattern
-Sewing machine
-Scissors
-One-fourth inch satin ribbon (see pattern for yardage amount)
-Plain tulle fabric (see pattern for yardage amount)
-Clear/transparent hair comb (see pattern for size)
-White seam binding (6 inches)
-Straight pins
-Tailor chalk
-Paper tape (one-inch wide)
-Needle and thread
-Ready-made headpiece (optional)

Putting the veil together: (For these instructions I will be using Butterick pattern B4487, veil B, without the flower sprays.)

Cut out the paper pieces you will be using from the pattern (for this pattern there is one). Using a clothes iron set to cool, smooth out all wrinkles from the pattern piece. Also, do the same to the tulle fabric, being careful not to tear the fabric.

HINT: Lay a light towel over the tulle before applying the clothes iron to prevent tearing the fabric.

Lay the tulle fabric flat on a large work area. Place the pattern piece on top of the tulle fabric and pin in place. Cut out the pattern from the fabric. Before removing the pins and paper pattern, mark the area with the tailor's chalk where the gather line will be for the hair comb.

Apply the paper tape all the way around the outer edge of one side of the wedding veil, matching the bottom edge of the fabric to the edge of the tape. It does not matter which side, as there is no wrong or right side to plain tulle. Pin the one-fourth inch wide satin ribbon to the fabric edge on the opposite side of the paper tape. Because the paper tape will help hold the satin ribbon in place, you may wish not to use any straight pins. The tape also acts as a guide so that you can see the edge of the tulle fabric better while sewing. Sew the satin ribbon to the tulle fabric. When you come to where the two ribbon ends meet, do not fold the raw edges of the ribbon under. Simply lap one end over the other and continue sewing another one-half inch. Trim the raw edge close to the stitching and gently remove the paper tape.

Stitch the gather line on the marked area and pull to gather the tulle fabric. Cut the seam binding according to the pattern guide, pin to gather, and sew in place to the wedding veil. Insert the clear hair comb into the tulle fabric near the seam binding as indicated in the pattern instructions. You may need to work with this to get it to lie correctly. Hand-sew the tulle fabric and seam binding to the clear hair comb, being sure to cover the bar end of the hair comb.

OPTIONAL: You can now hot glue a ready-made headpiece or loose silk flowers to the bar end of the clear hair comb or leave as is. My daughter-in-law wanted hers without a headpiece with the front of the veil folder over the back of her head to create a two-layered veil in the back. It fit right below the hair bun on top of her head.

The total cost for making the wedding veil was approximately $12.56, not counting the pattern. I do not count the price of a pattern in the total cost when making any item, because I can use the patterns over again, which I have, numerous times.

Source: Butterick