Have you ever wondered why veils are so expensive? I was looking through Davids Bridal’s veil selection — they are mostly made from polyester tulle that I can buy from Joanns for 2 dollars a yard with some crystals or beads or ribbons glued/sewn on them. The non-barebone options cost 70 dollars and up!
The thought of spending 70 dollars on a piece of slightly decorated polyster just drove my little chinese (read:cheap) brain nuts. I decided that I should make my own veil – how hard can that be, right? For 70 dollars, I can get a nice silk veil, no problem! So I set out to make my own veil.
First step, material. I wanted to find silk tulle, but the rumor on the street is that it is extremely expensive, and it is hard to find. I dont really like bulky veil either, so English netting is out. I bought a few yards of natural silk chiffon from Exotic Silk in Los Altos(best silk fabric store ever!), but when I got home, I decided that it is not transparent enough for me. I started searching randomly for silk online and came upon this: Dharma trading’s silk gauze. It seemed perfect for the job — light, flowy, transparent, and cheap! Can you believe that their silk is less than 3 dollar a yard?! I bought 7 yards of the 3mm and 45″ silk gauze.
I know that I would like the veil to be finished with some kind of hemming, but rolling the tissue-y fabric and stitch it up presented with much difficulties (you can all imagine, right?) So I experimented around with different stitches on my machine to just sort of “serger” up the edge (imagine zig-zagging the edge of the veil) with the thinnest needle i can find (it turned out that number 11 (see left) on my machine worked out the best for this material). Because the fabric is so thin, the threads pull the fabric in to form a nice line at the edge. It also creates some nice waves at the biased edge and the little fraying makes it seem to soft and airy.
I wanted a floor length veil at first, with a blusher. The width of the fabric is 45″, so I had to basically draw a long big oval and cut it out (see design 1). However, that means the sides of the oval is not on a bias cut, and it doesnt create the cute waves (though much easier to stitch), and the overall look was just, weird. But I am glad I did it — because I had lots of practice with stitching the edge, and the transition from the biased edge to the straight grain stitch was a little tricky!
Finally, I decided to make another one without the blusher and just finger tip length. This time, I made a half circle with the straight line along one of the side of the fabric (pattern shown in design 2) and I did a much better job with the stitching. and at the end I just gathered the straight edge together onto a white plastic comb I had lying around. Tada!
I feel really beautiful in my veil! Its so soft and I feel like its glowing under the sun 🙂 That fabric made me really wish that I sewed my own wedding dress! Though it took much longer than I thought it would, and all the hours of monotonous edge stitching (you have to go really slow on the machine) wasn’t much fun, I think it is well worth it! I now have something *handmade* for my wedding (yes, I am adding that to the list of old, new, borrowed, and blue!).
Hope that this howto would help some brides out there! Let me know if you have any questions. Readers, did any of you also made your own veil?
p.s. right before this photo shoot, i had my hair highlighted and done as a mock up for the wedding at my hair lady, and then I was heading out for some shopping with my awesome friend Ngoc. But somehow my fiancée tricked me into wearing the white silk dress (in photo) and I showed up to a surprise Hawaiian bridal shower with lot of my favorite girlfriends!! 😀 I had sooooo much fun. ❤ maybe when the photos come, I will show them off here! ❤ Ngoc(+ her awesome husband)! ❤ let-sister! ❤ all my friends!
JuebeJue 
Awww..you look so pretty in that outfit, Jue! The dress was absolutely perfect for the veil. Great job, Dexter!! Can’t wait to see the photos!
🙂 wait until you touch it!
Oooh you look so beautiful in your veil!
Hey I have that stitch too in my sewing machine, maybe I can try sewing chiffon now, I’m always afraid of sheer and flowy fabrics! Thanks for the tip!
:D:D im glad you got a tip from this post!
Hi i love your veil, its so nice to use silk. Very luxurious. I made my daughters communion veil with veil netting. I attached it with the slide like you did, and added some small silk flowers on it. I cut it as you did in design 2, but I didnt finish the edges. Now that I have seen your I might try to finish the edges too.
woo! good luck! I actually added a small silk flower to the veil last night too! will show you here soon!
So pretty, and you’ll really cherish wearing it! I was also shocked at how cheaply made veils are compared to the price. My mom had made several for family friends, and she made mine too (I was too busy with my dress). We used a Vogue pattern, and it can be seen on BWOS: http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/island-wedding-dress
It had a shimmery ribbon trim, as well as about 60 handmade chiffon roses (on the top and trailing down). It also had a teardrop prism crystal (that was my grandmother’s) sewn in one of the roses to look like a drop of dew.
i went over to take a look and i LOVE it! i wish there is more photos on the veil — all the flowers and crystals sounds like so much work and sooo pretty 🙂
Unfortunately, I don’t have many digital shots of the veil. 😦
So pretty! You’ll be able to tell your children and grandchildren about how you made that beautiful veil that they might be wearing for their own weddings. 🙂
I didn’t make any of my wedding stuff myself, but my mom did make my gown.
teehee! yeah! that was one of the reason why I didnt want polyester — it yellows over time. silk and cotton does too but not so fast! one of my close friend wore a silk or cotton veil at her wedding that is over 100 years old!
Beautiful veil! Much better than my homemade veil 😉 Mine was a really quick make. I used a very thin drapey netting and didn’t even finish the edges since I wanted it to sort of blend with my dress at the bottom. I made it very similar to yours, and attached it at the same spot as yours. About the same length as well, just more transparent! Yours is fantastic and what a great deal on silk!
My mom used to buy from Dharma and do lots of tie-dying, so I bet I could get some of their silk and use her dyes and go a little crazy… hmm… 🙂 I also love the tip about the edge stitch! I’ll be trying that soon!
oh yeah, and holy moly was our wedding diy… I did everything except the sewing since I didn’t know how at the time! My mom made my bridesmaid dresses, though. I made centerpieces, all the paper stuff (invites, programs, menus, thank yous… lots of work, and I had plenty of help). My sisters made some candy (buckeyes since we’re OSU grads) for favors and the cake was decorated by a different friend- it was very simple. We made our own bouquets. It was lots of fun, but I’m really into all that stuff 🙂 I wanted it to be something I was really proud of!
ahh! hi liz/fabricholic! 🙂 that is really cool how you did everything! I am really lucky to have a great friend who is really into party deco as well, she helped me with all the deco ideas and is helping me diy! 😀
you look stunning! i love the veil :]
Very lovely veil! I thought veil’s were overpriced, too, so I made mine, too. It’s definitely not as luxurious as yours.. I just used the cheap tulle from Joann’s and added crystals.
hehehe, i thought about doing that too! its like, more than 10 times cheaper, isnt it crazy?
Great tutorial. Thanks
Pretty veil, but I didn’t know it was so long! It’s nice and flowy. 🙂
Your veil is soooo beautiful and soft. I love it! I can’t wait to see all of it together with your hair, make-up, dress and hubby!!! So excited for you!
i read ur blog. thanks!!! I follow ur tutorial. The result is great! I luv my veil! hehehe.
Hello, thanks for posting this! I’m getting married in September and I’m thinking about making my own veil. My dress is bordeaux-colored (between brown, red, and purple) and so I knew it would be impossible to find a veil the right color. It came with a bordeaux shawl (for an extra 150 euros!!) so I decided to suck it up and pay the price for the nice matching fabric. I plan on trying to make a shoulder-length circular veil and I might even try to sew on some ribbon edging. I don’t have a sewing machine or much experience though so I’m really nervous I’ll mess up the expensive material! Better practice on cheap stuff first! Thanks again for sharing your process.
Pretty!I once got a sample of silk gauze when I was a child and loved it ever since…well,I’ve been in love with all things silk since I was little. XD
I’ve been thinking about making a dress with layers of silk gauze…but I’m pretty scared about it.I would think sewing layers of silk gauze,even with hand sewing,would be difficult.
beautiful!! (>.<)
When you say that you cut it on the bias, were you super picky about the 45 degree angle, or did you just kind of eyeball the curvy oval shape?
definitely eye balled!! there is no need to be precise as its all gathered at the end 🙂
Well done it’s beautiful! I’ve just made duchesse satin white communion dress for my daughter and I like your patterns for veil, your silk gauze material was stunning! I have a lot of very soft john Lewis expensive tulle I will need to use though!
Your veil is lovely, and thank you for posting about it! I’m planning to make my own veil, but have been having a hard time finding examples of veils made with different materials.