Weddingbee Blog

So I only made you wait a day; that’s not so bad! Now that you have seen my beautiful veil it’s time to learn how it was made! As promised, here is: The making of Miss Sunbeam’s veil. A step by step tutorial by Mrs. DG.

*All photos taken by Mrs. DG unless otherwise noted*

First pick an appropriate length of tulle. A typical veil is 108 inches in width, though the narrower the width, the less poufy it will be. Other common widths are 72 and 54 inches. We chose 54 inches for Miss Sunbeam’s veil to keep a narrow profile and less poufy attachment.

Length varies. Shoulder length is typically 24 inches. Waist length is typically 30 inches. Fingertip is usually 40 inches. Floor length should be measured by your height.

Once you’ve figured out how much tulle you need, you are going to need to measure it. You can:

Ink it using disappearing ink to help guide you, or do what I do and use a really long ruler and a self-healing cutting mat to prepare the edges for cutting.

I cut the desired lengths. Any edge that is a factory edge, I try to leave intact. Jagged cut edges are good places to start with your cuts. When you cut them try to get them as straight as possible using a rotary cutter.

At this point you’ll have a rectangular length of tulle with nice crisp edges. The straight edge is going to be the top of the veil that attaches to the comb.

Now you have to decide how you want the rounded bottom to look. I drew a template on a piece of flattened cardboard to use as a guide. Shout out to Miss Poodle here. If I had newspaper I might have used it, but it was much easier to use a rotary cutter on cardboard! Fold the width in half, and using the rotary cutter, cut the bottom curve of the veil in a manner you desire.

Once you’ve completed the bottom cut, you’ll pin on whatever edging you intend. In this case, I was using a beautiful lace edging, but you can use cord, ribbon or crystals… or you can leave the edge unfinished (as I did on my veil).

When you are working with lace, make sure you get a type that turns corners well. This means it has to have parts that are thinner and parts that are thicker. Sometimes you’ll need to cut the lace to turn corners. Luckily on our lace, I could simply cut out a flower on every segment through the curved areas of the veil so that the lace would curve as well.

(Sunbeam here! - In my veil’s case, Mrs. DG to used two halves of the lace starting at the center of the veil’s edge. To make the join less obvious she made a fill using some of the flowers she had cut out to make the lace curve with the tulle.)

Once your edging is pinned to the tulle, make sure everything is laying flat. Now you can stitch the lace to the tulle. Many people use their sewing machine for this, but I prefer to hand stitch to get a really flat result. I found that the sewing machine sometimes grabbed and gathered the tulle in ways I didn’t like.

When the lace or other edging is attached, you are going to sew a straight line across the straight edge 54” edge. At this point you are going to gather the veil across the sewn straight line. I don’t tie the ends into place until I like the way the veil fits on the comb. I then affix the veil to the upwardly curved edge of the comb. I do it with E6000 glue, because when you sew it on the veil tends to get poufier, and I wanted it to lie flat. I then sew the two ends of the thread to the ends of the comb. E6000 is so easy to work with and holds like nobody’s business. Most people already know how much I love it from my “Ode to E6000” thread!

Now, to give the comb a more finished look, I wrap the head of it with 1/8” ribbon, but you don’t have to do this. I just really like to pay attention to the little details.

*photo by Mrs. Sunbeam

I covered the top of the comb on my own veil with a thin piece of lace, and Miss Sunbeam’s with some pearls. Originally, I made it so that she could easily trim them off—which she chose to do.

(Sunbeam here - you can see I covered it with a bit of lace in the photo above.)

I like doing something at the top of the comb for a more finished look, but for those who like a really flat look, it may be better to leave that edge unfinished.

I made sure that when I glued everything in place that I had the gather stitch just the way I wanted it, and I had everything laying as flat as I could get it. E6000 takes a variable amount of time to set, so I hold everything in place tightly for several minutes. You have time to adjust things for a few minutes, but I’d recommend doing it quickly!

At this point, you have a finished veil!

*bottom photo by Mrs. Sunbeam

Thanks Mrs. DG! No one could believe the veil was handmade and it looked just as I had hoped. It was so nice of you make my veil and create a tutorial for all the bees in the hive. Isn’t she fabulous??

Have you or will you now attempt to make one of your own accessories by hand? Or do you have a crafty friend that will make something for you to wear on your wedding day?