Experimenting with Veil-Dying

Experimenting with Veil-Dying

June 6th, 2011 @ 5:30 pm by Mrs. Jaguar
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So…I have this veil. Not this veil. This other veil.

You see, I knew that I loved the floor-length option but I knew that I wouldn’t keep it in my hair long after the ceremony. What’s a girl to do? Well, she either goes veil-less for the reception, or she finds another veil. And that I did! I won’t show you the whole deal just yet, since I’m still torn about what to do BUT I will give you a sneak peek of the pretty lace edging.

Experimenting with Veil-Dying : wedding diy sydney veil 11 1

The veil is beautiful. It’s fingertip length, it’s sheer with just the lace on the edges, and it goes perfectly with my dress except—it’s ivory. Which shouldn’t be a problem, since my dress is also ivory, except…it’s more ivory. And when I put it up next to the bolero/bodice of my gown, it looks yellow. Bugger.

I googled for days: how to turn an ivory veil white. There are countless ways to dye a white veil ivory—the tea dying, the leaving outdoors. But there weren’t really any suggestions how to do the opposite.

I decided to bite the bullet and see what I could do to it myself. I started with something fairly mild, a Napisan whitening soaker.

Experimenting with Veil-Dying : wedding diy sydney veil 21 2

I followed the instructions and soaked it for a few hours—you can really see the yellowed ivory in comparison to the white suds.

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So the veil was still fine after the soaking… but the colour? Pretty much the same. I let it hang dry inside and then for a bit of time outside too—and nothing. Ah well, worth a shot! I tried again today, with a heavy duty laundry bleach…and still, nothing. This ivory lace sure is hard-wearing.

Experimenting with Veil-Dying : wedding diy sydney veil 41 4

I figure I’ve done my part now. I’ve tried. It’s still ivory. So that means after the wedding ceremony is over, I’ll be veil-less. And that’s OK!

Did you decide to do any slightly random projects 5 days out from your wedding?

Tags: diy, sydney, veil |

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17 Responses to “Experimenting with Veil-Dying”

Bee

Miss Funnel Cake (message) 690 posts, Busy bee

Ugh, it is so yellow! (Making me nervous. haha). I guess you can’t walk around wearing your ivory veil after the wedding, but that bolero will be so cute with summery tops! (which are very prevalent in Oz I take it??)

6/6/11 @ 5:43 pm (reply)

Member

pinkdiamonddolly (message) 70 posts, Worker bee

I can tell you how to do it, but it can be alot of work. You need paint and fabric medium. The best that I have used is Apple barrel Craft Paint, the co also makes the fabric medium, you mix the two together and then basically use a combo of soaking and painting to make it work, you don’t rinse it out, but place it in the dryer to “set” the paint. I custom create colors for little girls pageant dresses which are loaded with rhinestones, venice lace and other high end fabrics and this technique has never failed me. Be prepared its going to take about 30 minutes to clean out your dryer afterward, use medium heat and check every 10 minutes. your veil will be a bit stiffer than before, but should not be hard. Give it a go, I bet you will be amazed!

6/6/11 @ 5:46 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Jaguar (message) 4,656 posts, Honey bee

@Miss Funnel Cake: Yep, I will DEFINITELY be trying to make use of the wedding bolero afterwards! Maybe I’ll make a point of wearing it to other weddings we might go to, hehe.

It’s so hard to know whether the shade of ivory will be the RIGHT shade of ivory. Lesson learned!

6/6/11 @ 5:46 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Jaguar (message) 4,656 posts, Honey bee

@pinkdiamonddolly: Wow, that is awesome! Unfortunately a) we don’t have a dryer here, and b) I’m way too lazy to do it now that we’re four days out BUT I hope your suggestion can help future yellowed/ivory brides. Thanks!

6/6/11 @ 5:47 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Elephant (message) 6,182 posts, Bee Keeper

Sorry it didn’t work but I know you’ll still look fabulous with no veil for the reception.

6/6/11 @ 5:59 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Seal (message) 1,179 posts, Bumble bee

You tried! Bummer it didn’t work out, but Mrs. E is right…veil or no veil, you’re going to be gorgeous at that reception!

6/6/11 @ 6:08 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Magic (message) 628 posts, Busy bee

Sell the veil and buy yourself something nice with the money. I will probably be trying to do crazy things five days out from my wedding!

6/6/11 @ 6:08 pm (reply)

Member

FutureMrsB (message) 65 posts, Worker bee

You could try to bustle it. I’ve been thinking about doing this with my cathedral length veil. I read somewhere you can make you own veil bustle by pinning or sewing a loop of ribbon on the back of your dress. You pull it through the loop and kind of fluff it over like an under bustle on a dress.

This method is easy to do yourself (supposedly) and it’s supposed to take the weight off the veil off your head.

6/6/11 @ 7:30 pm (reply)

Member

daisyfields816 (message) 107 posts, Blushing bee

I’m wearing my mom’s 45 year old mantilla. It was yellowed with age. I took it to a dry cleaners and now it is stark white. Yikes! I’m hoping it still goes well with my ivory dress!

6/6/11 @ 7:52 pm (reply)

10.

Bee

Miss Pony (message) 4,174 posts, Honey bee

Aw, I was hoping this would work. At least you tried.

6/6/11 @ 8:25 pm (reply)

11.

Member

Meggie (message) 6 posts, Newbee

I don’t know if you guys have it there, but there is a detergent called Biz that is super whitening! My mom brought my old christening gown over for my daughter to wear for her baptism, but it had yellowed a lot. My Grandma suggested her secret Biz, so I gave it a shot. I dunked it in a bucket of warm water and Biz for forty-five minutes, rinsed it and let it dry and it was perfectly white in time for the baptism. I couldn’t believe how well it worked. So, you might want to give that a shot if you get a chance.

6/6/11 @ 9:31 pm (reply)

12.

Member

mariewest (message) 271 posts, Helper bee

I was hoping that you would say the bleached worked. I would like to wear my mother’s veil (well, if it ends up going with the dress I pick), but I’m afraid time has not been nice to it since it wasn’t properly perserved and the color has turned yellowish. I was hoping I could dye it back to white. If you find something that works, let us know!

6/6/11 @ 11:20 pm (reply)

13.

Member

Starrilicious (message) 12 posts, Newbee

For those of you with older veils that yellowed, try net curtain whitener. It doesn’t just bleach it it brightens it too.

Unfortunately if something is already Ivory there is not a lot you can do to remove the colour it is really difficult. You can paint it like suggested above, but it will affect the drape. I’ve never tried the curtain whitener on ivory nets so maybe try that.

6/7/11 @ 4:45 am (reply)

14.

Member

dddd89 (message) 491 posts, Helper bee

My favorite part of the post is when you said “bugger”! So cute Miss Jaguar!

6/7/11 @ 10:28 am (reply)

15.

Member

daisyfields816 (message) 107 posts, Blushing bee

@mariewest: A dry cleaner would be your best best. Like I said before, my mother’s veil was a dark ivory/yellow color. It also had these rust color stains on it. I took it to the cleaners and it is now stark white and the stains are gone!

6/7/11 @ 1:29 pm (reply)

16.

Member

daisyfields816 (message) 107 posts, Blushing bee

6/7/11 @ 1:29 pm (reply)

17.

Bee

Miss Snow Cone (message) 1,026 posts, Bumble bee

I’m having a freak-out about white and ivory crossing paths in imperfect harmony at our wedding, so this post is perfectly timed to exacerbate my worry. Thanks, J!

6/7/11 @ 9:56 pm (reply)