The veil

Earlier in the month, my fellow bride friend and I went veil shopping. We went into the shop knowing a few things like, we didn't want the veil to compete with our dress or hair or fancy hair accessories. We also didn't want anything too expensive. To be honest, I thought there was a good chance that I would be making the veils for the both of us since it's almost always cheaper that way if the veil is simple.

So anyways, we walk into the store and they had some sample veils hanging around the room. For me, I wanted a fingertip length, oval cut veil with no edging. I think my friend wanted something rather similar, but we wanted to try veils on before we decided anything for sure. We had planned to go to a bunch of different stores, but as it turns out, our mind was made up after the first! We both ended up wanting a fingertip length veil, no edging and oval cut to get the cascading effect. Unfortunately, the veil we wanted was $125 and was gonna take a month to make!! It literally was nothing more than a big piece of tulle attached to a metal comb. It was amusing to see the sales lady try to justify it by saying it's "made to order" and it uses "special bridal illusion tulle." Yeah, the tulle is "special" in the sense that it's the sheerest weave of nylon webbing that's often used in bridal veils, but it's at most 2 dollars a yard!

So we thanked the lady for her time and went a few stores down to a bead shop. We bought some metal combs there for about $2.70 each. There are cheaper combs, but I ain't gonna quibble over a dollar when the alternative is $125! So then I went online and ordered 108 inch bridal illusion tulle for about $1.98 a yard from Fabric.com. I got other stuff that I need to fee my sewing hobby along with the tulle to get the free shipping. :-)

The tulle arrived last week and this past weekend, I made my friend's veil. Since it was the first veil I've ever made, I took it cautious and cut it too large. I figure it's better to have a veil I can trim rather than a veil I can't add to! To start, I folded two yards of the 108 inch tulle into quarters and cut a curve from open edge to open edge. When you open it, you get a big oval. I then sewed a running stitch in a line, a few inches off center so the shorter side will be the blusher and the longer side will be the back. Once I was finished stitching, I gathered the tulle on the thread and then sewed the gathered part to the comb. I think I forgot to mention I wrapped the comb in ribbon and glued the ribbon edges down with GemTac glue. This way, I can sew the tulle onto the ribbon and plus, it looks nicer.

So now the veil is almost done! See, since I cut the veil too big in an effort to be cautious and conservative, I now have to trim it. Once I get around to doing that the veil is done! I'll be posting pictures later.

Materials:
- 2 yards 108" bridal illusion tulle: $1.98
- 1 metal comb: $2.70
- 1 yard ribbon (you don't need nearly this much, but it doesn't hurt to have some more in case you want to wrap it a second time or you mess up): $0.75
- some thread

Equipment used:
- Self healing mat
- Rotary cutter
- measuring tape
- dressmaker pins
- hand-sewing needle

Some things to keep in mind when cutting the tulle:
 - Tulle can get staticky, especially in the winter when the air is really dry. Rubbing a dryer sheet on it can help.
- Use those pins!
- Never iron tulle as the heat will melt the plastic
- You can relax wrinkles in the tulle by hanging it in the bathroom during a hot shower, or holding a steam iron close, but not touching the tulle, to steam out the wrinkles.
- The more you gather, the poofier the veil
- Oval cuts or curves will give you the cascading effect once the tulle is gathered
- Square cuts gathered in the diagonal middle will give you a "handkerchief" effect
- Cascading veils sometimes aren't poofy enough or are too sheer at the gathered area. To increase poof, fold the veil along the line you are going to gather it and sew your gathering thread a few millimeters to a centimeter from the fold. Sew the gathering thread through both layers and gather the tulle.
- If you have a long oval shape and want more poof, gather the tulle the long way rather than the short way and run the gathering thread through a fairly long length of tulle. If you're doing this, make sure that the tulle is the length you want it on both sides of the gather.
- Tulle is cheap. If you're not sure what you're doing, buy a few extra yards and experiment!