Sew A Bridal Veil Tutorial

A decision to sew a bridal veil can save you lots of money. Your own homemade bridal veil will cost you about $5 as compared to about $100 at the bridal store. Those are big savings! If you have something simple in mind, it’s definitely worth considering and it’s not that hard to do although some basic sewing skills are helpful.

We decided to make our own wedding veil and were very happy with the results. My daughter just wanted something simple to go with the flower in her hair that would fit under an updo. A veil with lots of beading didn’t really match her dress anyway so we were the perfect candidates to make our own!

Before we get into the steps to make your own veil, let’s look at the following:

– You will need tulle from the fabric store and a hair comb from the craft store. I was able to buy a 6 pack of hair combs at Hobby Lobby for $1.00 on sale. (what I’m going to do with the other five combs I have no idea . . . )

– You will also need a sewing machine, sewing needle, and matching thread.

– You will find that tulle comes in lots of shades of white – bright white, off white, sparkly white, light ivory, dark ivory, and so on. Tulle is only a couple dollars per yard, so it’s not a big investment if you decide you selected the wrong shade on the first attempt. We selected a light ivory color for our veil.

– We left the edges unfinished on our veil. This meant cutting very carefully so that the edges were as straight as possible. We left the veil in a rectangular shape, but you can also round the bottom corners if you wish.

– I did not write down the exact measurements of our veil (so sorry!!). However, I really just held the tulle up to my head and fiddled around until I had a good idea of what size I wanted it to be and then I cut it down to size.

– I would suggest getting at least 2 yards of tulle from the fabric store. You will probably want at least a yard of width so that it gathers up nicely.

Steps For Sewing Your Own Bridal Veil

To begin, you will sew a couple of lines of stitching that will be used to gather the tulle. Set your sewing machine on the longest stitch length. Sew a line of stitching along the top edge of the veil. Have the top edge of the fabric lined up with the edge of the presser foot. Leave a long tail of the bobbin thread as this will be used to gather the fabric.

Sew a second line of stitching next to the first one. You may need to pull the fabric to flatten it back down after sewing the first line of stitching. This time, linen the edge of the presser foot up with the first line of stitching. This time, line the edge of the presser foot up with the first line of the stitching.

sew veil 1

You will now have two lines of stitching along the top edge of the veil that will be used for gathering the fabric.

sew veil 2

Pull on the bobbin thread for both the lines of stitching and gather the fabric up.

sew veil 3
sew veil 4

Once the fabric is all gathered, tie a knot in the strings of thread at each end to secure them and cut off the remaining excess thread.

Use a scissors to trim off the excess tulle above the gathered stitching.

sew veil 5

Now you will sew the tulle onto the hair comb using a needle and thread. Lay the comb so that it is curving up. You will be sewing the top edge of your veil to this side of the comb.

sew veil 6

Sew the tulle to the comb with stitches going around the teeth of the comb and into the gathered edge of the tulle.

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Hand sew the tulle to the comb
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The stitches on the other side of the comb will look like this
And the finished product will look like this
And the finished product will look like this

To wear the veil, you will be pointing the comb downward with the veil coming over the top. This keeps the unfinished side of the veil against your head where it can’t be seen.

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The tulle will come over the top of the comb
Another angle to show the finished product
Another angle to show the finished product
And the view as it would be in your hair
And the view as it would be in your hair
Sew your own bridal veil

And then you can let your veil gently blow in the wind as the sun sets and you live happily ever after!

You might also like to read the other wedding articles in this series:
Make Your Own God’s Knot (Cord of Three Strands)
Make Your Own Wedding Jewelry 

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12 Comments

    1. I think you would still use the same strategy. The veil has to be gathered somewhat at the top where you want to attach it to the comb. You then want it stitched to the comb so that the stitched area is against the head, with the veil coming up and over the backside of the comb. Perhaps the lace could be trimmed a bit in this area or folded over to help you sew it to the comb.

    1. If you cut the tulle carefully and as straight as you can, you can leave the bottom edge unfinished as it will not ravel.

  1. Thank you for the veil tutorial you are very clever.
    I can I do if I want to sew samething decorative over the combo after I sew the veil?
    Thank you.

    1. I think you could carefully sew something decorative over the veil, however I would still try to sew it close to the edge of the comb if possible.

    1. Glad you found the tutorial helpful Sara! Also, I have a 30 year old White brand sewing machine that stills works great 🙂