Why spend $300 on a wedding veil when you can make your own for $5?

Yes, this wedding veil actually cost me $5, and it took about half an hour to make.

After shopping around the wedding boutiques in town and seeing similar veils priced at $300 and up (no, I'm not kidding), I decided it was time to DIY!

The great thing is, it's easy to make any length and any style of veil you want using these simple steps.

Step 1: Materials

Tulle or chiffon (or both!), the amount of which will depend on how long and how many layers you want your veil to be. It can be anywhere from 20 inches to 120 inches.

The veil I liked best when I tried it on was fingertip length. So I measured from the tip of my head to my fingertips and it turned out to be 42 inches. That was just for one side, so I doubled it to get 84 inches.

A comb or barrette to hold the veil in place

Optional:

Ribbon or trim to go along the edges of the veil (amount depending on finished length of veil)
Decorations for the headpiece

Step 2: Measure and Cut

The veil I really liked in the shop had a sort of diamond shape to it, which I tried to emulate. Cutting the edges on a diagonal made them go all swirly when it was on, which I really liked. But the simplest veil would just be a straight length of fabric.

I folded the tulle in half and marked out the shape in chalk.

Then I cut along the chalk line! Once you've cut it, the chalk line pretty much disappears from the tulle.

Step 3: Rolled Hem

There are lots of ways you can finish the edges of your veil.

The easiest way for me was to use the rolled hem setting on my serger. It involves lowering the cutting blade and turning the stitch length and widths down. It took about 10 minutes to finish serging all the edges. To clean up any left over serger trails, get a wide eyed needle and thread them back through the row of serging. Simple!

If you want to use ribbon for an even cleaner looking edge, sew the ribbon onto the fabric about 1/2 - 1 inch away from the cut edge using a straight stitch on your sewing machine. (of course, you can always do it by hand, but know in advance it will take some time). After sewing on the ribbon or trim, carefully cut away the fabric so the ribbon is the new edge.

The fun thing about making your own veil is that you can mix up the colors and designs as much as you like!

Step 4: Gather

Gather up the edge that's going to be sewn to your comb. It's not necessary to serge this edge beforehand.

I used my serger to gather the raw edge, but you can use a sewing machine, or do it by hand.

Next, sew the gathered edge to your comb or barrette.

For extra fancification, add rhinestones or other decorations to the top of the veil!

Step 5: Prance

Try it on and prance around! I like to wear it to do work in at home. I have it on good authority that no one will think ill of you as long as you're a future bride. But I'm sure there are plenty of other circumstances you could get away with it!

Thanks to my friend Keely, who helped me play dress up in the costume shop of A.C.T. (no, that is not my real dress), and for taking a million pictures!