Happy Monday, DIYers! I have a different and GORGEOUS DIY tutorial for your today from my little sister, Heidi. Last year, she was married in a beautiful vintage-inspired wedding ceremony (you might remember the vintage inspired wedding mood board I made and her lovely bridal tea) and she made this stunning juliet cap veil herself. I've asked her to share how to make a juliet cap wedding veil with you today.
Photo credit: David Matthew Photography
Juliet Cap Veil DIY
What you’ll need:
- 2m of wide fine mesh tulle
- Lace applique or lace fabric and iron on applique material
- Matching thread
- Clear veil comb (michaels)
- Beads (in my case pearls and Swarovski crystals from Michaels)
- Cutting mat and rotary cutter
Step-by-step:
- Along one uncut side of the tulle find the centre of the fabric and mark with a pin.
- Using a measuring tape, measure the distance from one ear to the other on your head where you want the veil to sit.
- Mark each ear the measured distance from the centre pin.
- If you are using lace and iron on applique:
- Cut desired motifs from lace and iron on to applique paper
- Cut out appliques & peel off paper backing
- Place appliques on veil edge, ensuring symmetry from centre marking
- Iron on applique, using medium-low setting to avoid damaging tool.
- At ear markings, use matching thread to stitch loose running stitch from perpendicular to lace edge, gathering as much fabric as desired (mine was about 4-6”). Pull running stich tight to gather tulle and tie off thread (disguise in lace motif if possible)
- Use an overhand stitch to stitch comb top to centre on wrong side of veil.
- Try it on! You now have the veil shaped and the motif basically done. At this point you can adjust your gathering stitches to gather more or less fabric to get the perfect shape for your head. At this point I also added some motifs to either end of my lace applique so that it flowed nicely, ending on my shoulders.
- Once you’ve got exactly the shape and motif you like, you can cut it to desired length using your rotary cutter and mat. I went for finger tip length, about 42”.
- Fold tulle in half at the centre head marking and line up edges.
- Measure desired length from left to right along fold – mark.
- Measure same length from top fold to bottom along appliqued edge – mark.
- Mark as desired along circular edge of veil at same length.
- Mark or estimate curve to connect marked points and cut with rotary cutter.
- Re-cut edges as needed to smooth.
- Try it on again! Make sure it’s a good length and that you don’t notice any bumps in your cut.
- Sew beads onto applique as desired.
Photo credit: David Matthew Photography
Thanks so much for sharing this absolutely stunning bridal DIY, sis! We'll also share with you soon how Heidi's bridal bouquets were made out of DIY fabric flowers and embellishments.
Thank you, Edmonton photographers Nathan Walker & David Matthew Photography for allowing us to share your beautiful photos of my sister's special day here.
Gorgeous! I always wish I'd had a bit more time to work on my wedding dress and veil, which were quite simple and lacked detail.
Your sister was a truly beautiful bride!
Thanks, Sara! I agree - she was a gorgeous bride and I really loved helping her with all of the little details of her wedding. I bought my own veil off of eBay. 😉
Just wondering how much this all cost, to compare the price of making vs. buying from someone on Etsy. Also, about how long did it take to make? Would you say this is a beginner-level project (I don't have much experience using applique) or a little more advanced?
It looks stunning, I am so impressed. Thank you!
Hi, Jen! Here's what my sister says about her veil: The total cost including my Swarovski crystal beads, combs, tulle, and applique iron on was about $50, give or take. However, we used leftover lace from my dress. If you have to buy full appliques or more lace it would probably increase the cost by $20-30. So it's about 50-70% off of even the cheapest etsy veils - in my mind well worth it. As I can recall, this is the first time I've done applique and it went very smoothly. I'd say its a fairly beginner project, obviously easier if you have a little bit of a sewing background. Hope that helps! Oh, and the basic shape and lace took about 30 min, the heading took an hour or two. So I'd say about 2-3 hours total.
Hello! Beautiful, beautiful veil! 🙂 I was just wondering where the comb was sewn into? Was it in the center of the middle applique?
Hi! Sister here! :). Yes, I just sewed it in under the middle of the appliqué with a really basic overhand stitch. Another method I considered is two smaller combs that go right by your ears but for this style I found the bigger centre comb worked well!
Just wondering how you cut the tulle shape that goes over the head. Is it a half circle?
Hi Lidia,
No shaping there with cutting. The shape is created by gathering the veil where your ears are. The cut itself is straight. The whole veil when cut will look roughly like a big half circle, the part that goes over the head is the straight edge.
Hope that helps!
Thanks a million for taking the time to make this beautiful tutorial! I'm actually going to take a stab at it for making one for my 19" vintage bride doll who is sadly missing her veil. It seems fairly simple (gulp). Doll-sized Combs might be a problem but I can always used a pearl-topped straight pin and jam it into her head haha. Anyway, thanks again to you both for sharing your veil- making techniques; it's very helpful to all sorts of people!