DIY Birdcage Wedding Veil

So one of my closest friends is getting married next year and since I am probably the most craft-y person in her bridal party I volunteered my services to help her make 2 DIY projects – 1st the Birdcage Veil, 2nd a more traditional tulle veil.  Since I’ve never made any veil before I looked at OnceWed.com for basic directions and made a couple of modifications as I went.

Materials:

1/2 yard of 9” wide Russian Veiling – You can buy this on Etsy or at specialty fabric stores like Mood

1 sheet of felt (cut into 2 4”x4” squares) – we used a navy blue to be her “something blue”

Needle & Thread

2 Small Hat Combs – Purchased from Etsy

Scissors

Fabric Glue

Measuring Tape

Silk Flowers and anything else you might want to add

The first thing I did was cut 2 hearts out of the 4”x4” squares of felt that are the same shape. 1 will serve as extra stability and to cover up any unattractive stitches later on.

Cut a 14” piece of the veil (you can add an inch or 2 for fullness).  Cut the veiling right above the little knots where the “X” of the veiling comes together.

With a needle make a running stitch through one of the cut ends of the veiling and secure to the felt.

Repeat on the other side.

You can make a running stitch through the finished upper edge of the veil to gather in the fabric and tack the edge to the felt heart.  Place the heart on your head in the mirror to determine if you like the positioning of the veiling and re-distribute and add more tacks as necessary.

On the other felt heart secure the hat combs with needle and thread.  I angled them to help ensure they will stay in place on the big day.  Put this aside for the time being.

We found our flowers at Walmart and they were slightly too big so we removed some of the petals to make them the desired size.

Arrange the flowers on the veil and pin them in place.  Make sure you try it on to make sure they are in the ideal location.  Using needle and thread or fabric glue you can secure the flowers into place.  I personally felt safer using needle and thread to make sure it wouldn’t easily come apart. Using fabric glue or needle and thread attach the other heart that has the combs attached into place.

Voila! Check out the finished product.  We may add some additional accent flowers as the big day approaches and the wedding décor has been nailed down but for now we kept it simple.