jezzicasprojects

My niece is making her first Communion in a few weeks and I have the honor of making her veil. Making a veil is a fun project, easy and inexpensive. The first veil I made was my wedding veil after being shocked by the price of the veils at the bridal salon my mom convinced me that we could make it ourselves for far less. Of course mom was right and my veil was far nicer than the one at the salon for a quarter of the price. For my daughter’s first Communion veil she couldn’t find what she was looking for at the store so I made her a veil to her specifications. Deciding on the style is probably the most difficult step but my niece had tried several styles and knew she wanted a bow and sparkles.

For my niece’s veil I used :
1 yard of white tulle
A remnant about 20 inches long of white tear drop tulle
White iridescent thread
1 1/2 inch wide white double satin ribbon
Rhinestone banding trim 1 yard
Narrow white satin ribbon
Narrow sheer white ribbon
glue gun

I started with the wide satin ribbon and made a basic bow. I cut about 24 inches in length and rolled it into a double circle and flattened it so that there was two loops and a tail on each side.

I folded it in half to find the center and then gathered it – you could just pinch it and hold it – but I like to do a quick running stitch down the center then tighten it and tie a knot. For the center cut a length about 10 inches and tie it around the center over the gathers with a double knot in back.

Hint: To stop the ribbon ends from fraying: carefully hold the cut ends near a flame to melt the edges.

I rounded the corners of the tulle by cutting around a dinner plate at each corner.

Then to give the edge a little sparkle I used the sewing machine to sew a zigzag stitch on the edge all the way around. I used the iridescent thread in my bobbin and a regular white thread on top. The tulle will sort of bunch up on the edges as you stitch. Stitch all the way around the piece of white tulle.

The tulle is 54 inches wide, sew a gathering stitch down the center of the width.

Cut a length of ribbon the length of the barrette or the length of the finished bow this will be the base.

Fold the tulle in half along the gathering stitch line and gather until it is the same length as the ribbon base. Pin and then baste the gathered tulle to the base. Zigzag stitch to secure.

There are now 2 layers of tulle. For the top layer I cut my fancy tulle to a length of 27 inches (the same length as the first 2 layers). I stitched around the sides and bottom edges and then gathered the top edge. I attached this to the top of the first layers and the base with a zig zag stitch.

I cut several lengths of the narrow ribbons and knotted them in the center so they would be easier to attach. I stitched these to the center of the base on top of the tulle layers to make streamers. Then hand stitched the one end of the rhinestone band to the center of the ribbon streamers.

Before attaching the bow I folded the top edge over to cover the top edges of tulle and ribbons so the top would be nice and neat. I used a little bit of glue and a few hand stitches to secure it.

I put a small dot of hot glue in the center and glued the center of the bow to the base. I added some hand stitches through the back edge of the bow to the base so the bow wouldn’t flop over.

I used hot glue to attach the base to the barrette. To keep it all secure I stitched the ends to the barrette through the little holes in the ends of the barrette.

The most difficult part for me was waiting until my niece got home from school to see if she would like it. When I finally showed it to her she seemed happy with it. We tried it on and she looked so beautiful. Now I can’t wait for her First Communion day! I will add pictures of her in her dress and veil, but this will have to do for now. I love you Grace!