Learning to make a Hanging Veil

[Elizabeth]

I pray that each of you are having a very blessed day!! Today with it being rainy and cold. I thought it would be a perfect time to try and learn to make a Hanging veil for myself.. I am always needing more veils.. And it seems like when I am given one it is either to small or I have worn them out to where I need more.. A couple months ago we were given a book called " Sewing a Headship Veiling" I love the book but I always over looked the veil pattern well last night/ this morning I pulled it out and traced it off to see if I need to make it smaller on the part that goes around the head ( which I had to) and so this evening when I get home from work I am going to find some material that isnt being used and try it out.. I havent ever made one like this one.. ( kind of Charity/ Mennonite missionary veil)

Has anyone been up to any sewing here lately? I have been looking alot lately at the King's Daughter's patterns.. I really like some of their modest patterns.. I have a cape dress pattern right now but they are a bit tricky for me to make and I am not going to a mennonite church anymore and so I thought it would be nice to have a different pattern to make some dresses with.. Pretty much any pattern that I get will only be 4 yards to make a complete dress.. And with winter coming along I need to have some "winter" style clothes so I wont freeze.. LOL..

Well I pray that each of you have a very blessed day!!
~Elizabeth

[rachel]

Hi!

Well, let me start off by saying my day was the complete opposite of yours! It has been very hot here all day! Where I live is usually several degrees cooller than in Adelaide (I live in the Hills area around the city) and I thought it was hot up here! Then I went down to the city! Wow! It was hot down there! Although in all fairness, it was probably only about 30-35 degrees. But it was a taste of what is yet to come with summer around the corner - it will get at least ten or twelve degrees warmer on a regular basis during summer!

Anyway, as to hanging veils. While I wear a hanging veil, I don't very often wear an actual 'veil'. I tend to get square 'scarfs' from second-hand shops, approximately 60cm square, and fold it into a triangle and pin it on like a veil. I do have a a D-veil which a sister in America sent me, and I have made a few based on that. The ones I'm talking about look roughly like an egg, sort of crossed with a kite insomuch as there are two distinct corners.

Yes, recently I have been sewing a lot. I struck me on a particularly hot day a few weeks ago (rather like today actually) that I don't have very many summer clothes! My dresses from last summer are actually about three years old and since I've grown a bit since I was twelve, they're a bit too short for my comfort, falling to around mid-calf now. I really love the dresses, though, they've still got tonnes of wear left in them and I attached capes last summer (I actually bought them from a local clothing shop, and they fell to around the ankle when I bought them) and are in modest floral prints (burgundy with dark orange flowers, and navy with blue flowers). But I do feel uncomfortable with them so short.

I had some material sitting around by my sewing machine which is now another cape dress. I'm considering going to a material shop to match some material to my lovely too-short dresses, to sew to the hem and make them longer. I also have some other material which is sitting and waiting for school to be over so I have time to sew it up into a dress! I think this should make enough to last me for summer. All my dresses which fit at the moment are long-sleeved and fairly dark-coloured, and I'd probably get heatstroke wearing them here in summer!

As for patterns, I don't used one per se. I find them hard to follow and I think it's easier just to picture what I want in my head. For dresses, it's fairly simple, actually. I do have a bodice 'pattern' which is basically me tracing around the bodice of a dress that fitted really well. I also have a sleeve 'pattern' which is actually the sleeve of a dress which fell to bits (it took me forever to get sleeves right!). A skirt is just a rectangle with pleats (gathering gives me nightmares! I'm not joking!). It usually takes me about 3 1/2 metres for a winter dress, 3 for a summer one. I'm not sure what this is in yards; but I do know that a yard is 10cm shorter than a metre, so it's probably about the same.

Well, have fun with your sewing!

By the way, the worst thing with making hanging veils is doing the edging. All of the ones I have made have strange-looking edging because I can't do it right. That's actually why I stopped making them...

From Rachel.

[Elizabeth]

Oh I would love the weather you are having!! Sorry Im not really a winter type person.. LOL..

Well my evening of making a veil didnt go very well.. The pattern was WAY to big and it didnt go right even when I cut down the pattern a bit.. Oh well though I will probably just continue to buy mine.. One of my dear friends here went and ordered me 2 new veils.. And I am soo excited!! I cant wait till they come in!! When my whole family was covering I used to wear the bandana kind covering.. I really liked them cause they one were cheap to buy and two they looked good with anything..
To the yard thing meters is the same as yards..

I am not sure if I have ever heard of a D- veil.. I really like the church that I go to now because I can make my dresses with any modest pattern.. And can use any kind of material.. florals, prints, or solid.. Yeah the edging gets me irritated too.. I am one of these people that if it isnt perfect to start with I try and make it perfect even if it gets me all upset in the process... I really need to try and break it though.. LOL.. Hope you have a great day/evening..
~Elizabeth

[richshelpmeet]

I sew my own veilings too. I usually make the oval shaped coverings. And like you ladies, have had trouble making the edging look right. Here is what I do to kind of "get around it". I purchase a small lace that is "sturdy" (I last found a good one at Walmart in their bin of laces that are on a roll for 97cents) . Instead of sort of making a edge that looks like a "hem" around the covering..I instead leave it bare, then pin the oval shaped covering to a piece of newspaper or any other very light-weight paper. Next, I trim the paper to the same size as the covering. Then I take the lace (of the same color as the covering) and place it on top of the paper (of which the covering fabric is on the other side), sew a tight stitch clear around the perimeter of the covering to attach the lace, overlapping the lace, usually at the part of the covering that will lie at my neck. Next, you can tear out the paper. It sort of breaks apart where you sewed it as paper would on a "dotted" line. If any paper remains, I just use tweezers to get it out.

Now, I am not the world's best seamstress, but this seems to work for me most of the time. It might be something you can play around with to try. Maybe it will help.

Ellen

[Sister Penny]

I sew my hanging veils similar to Ellen, I do just use a rolled hem for the edges and cut on the bias not the straight of the fabric, so I have ease when hemming my veils. Another idea is to make it double, and turn it right side out and add a small snap at the point where it will be held together..another way I make mine :-)

I use a compass to make the oblong shape longer or shorter if need be so it is nice and fits properly. I still use my original covering pattern I traced onto a grocery sack in 1995 :-) good things don't change.

[Elizabeth]

I would love to be able to make my own oval covering.. But one I dont have a pattern for one and two my head is small and I am not sure what size I would even need to buy.. Last time I was given a hanging veil it was a youth size one. And they fit real good.. But that was before my hair got longer.. I am going to look around for some veiling patterns..

[rachel]

I think the D-veil I was talking about is the same as the oval veil you lot are talking about.

I'm afraid I can't really help. As I said, most of my veils are squares and the only sewing I do on them is four straight hems!

I'm not so sure about using lace. To me, lace looks 'fancy' which is the opposite of 'plain' and 'modest'. Does this make sense? Is it just me? I know there are lots of ladies out there who edge their veils in lace. My thinking is, I wouldn't put lace on my dresses because it would make them look fancy, so why would I put it on my headcovering?

Anyway, I'm really eager for the school year to finish (two more weeks!) so that I can get sewing on those dresses before I get heatstroke!

God bless,
from Rachel.

[Sister Penny]

www.shepherdshill.com has a tutorial to make a Kapp veil

Use a 13" or so dinner plate and then you can also use a compass to oval it out a bit and make the top straight by simply shaving off the patterns roundness a bit...

If you need an easy to sew pattern, email me at [e-mail] and I will trace mine off and mail it to you.

I have long very baby fine hair. I usually wear a Kapp now but I do use a hanging veil when I am working outside or swamping out the house.

Love in the Lord,
Sister Penny

[Elizabeth]

Thank you Sister Penny!! I just sent you a message I pray that you have a very blessed evening!!
Blessings,
Elizabeth

[headcovering]

Well, i might not be any help, but i will try!!
What i do to make them is i cut the same pattern as my main covering, an oval shape veil. Then, i make the flap inside. i hem the edges and either add a clear button, a hook, or a snap.
Jordyn

[richshelpmeet]

Rachel mentioned: "I'm not so sure about using lace. To me, lace looks 'fancy' which is the opposite of 'plain' and 'modest'"

Yes, I do agree with you there! I do want to get away from using the lace, however, I am not the "neatest" seamstress in small detail-areas of sewing! I seem to be all thumbs when I try to simply roll my hems over on a regular plain style oval covering. My husband says it looks like a "train wreck" on the edges, it is so messy and does draw undue attention! I do try and work at it when I have time and scrap fabric available.

Sister Ellen

[rachel]

Hi!

Jordyn: What do you mean by making a flap inside your covering? I don't understand this; from what I've seen of oval coverings, they are basically a flat piece of material.

Ellen: I guess I hadn't thought of people using lace to cover up mistakes! I'm not so good with fine details, either, but when I need to do something so small neatly, I give up on using the machine for it and hand-sew. I guess it depends on how neat your hand-sewing is, though. I tend to use the machine just for long seams, but I can make hand-sewing stitches in seams with the stitches much the same size as the machine does it... it just takes longer.

The other thing is, if you're doing just a tiny little hem on the edge of your covering, it will come un-folded if you're using a machine, especially on a curved edge. This is the point where I would use hand-sewing, you can work in a smaller space rather than having to pin it all down ever inch!

Anyway, good luck with your covering-making, ladies!

[renjac1301]

Nov 12, 2011 20:15:08 GMT -5 Elizabeth said:

I would love to be able to make my own oval covering.. But one I dont have a pattern for one and two my head is small and I am not sure what size I would even need to buy.. Last time I was given a hanging veil it was a youth size one. And they fit real good.. But that was before my hair got longer.. I am going to look around for some veiling patterns..

*I would also love to make my own,but one I do not have a pattern either,and two,I am so new to sewing

[kscarle]

Hello sisters
like some of you I also make my coverings. Lace to me is not really a matter of modesty but preference. When I was learning to sew veils years ago I used lace to account for my bad edges and still do at times. I was using an old singer with no fancies and had no serger. I have a serger now but don't use it. Another issue is the veil itself. I have about half a dozen hanging veils just made out of lace. I tried one once and my husband found it very feminine and liked it. Even my hanging lace veils are so they do not show off my hair or clippy (I still cannot do a decent bun)

I have tried the oval design and it never works out for me. One of the members posted what she called a boat shaped cover a long time ago and posted step by step pics of making it. With permission I used it and added my own touch. I still have a printed form of the pictures and use the same basic pattern today. I like it because it hangs well in the back instead of rising up. Since I admittedly wear a clippy this works best for me. I also cover in a way that is pleasing to my husband.

[Deleted]

I was so blessed to read Sister Tammy's post on the boat shaped covering. I actually made one in about two hour's time last night. I could have probably done it in less time, but I was borrowing my sister's machine (which I was completely not used to. Talk about a learning curve!) and I was trying to figure everything out as I went along. I cut a pattern out of a paper grocery sack. This was the end result:



I did go ahead and do mine in a very soft pastel print and trimmed it in narrow, discreet, crocheted type lace hoping to hide some uneven hemming around the curved edge. My local Wal-Mart has recently started selling the fabric jelly rolls and charm packs, so I picked up a stack of very soft pastel quarters.