Bridal Brooch Made From the Bride's Mother's Wedding Veil

One of the most fulfilling things about being a maker is how I can give new life to sentimental pieces. Heirloom bridal gowns and veils are so steeped in history and family traditions, and the garments become even more meaningful when they are worn by a new generation. But sometimes a vintage wedding veil needs a little bit of an update! Originally, this wedding dress and veil belonged to the bride’s mother. When it came time for the daughter to get married, I restyled them to fit the bride’s vision.

The dress and veil were from the 1980s, and we wanted very much to pay homage to the parents' original love story. But alas, the size and style of the ensemble were a far cry from what the bride was looking for. So I showed my followers how to restyle a vintage wedding dress while I made the original gown into a into a sleek, mermaid-style dress with removable bell sleeves. (Check it out, she looks stunning!)

But while she loved how the dress was transforming, the bride didn't want a veil at all. She wanted something more modern and sculptural. I suggested turning her mother's veil into a large flower-shaped brooch that she could wear in her hair, and she loved the idea! Let me show you how I transformed the veil into a very special accessory that flowed from one century into another, from one love story to the next.

You can use this method to make a brooch that can be worn on a lapel, dress, or in your hair. If the brooch is for a more everyday occasion, I often simplify the process by just using 5 to 8 flower petals, something blingy for the center, and an alligator clip or pin-back. I love doing this when I shorten a prom/bridesmaid/formal dress for my clients, because I can use the extra fabric that I cut off of the bottom of the dress to make a perfectly-matching flower accessory.

All right, let's get to it!

Necessary:

Fabric scraps

Heat-n'-Bond Ultra Hold

An iron

Curved alligator clip with prongs to use the brooch in hair, or a sew-on bar pinback to attach it to clothing

Thread that matches your fabric

Beads, a single earring, pearls, an ornate button, or something else interesting for the center of the flower

Scissors

A hand-sewing needle

Optional

(Items I used on the bridal brooch, but depending on your materials and vision may not be necessary):

Lace from the veil

Tulle from the veil

Wire from the veil

Assorted beads, sequins, and faux pearls from the veil

Pearlized acrylic paint

White Flash color shifting paint

Deco Art Enchanted Shimmer topcoat in white

Heat shrink tubing

A lighter

A curling iron

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The bride, Caroline, had seen some of my work at a fashion show when she saw the Flights of Fancy collection. So she trusted that I would be able to restyle her mother’s wedding dress and veil. And fortunately, her mother Cherie agreed to trust me with it too.

The design phase was particularly important for a project this sentimental and special. Caroline sent me some inspiration pictures of flowers that she liked, but there were a few things I had to keep in mind:

1. The brooch needed to look great with the dress, Caroline’s hairstyle, and the wedding bouquet all at the same time.
2. I had to be mindful of color temperature, since the dress is a shade more ivory than the veil, which is on the cool white side of the scale.
3. Size and proportion are very important, so the flower won’t get lost in or dominate the bride’s hairstyle.
4. I wanted to reuse as many of the original veil’s components as I could.
5. And I was hoping the brooch would still have the same spark that Cherie’s veil had. If you can’t tell that Caroline’s flower was made from her mom’s veil, then it loses a little bit of the special touch that comes from restyling a vintage wedding veil.

The vintage veil had really good bones to start with, and I was DYING to cut it to pieces! I set to work taking the entire veil apart so that I could work with the components.

The pearls and sequins had originally been glued on, not stitched… and the glue seemed like it was ready to give up. No worries, I would just pull them off and sew them back on when and where I wanted. I carefully saved them all as I removed them. (I don't know why I put them in something as top-heavy as a wine glass. Don't do that.)

I needed to use a seam ripper for the stitches that held the lace and netting onto the frame.

Then, using pliers, I took apart the thread-wrapped wire frame. It was still in okay shape, but it was a bit rusty. I was planning to cover and reuse the same wire to make the bendable metal base of the brooch.

I tore off all of the bits of tulle that were glued to the frame so that I had a clean slate to work with. These little bits were thrown out, since the veil included plenty of tulle that didn’t have glue on it.

The lace from the veil was absolutely perfect. There were two large, thick, mirror-image pieces on the front of the veil that were in great shape. I decided to use them to cover the metal base of the brooch and mount the flower on them. The smaller lace motifs would end up in the center of the flower. The lace that looks like a dotted line had no place in my vision, so I ended up throwing it away. (That’s okay! You don’t need to reuse every single scrap when you restyle a wedding veil.)

The pearls would need some refinishing, but that was no big deal. The sequins I could simply reattach where I wanted them without any issues.

Overall, I’m really excited about the materials I have to work with. I have a lot more tulle than I need, because the veil was so much larger than the brooch will be. But that just gives me more wiggle room with how I cut out the pieces.

I needed to bring in some solid fabric from the wedding dress. If I only used the tulle from the veil, the flower would look too much like one of those poofy shower scrubbies. I also wanted to be able to shape the petals later on, to give the flower a more natural look. So let's make a heat-n'-bond sandwich!

I cut a piece of satin dress fabric and put it right-side-down on my tabletop. Then I put a piece of heat-n'-bond on top, shiny side down. I ironed it to fuse the heat-n'-bond to the satin dress fabric. Then I peeled off the paper and ironed another piece of dress fabric on top, with the right side of the fabric up.

Now I could cut out some flower petal shapes. I went with a gentle teardrop that was a little bigger than I’d need the petals to end up. This made it easier to pearlize them with a shimmery coating, because I could hold on to the extra fabric while I painted them.

I also cut out some flower petal shapes from the sheer fabric of the dress train. These would be layered in with the satin petals to give the flower even more dimension and texture. I melted the tip of the sheer petals with a lighter to make sure they wouldn’t fray and come apart from the flower center.

I wanted the satin petals and the buttons on the dress to have a pearlized coating, so I tested out a few options. I settled on a mixture of pearlized and white flash acrylic paints, and an enchanted shimmer topcoat. (The picture above shows two buttons, one with and one without the pearlized coating.)

I coated each flower petal and button with the same coatings, to give the brooch more continuity with the dress. After coating the petals, I allowed them to dry and repeated the process to coat the other side.

Then I trimmed them all down using a pair of curved scissors. I followed a paper template that I cut first, so that al of the petals would be the same.

The flower center is made of the veil’s tulle, twisted and twirled around the small lace motifs from the veil. I coaxed the tulle into a cup-shaped poof that would hold beads and sequins later, for some more sparkle. I just did what looked right, layering and trimming and slashing the tulle until it lay the way I wanted it to. Then everything was hand-stitched in place.

Using a sewing machine to give me a head start, I layered the sheer petals over the satin petals and tacked them together in a long chain. Then I cut each pair apart.

I used a hand needle and sturdy thread to sew the petals in a spiral around the flower center, with the sheer fabric facing up. I also mixed in some tufts of netting from the veil to give the flower more interest and texture.

Since the satin petals have a layer of Heat-n'-Bond sandwiched inside them, I can shape them with a curling iron. I’m curling each petal downwards to give it a more natural look. I'll give them one final shaping after it's all done, but I'm doing the major shaping work now.

Remember how the wire frame was a little bit rusty? I didn’t want rust spots getting anywhere near the white flower. So, I slid some heat-shrink tubing over a piece of the wire and shrank it by holding it next to (not over) a flame. Then, I bent it into an oval shape, and sealed the two ends together with a larger piece of heat-shrink tubing.

I bent the wire frame into a teardrop-shaped swoop to match the curved design in the lace, and sewed the wire to the upper piece of lace. I had already re-pearlized the small strands of pearls, and now I sewed them to the upper piece of lace, too.

Next, I sewed the two thick pieces of lace together, sandwiching the wire frame in between them. The lace-covered frame was bendable, and easy to shape to the bride’s head.

Then I sewed the flower onto the frame, using the same hand needle and sturdy white thread that held the flower together. I also added a metal alligator clip on the back, to hold it in place on the bride’s hair.

I reused the pearls from the veil, after I refinished them with the same pearlized coating I applied to the flower petals (and to the buttons on the dress.)

The sequins from the veil were one thing I could just reattach without any issues. They went onto the lace-covered frame, and sprinkled into the center of the flower. The flower center needed a few more beads, and the bride chose some pale blue glass beads I had on hand in the studio. There was her “something blue”!

I’m so happy I got to make this bride’s dream look come true. And it was so sweet that her mother’s dress was given new life and another day in the spotlight. I love how it went from the 1980s to the 2020s, embodying two different styles, two different personalities, and two different love stories. Even though it's a lot of work, I don't think I will ever get tired of making and remaking one-of-a-kind items that mean so much to the people who own them.

The wedding day photos are courtesy of Maria Kandalova Photography. I'd like to thank Maria for allowing me to use her photos! If you’re looking for a photographer in the Outer Banks area, here is her website and instagram.