Making a chapel veil

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Loren_1of6

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I started wearing hats to Mass a while back, but the few caps I have don’t exactly match all my dresses. I would like to try to crochet a chapel veil, but I need a pattern. I could use one of my snowflake patterns, I suppose, and add a few more rounds, but I think a semicircle would be better. Does anyone have any ideas?
 
I have not been able to find a pattern, however, I do think that a triangle shawl pattern, using smaller yarn would work.

Dana
 
You could make it pretty much any shape you want. Back in the 50s and 60s, young girls wore chapel veils, round pieces of lace maybe about 8" in diameter. We tended to wear black ones if we had dark hair or white ones if we had blond or red hair. That was just us. Older girls and women wore mantillas, which were usually triangular pieces of lace. Again, they came in black or white mostly, although I remember a couple very pretty silver and beige ones…I mean silver ones and beige ones, not both colors on the same veil.

You could cut a circle or triangle of lace, and put a flat lace border around the edges. Even if you can’t sew, you could do it by hand rather easily.

If you’re going to crochet one, that would really be nice. You could use any circle technique, or just start with a single stitch and start increasing on each end until you get the size and shape you want.

I personally like one as close to the color of my hair as possible, so I’d use a sort of beige-y brown (maybe a few silver threads???).

Another option is to go to the Catholic Supply website and buy one. Honestly, that’s what I would do.
 
Thanks for the ideas. I hadn’t thought of a triangle – I guess I’d put that in the mantilla category and I didn’t really want something as “big” as a mantilla. And I didn’t want a doily, either.

Actually, I guess I don’t really know what I do want. I’m just hunting up ideas.👍
 
I tried looking up sources online. Catholic Supplies and CatholicDirect may have them, but I couldn’t find them. I know for sure I’ve gotten them at Catholic Supplies, but not since about 1965. There are some on Ebay and at a site called Modesty Veils, but you basically get a triangle, a rectangle or a circle. They actually call one style “dinner plate”.
 
DJgang said:
I have not been able to find a pattern, however, I do think that a triangle shawl pattern, using smaller yarn would work.

Dana
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What a good idea - I think I know what pattern I could use, too.😉
 
BTW, I just found a crochet/lacey/ivory beret at Target that will be perfect for those N.O. only parishes, so prevalent around here, that are liberal, casual and quietly anti-Traditionalist. It was only $9.99 and stretchy, too.😉
 
It’s in a crochet magazine that’s old enough that I very highly doubt it’s in print still (and certainly never on the internet). It’s in my storage unit so when I get my stuff out of storage I’ll be glad to post anything that looks good and is available. Right now I’m just working from memory (not so hot anymore:rolleyes:), so don’t keep your hopes up too much. I can say that I think it was from Walmart , so maybe you can see something that works there that’s still in print. Just a triangular shawl.🤷
 
My daughter just made a first communion veil for her 7 year old. It made me think. The communion veil that she made was attached to a white headband. Little girls have a hard time keeping their chapel veils and mantillas on their heads with just clips and bobbie pins. My God-daughters all attend Latin masses where headcovering is the rule. There is often a lot of fidgeting trying to keep their veils on.
Wouldn’t attaching them to a headband be a good thing to do with smaller pieces of lace so that our young daughters/ grand daughters and God-daughters can keep them on their heads at mass?👍
 
slyboots said:
My daughter just made a first communion veil for her 7 year old. It made me think. The communion veil that she made was attached to a white headband. Little girls have a hard time keeping their chapel veils and mantillas on their heads with just clips and bobbie pins. My God-daughters all attend Latin masses where headcovering is the rule. There is often a lot of fidgeting trying to keep their veils on.
Wouldn’t attaching them to a headband be a good thing to do with smaller pieces of lace so that our young daughters/ grand daughters and God-daughters can keep them on their heads at mass?👍
Click to expand...
Don’t the headbands show, tho’? Otherwise this would be a good thing for me to do also, as my hair is very fine and I have trouble keeping my veil on. In the past I wore a black one so the haircomb I used to keep it on didn’t show, but I don’t want to have to wear black anymore and I’m having trouble finding combs (Goody-type) in anything but dark brown - my hair is light brown, the part that isn’t gray, I mean. It seems to me that on a similar thread a while ago someone mentioned that small velcro tabs kept a veil on very fine hair (bobby pins don’t work for me, either), but I haven’t tried it. Has anyone else tried this?:confused:
 
I had a very similar idea. I have been looking at several different shapes of purchased chapel veils, and the one I like most is the French “princess style” that is an elongated semicircle with a scalloped edge (look for examples on Etsy.com). My thought was either A) to crochet half of a doily and put an edge on the front or B) construct a pattern from edgings and lacy stitch patterns (see www.mypicot.com for good patterns). I’ll be using #10 or #30 crochet thread. Given the sculptural and free-form nature of crochet, it should come pretty easily. Keep me updated. I would love to know how yours turns out!!

-MM-
 
slyboots said:
My daughter just made a first communion veil for her 7 year old. It made me think. The communion veil that she made was attached to a white headband. Little girls have a hard time keeping their chapel veils and mantillas on their heads with just clips and bobbie pins. My God-daughters all attend Latin masses where headcovering is the rule. There is often a lot of fidgeting trying to keep their veils on.
Wouldn’t attaching them to a headband be a good thing to do with smaller pieces of lace so that our young daughters/ grand daughters and God-daughters can keep them on their heads at mass?👍
Click to expand...
I cover full time, so I have tried a wide variety of ways to keep my scarf put. Here is a good one: Goody makes “stay put” headbands that have grips on both sides and come in colors to match your hair. They’re available in drugstores. A lot of times these will keep the scarf in place by themselves, but with super-slippery ones, I use straight pins to attach my scarf to the headband. You could also sew a little stitch to the headband and attach it permanently, or you could sew a comb underneath. In any case, the headband doesn’t show.

-MM-
 
I have bought a slim headband that has the long edge of a triangle shaped piece of fabric glued to the top, and the rough edge was covered by a piece of ribbon. It’s convenient and easy to make one.
 
I wore a fall many years ago, and more recently my mother had to wear wigs because her hair was so thin. This might work for a chapel veil too.

Try making a small pin curl with a bobby pin, then attach the comb into the curl, kind of under it.

When I wore a chapel veil in grade school, my hair was very thick and bushy, and the veil just kind of plopped on top. It would probably slide off my thin hair now too. Between diabetes and menopause, I ended up with someone else’s hair on my head.
 
Well, I made a shawl pattern in #10 crochet thread, adding a few clear sequins (about one per row) for sparkle. It made a lovely triangle, but the consensus from my boys was WEIRD. :rolleyes:

I took it to Church and modeled it for a couple of ladies, who agreed with my family. One of them even said it made me look like a cafeteria lady whose hairnet came undone. 😛

I wound up giving it to a friend whose hair is both blacker and fuller than mine. Interestingly enough, it looked fine on her.🤷 She doesn’t veil, but had to while she was growing up in Mexico. She’s that wonderful kind of lady who doesn’t really care what other people think about her and will do pretty much whatever she wants, including wearing a chapel veil that makes me look like a deranged lunch lady.😃

Now I’m going to try something else. Maybe go buy half a yard of black lace and make a mantilla. Maybe join that yahoo group and learn how to really make a chapel veil. Maybe try a semicircle, now that I’ve found instructions on that. Maybe it would help if I made it in dark auburn to match my hair.

But if anyone knits, there are a few patterns for to be found. There’s this one that a friend is trying out. And there is a lovely First Communion veil here.

Enjoy.🙂
 
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