How to keep your Veil on your head

Crafty Nara’s Tips for Keeping Your Veil On

Modern medievalists know that when it comes to garb, there is often a good reason that they “don’t make ‘em like they used to”. As modern humans we are used to stretchy fabrics and modern closures that help us keep our hats firmly on our head. But fear not! I have found some excellent period methods (and one modern one that stays hidden) that can help you wear your veil as comfortably as possible.

 I have tried these techniques on dry un-washed hair as well as on wet freshly washed hair and it works equally well. I like to run some gel through my hair in either case, just to keep the fly away wisps to a minimum.

Item 1 Hair Fence

 This is the secret to my veil success. This is what keeps your hair back out of your face and gives a stable foundation for the headband and veil to be fastened to. It works equally well on both thick and thin hair

It might take a couple of tries before you are comfortable using the hair fence, but it is worth the effort. If you plan on wearing earrings, put them on AFTER you put on your hair fence!!

Step 1: Unhook your hair fence and position it so the closure will be in the back of your head. Alternately you can close the hair fence around your neck in the front and spin it around to have the closure in back. Either way you want to have the closure in the back having it on top can cause it to unhook while pushing it on.

Step 2: Push back the hair fence so it pushed all the hair back. Take care to move the fence over your ears. Once you have the fence over your ears, make sure to place it back into your hair so it can grip that hair too .

 Step 3: Position the fence so it is just a few inches back from your hairline and only far back enough from your ears to be comfortable.

Item2: Linen Headband

The linen headband hides the hair fence and gives the veil a base fabric that can be pinned to for added stability. I use a linen headband regardless of the material my veil is made of. Linen helps absorb sweat and the texture helps keep a silk veil from slipping as much.

Step 1: Using the hair fence as a guide, bring the headband around your head and tie it behind your head. I have made my headbands to be shorter than the actual circumference of my head, so you can get it really snug using the ties.

Step 2: After it is tied arrange the headband, so it is completely covering the hair fence.

Item 3: Veil Pins

Pins will keep your veil in place. You could use small straight pins if you want them to be discreet, but I never pass up a chance to add some bling. Longer pins give more stability because you can run them through the fabric more times.

Step 1: take your veil of choice and position it where you would like it lay on your head

Step 2: add 2-3 pins and pin the veil through the linen headband, and back through the veil

These items above will keep your veil in place. You can add a circlet or coronet for extra decoration and stability, but they should not be relied upon to keep your veil where you want. Over the course of the day you will probably have to remove the pins and veil and re tie your headband, so it is snug fitting again. This is especially true if you have a very long, or heavy veil. But having to adjust 1 or 2 times during a day is a LOT better than constantly fighting with a veil that is slipping off your head.

I hope you find my veil tips useful. You can email me with comments and questions at craftynara@gmail.com

You can find all these accessories at my website

www.Craftynara.ETSY.com.

Thanks to Lady Lydia for being my Lovely Veil Model

Peace, Love & Happiness

Crafty Nara 

White Embroidered Veil

Two years ago for the Settmour Swamp Baronial investiture at Mudthaw I made a silk embroidered white work shirt for our Baron. The design was sinking towers done in couching stitch on the bottom and split stitch on the top half. In between the towers were flowers done with satin stitch, split stitch and back stitch. The Baron loved it and the Baroness really loved it and asked if I would make here a veil with the same embroidery and with beadwork on the edge.

 

I did some searching and could not find any period pictures of veils with white work embroidery and beadwork on them. I love our Baroness very much and since she really wanted this type of veil I decided to go with the creative anachronist theme and do it for her. It took 2 years of working on it, off and on (mostly off) but it finally got done and she wore it 2 years later at this past Mudthaw.

 

This is what the border looks like. Although the handspun silk was really great, it was not nearly as evenly spun as commercially available silk and it made the embroidery look sloppy. Since I needed a lot more of it and I didn't want it to be too heavy on the veil I purchased some Soie d' Alger silk from hedgehog handworks

 

The veil spent a little too much time in the frame and was distorted when done. Hopefully after beading and when it is worn it won't be noticeable. I forgot that you should not leave the hoop on the work if it is going to sit for any length of time.

 

A close up of the embroidery. White on white is so hard to see!