Freestanding lace designs have been specially digitized for water-soluble stabilizer. After the stabilizer is removed, beautiful embroidery remains. When you download the design, you will find a total of 4 files. These four files contain all of the pieces of the 3D lace angel.

Piece "a", "b", and "c" will all need to be stitched twice in order to complete this project. Piece "d" will only need to be stitched once.

There are a couple of different kinds of water-soluble stabilizer. One is clear and plastic, and that brand is Sulky Ultra Solvy. The other is soft and fibrous, called Vilene. Both work very well. Vilene is used in this demonstration.

Use a size 11 or 75/11 sharp sewing needle. A sharp sewing needle has a smaller, finer point than an embroidery needle, meaning that it will make smaller holes in the stabilizer.

As the freestanding lace will be seen from both sides, wind a bobbin with the same thread that is being used in the top needle.

Hoop the stabilizer firmly. Make sure it is nice and tight with no wrinkles.

Attach the hoop to the machine, and load file "a". Embroider the first piece using a matching bobbin.

After embroidering, trim away the excess stabilizer.

The stabilizer's packaging should give instructions for removing the excess. For Vilene, soak the embroidered lace for a few moments.

Allow the lace to air dry, and then press it with a pressing cloth on top.

Repeat the steps above to embroider the rest of the lace pieces. Again, files "a", "b", and "c" will need to be sewn out twice to make a complete angel. File "d" only needs to be sewn once.

In this tutorial, the ornament is designed to use embroidered tabs and glue for assembly. If preferred, however, you can hand sew all the pieces together in the same order as listed below. Simply use thread matching the embroidery.

To begin assembly, take one of the two "a" pieces and use the glue gun to spread glue on the glue tab on the right side of the embroidery.

Then, take the second "a" piece and carefully join the two "a" pieces together. Glue the tab of the first piece onto the wrong side of the second piece along the straight side with no tab. Make sure both pieces have the right side facing up. Hold pieces together until glue dries.

Then add glue to the right side of the tab on the second "a" file. Glue this tab onto the wrong side of the first "a" piece along the straight side. This will make the two pieces into a 3D cone. Hold pieces in place until the glue dries.

Take one of the head or "b" pieces, and add glue onto the glue tab. The glue should be on the right side of the embroidery.

Slide the tab into the top opening of the cone. Line the tab up with the center of either "a" piece (not the glued seams). Press the tab against the inside of the cone until the glue dries.

Repeat to add the second "b" piece into the top opening of the cone. Center it on the opposite "a" piece so the head pieces are perfectly back to back. Then press the glued tab against the inside of the cone until the glue dries.

Spread glue onto the wrong side of one of the "b" pieces. Be sure there is a little glue along the top loop as well to join of the pieces completely together.

Line the pieces up with wrong sides touching, and press them together until the glue dries.

Select either "c" piece. Place glue along one straight edge of the piece. Make sure it is on the wrong side of the embroidery, and try to keep the glue only on the outer satin border.

Match up the two "c" pieces with wrong sides together. Press along the edge where you placed your glue and hold the edges together until dry.

Wrap the connected "c" pieces around the head and cone to make the shawl. Be sure that the glued seams of the shawl ("c" pieces) are lined up with the glued seams of the cone ("a" pieces).

Then attach the un-glued straight edges of the "c" pieces together. Make sure the wrong sides of the pieces are touching, and hold them in place until the glue dries.

To make the bow, cut a piece of ribbon that is 12 inches long.

Select which side of the Angel you would like to be the back. There are four openings along the top of each "c" piece. Using a wide-eyed sewing needle, thread the ribbon through the two center openings of the shawl in the back. The ribbon should be laying on the outside of the bar between the 2 center openings.

Then thread the two ends of the ribbon through the outer two openings in the back "c" piece. If needed, adjust both ends of the ribbon so they are about the same length on either side.

Then thread the ribbon over the outside of the two glued side seams into the two outer holes on the front "c" piece. Continue to also thread the ribbon through the two center holes. In the end, the two ends of the ribbon should be coming out the two center holes onto the outside of the angel.

Adjust to make the two ends about the same length, and tie them into a bow.

Before trimming the tails, either glue or hand sew the center of the bow so it cannot come untied. Trim the tails of the bow as needed.

Next, add a dab of glue to both the center front and center back of the shawl ("c" pieces) and secure the shawl to the cone ("a" pieces). Remember to keep all of the glued seams lined up. This will stop the shawl from spinning on the cone and flatten the back of the shawl. Doing so will also create a good base for the wings (piece "d").

Place glue down the center satin of the wings (piece "d") on the right side of the embroidery.

Line up the center of the wings (piece "d") with the center back of the shawl ("c" pieces). Press and hold the wings in place until the glue dries.

To make the hanger, cut a second piece of ribbon that is 7 inches long. Thread it through the top loop on the head ("b" pieces), and tie the ends into a knot to make a loop.