Embroidering Miniature Lace

Beautiful freestanding lace brings your embroidery to life! These adorable miniature versions are a gorgeous way to share your love for lace -- find out how to stitch these designs, plus tips on stabilizer, needle choice, and more in this tutorial.

Freestanding lace designs have been specially digitized for water-soluble stabilizer. After the stabilizer is removed, beautiful lace remains behind.

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 will work very well. Sulky Ultra Solvy 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. That means it will make smaller holes in the stabilizer.

Freestanding lace is seen from both sides, so wind a bobbin with the same thread that you're using in the needle.

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

Load the file onto your machine.

In this tutorial, we are using 40 weight rayon thread. You can also use 30 weight cotton or 40 weight polyester thread for most freestanding lace designs.

Embroider the design.

After embroidering, cut the excess stabilizer away.

The stabilizer's packaging should give instructions for removing the excess.

For Vilene, soak the lace pieces for a few moments.

Air dry, then press using a pressing cloth.

The size of miniature lace makes them great additions to a charm bracelet or necklace.

To create your own, embroider additional lace charms using the steps above.

Cut a piece of chain to the length needed for the bracelet or necklace.

In this example, a charm bracelet is created. To find this, measure the circumference of your wrist and add 1/2".

Lay out the charms alongside the cut piece of chain, making sure they are evenly spaced.

Use jump rings to connect the lace charms to the bracelet chain.

Finally, add clasps to the ends.

These miniature lace designs are perfect for creating your own crafty charm bracelet.

You can use this same technique to create a necklace, too, like this fun Halloween version.

Or, attach the lace designs to a keychain to bring a bit of embroidery wherever you go!