Beautiful freestanding lace adds an elegant, vintage look to your Christmas bulb ornaments. Learn how to embroider the stunning ornament covers and how to stitch them together to attach to the bulbs. They're a beautiful way to add a unique look to your Christmas tree.
Supplies
- Water-soluble stabilizer (like Vilene or Sulky Ultra Solvy)
- Christmas bulbs
- 1/8" wide ribbon
- Tapestry needle
- Needle and thread for hand-sewing
Designs Used
Embroidery Library has three different sizes of freestanding lace ornament covers. The largest size is for a Christmas bulb that is 4" tall and 12 1/2" inches around.
Measure the height to the top of the sphere, not including the cap and hanger.
Measure the circumference at the widest part of the bulb.
The medium size fits an ornament that is 3" tall and 9 1/2" to 10" around.
The smallest size of the lace ornament covers fits an ornament that is 2 1/2" tall, and between 8" and 8 3/8" around.
Those three sizes are the most common sizes found in stores. But oftentimes the packaging doesn't list the size. Bring your tape measure with you when shopping so you can measure the bulbs.
Or, order bulbs online (through a store like Amazon) where the size information is listed.
Freestanding lace designs are embroidered onto water-soluble stabilizer. There are two different kinds of stabilizer.
One is clear and plastic-like, and one of the brand names is Sulky Ultra Solvy.
The other is soft and fibrous, known as Vilene. Both will work well, but this demonstration uses Vilene.
Hoop the water-soluble stabilizer firmly and make sure there are no loose areas.
Freestanding lace is visible from both sides, so wind a bobbin with the same thread you are using in the top.
Use 40 weight rayon or polyester, 30-35 weight cotton, or metallic thread in the needle and bobbin.
Embroider the design.
Use a size 11 or 75/11 sharp sewing needle. A sharp sewing needle has a smaller point than an embroidery needle, so that will make smaller perforations in the stabilizer.
One embroidered design is one half of the ornament cover.
After embroidering the design once, stitch it a second time for the other half of the cover.
Cut the excess stabilizer away, then soak the remaining away according to packaging instructions.
Usually the lace is allowed to dry before working with it. But for ornament covers, working with them while damp helps to shape to the curve of the ornament.
Place the two pieces with their right sides together and hand-stitch at the widest point.
Turn the cover right side out.
Slip it over the bulb, and mold the pieces to the shape of the bulb.
Use a tapestry needle with a 1/8 inch wide ribbon through the top.
Tie in a bow.
Some ornament covers go all the way to the bottom. Use ribbon on the top and bottom of those ornaments to secure.
Dress up ornaments with beads, too. Stitch beads or pearls to the bottom ends of the half ornament covers, or at the bottom circle of the full covers.
Thread another colorful ribbon in the tapestry needle, and weave it through some of the open spaces in the lace. This is a quick and simple way to add extra color and dimension
This ornament sports a marabou feather boa and hot fix crystals. It's an eye-catching addition to Christmas trees and wreaths!
