does it take? How do you keep sewing it out so that it is one long strip? Thanks!

Good question and answers. I can't wait to see Carla's dress. Lace is so beautiful and you can't buy it in a store, so it's well worth the effort

Great question and thanks for the great answers! I had asked how to put it all together on the previous post, but with the hustle and bustle of Christmas, I forgot to check back! *

Carla...can't wait to see the finished project! It sounds beautiful! *

i just finished the lace around the hem of my daughter's smocked bishop dress and also around the smocked sleeves. i will post a picture of it when i am done assembling the rest of it like the bias around collar and placket in back, buttons, and so on, on my sewing machine. cutie pie's answer was exactly how i did mine and it was a very delicate lace design that did not take long at all to do each one or use up much thread. i think i ended up making my length of lace about 3 yards long in all...and since i can only embroider in a 4x4 space there were many hoopings of wss. but i love it.

It doesn't take as much time or thread as you'd think in most cases an well worth it in any case.

I didnt know that they take a lot of time & thread! so much as 1000-2000m? I only bought 2500m thread!!! I saw one Forever21 top where the edge of the satin is 'blend' into the laces. like a cut out. How do they do this? Thanks

kagen48, this is a good quesiton and Cutiepie did answer it rather well. Depending on how long of a piece of lace you want - or how big your spools of thread are - the answer could be different - if you need lace for the hem of a dress - expect to use a very large spool thread - 1000m - 5000m depend on the size of spools you purchase and the thread count of the design. I buy my thread in the 5000m spools - usually have plenty for a couple projects - depending on if the spool was used for another before, too. Most designers will give you an idea of what it would take to make the project and how to creat a longer verision that they show in the file. Good luck and please show us your project when you are finished and let us know what technique you used.

1 comment

by kagen48 25 Dec 2008

That is amazing. I would like to try something small sometime but I don't think I'm ready just yet! I have seen some really beautiful lace designs. All I can say is it must be a real labor of love! I want to give you a flower, too. Thanks for taking the time to answer my question during such a busy time.

A lot of work? Yes. A lot of time? Yes. A lot of thread? Oh, yeah! As for how long it might take, it depends on how fancy the lace is. Potentially, hours and hours. Personally, I have never done enough for the entire hem of a dress. I have just done collars, accent pieces, or trim for sleeves.

As for how to keep sewing it out long enough, there are design sets that sew out a "preview" stitch bit so that you can line up the segments of the lace. Since you sew it out on water-soluble stabilizer, you just cut out the part that you have sewn and line it up for the next segment.

If it doesn't have that "help" stitch bit, it can be rather difficult to make one long "string", and you may have to just sew the pieces together with a regular sewing machine or by hand.

2 comments

by kagen48 25 Dec 2008

Thank you so much. I guess that it would be worth it for a VERY special project but not for every time you need lace. A flower for you!

by cutiepie 26 Dec 2008

I guess I should clarify: It takes a lot more thread than if you were sewing something that looked similar but that was not free-standing lace. A lot of thread needs to be used for the support layers below what you can see in the finished project.