There are different occasions when clothing requires decoration. Sometimes this is needed simply to change the look of the clothing, to liven it up, sometimes decoration is needed to hide some flaws in the clothing, for example, scuffs or small holes. But most often this method is used to improve the appearance of clothes. Lace is one of the most popular materials for decoration, and it is worth noting that it can be used to decorate not only clothes, but also room decor elements. But often many needlewomen ask how to sew lace elements to various items of clothing and decorative materials, so the topic is quite relevant for lovers of lace patterns.
Lace has a rather thin fabric and its patterns are very fragile, so the sewing process has its own nuances that must be observed. To sew lace onto different materials or different parts of clothing, you need to use one of the suitable methods.
First you need to decide what the lace is for, what item it will be sewn on, and what material this item is made of. After the item is chosen, you need to try the lace on it, see how it will look in one place or another, and make notes with chalk. If lace is sewn on to hide imperfections in clothing, it must be done so that it is not noticeable for what purpose it was sewn onto the clothing. For example, if lace needs to be sewn to a sleeve, then exactly the same action must be done with the second sleeve, otherwise the clothes will look ugly. Before sewing lace to a place where there is any flaw, it must be corrected, for example, by sewing up a hole or removing the stain as much as possible.
Sometimes there are situations that require sewing lace to the hem of a dress. With the help of such actions, you can quickly lengthen a dress if it is too short, or make it original, give it a new look. To sew lace to the bottom of a dress, it must first be washed, dried and ironed so that its pattern is preserved and becomes voluminous. To properly sew on the lace, you need to lay out the material, then overlap it to the bottom of the skirt and sew it with a basting stitch.
Next, the lace must be processed with a zigzag seam on a machine, thus creating a lace hem without gathering. If gathers are needed, the lace is sewn on with a wide stitch, after which the thread is pulled together, and the lace is basted to the dress, after which it is processed with a zigzag.
This method is suitable for fabric of any density, so you don’t have to worry about choosing the fabric. The main thing is that during the sewing process the threads match the color of the lace, or if the lace is not sewn overlapping, the threads should be the same color as the fabric.
To sew lace onto jeans you will need lace, lining fabric and a machine. Of course, you can sew lace by hand, but with a machine stitch it will look more beautiful and will hold better. The fabric must be sewn to the inside of the jeans so that the lace sewn on top will hold onto it. To frame the bottom of the jeans, the lace is overlapped on the inside, so it will look like lace that sits elegantly under the jeans.
Lace must be processed with a machine stitch so that it looks beautiful and holds well. This also applies to the process of sewing to a blouse. The lace can be on the top front of the blouse or it can be used to make a tank top into a blouse by sewing the fabric to the top of the tank and making small sleeves. Depending on the fabric of the blouse, the seam can be very dense or have medium density.
The process of sewing lace to a skirt is similar to the process of sewing to the bottom of a dress. In this case, the lace is selected according to the color of the skirt and overlapped to the back side. If the skirt is denim, there are several sewing options; here you can only do it with a needle and thread; with other fabrics it is better to use a machine.
It is better to sew lace onto knitwear by hand, since the fabric is quite thin and delicate. Depending on the item of clothing, lace can be sewn on top of the garment or to the back of the fabric.
To decorate home decor items, lace can be sewn onto tablecloths and napkins. Usually such decorations are made for holidays, weddings or birthdays. The napkin can be decorated with lace so that it can be placed on top of a table, TV, or cover the computer screen. In different cases, the lace may have the same color as the fabric of the tablecloth and napkin, or vice versa, you can use a contrasting color.
With the help of video lessons, you can learn how to properly sew lace to a particular item, and which lace is best to choose.
Lace is a favorite material for wedding dresses. Although many dressmakers consider working with lace fabric to be very difficult, you will be pleased to know that these difficulties are somewhat exaggerated. The advantage of lace is that it does not need to process the sections and cut them out only along the grain thread. In addition, a good result will reward you for all your efforts.
High-quality lace fabrics are very thin, they can be decorated with hand or machine embroidery, braid, ribbons, sequins, pearls, beads or seed beads. The honeycomb structure of lace fabric allows you to ignore the direction of the grain thread and work creatively with patterned motifs and scallops.
9
11
Look carefully at the lace pattern: can you use individual sections of it for finishing? You can decorate the edges of the product with lace scallops, in addition, you can decorate the product with lace appliqués or edge the lace edges with braid. Depending on the type and weight of the lace fabric you choose, you must decide whether you will use a backing and, if so, what kind.
10
Some laces are thin, but very prickly. For them, it is better to use an almost invisible thin mesh or tulle as a lining fabric. The lining can be shiny or matte. Try combining lace with satin, taffeta, organdy, crepe, voile or fine leotard.
When working with light-colored lace, cover your work surface with a smooth, dark fabric and lay the lace in a single layer on the fabric. Place all paper patterns on the lace, paying attention to how the lace patterns lie on the right and left sides of the front and back, as well as in the middle.
Either pin the parts onto the lace with thin pins, or press them with weights. You only need to cut out lace fabric using cutting scissors.
1
Lace embroidered with ribbons, where the ribbons highlight the floral motifs, requires more careful thought, although the well-known statement that lace does not fray is true, however, your results will be better if you do not cut the ribbons that frame the outer line of the design.
To make it easier to cut out the lace while maintaining the integrity of the pattern, use thread to trace the line of the motif. Use a thread of a different color to mark the stitching line. Cut the lace behind the stitching line, although you can allow a regular seam allowance of 1.5cm or more if the piece is large. Only cut the lace when you are sure you have drawn the lines correctly.
2
Traditional methods of seam and dart edging work well with matte, lined, or edged lace. These seams can be adjusted at the last fitting. Seams on thin lace are processed with double stitching or overlock. This type of stitching is very difficult to correct.
Connecting the lace parts along the marked lines.
Lay the pieces on top of each other, matching the lines of the same patterns. Baste the part along the seam line with a contrasting thread, make the necessary marks with a curly stitch. In this case there is no need to make marks.
3
4
5
You can also cut scalloped strips from existing lace fabric or cut patterns from the inside of it. Place the lace strips on the edge you want to trim. For the best effect, try to distribute the lace patterns evenly: small patterns will look better on small details, such as collars and cuffs, and larger patterns will look better on large details, such as a skirt.
Lace edge trim.
Apply the applique to a section of fabric so that a single piece is formed. If the part being processed has sharp curves, iron the applique into shape using steam or notch the applique so that it lies more evenly; pin and baste.
6
Sew by hand or machine stitch near the top edge of the lace. To decorate the rest of the bottom, cut out a scalloped strip following the design motif. Pin to the finished hem of the back panel of the skirt, placing the inner edge of the scallops along the entire bottom edge.
The lace motif from the back panel of the skirt should end so as to overlap the sides of the front appliqué; try to make sure that the motif is not interrupted along the entire edge if possible. Unnoticeably and firmly bend the straight edge of the scallops with your hands. Without grabbing the dress, connect the ends of the motif from the back panel of the skirt with the appliqué on the front panel of the skirt on your hands, imperceptibly and firmly.
To complete the top edge of a large appliqué on the front panel of the dress, place individual motifs cut from leftover lace to create a continuous, beautiful lace design. Sew the motifs onto the arms firmly and discreetly.
Cutting out the fabric from underneath the lace applique.
Sew the inside edge of the appliqué using a zigzag stitch, or sew over the edge on your arms. Cut the base fabric close to the seam to make the applique sheer.
7
The amazing magic of lace... it adds elegance, tenderness and sophistication to any thing, be it an elegant dress, fashionable jeans, a dinner tablecloth or just an ordinary napkin. Today we will tell you in detail how to sew delicate lace yourself, so that you too can feel a little like a sorceress.
Sewing lace to fabric is, in general, not difficult, and it can be sewn to absolutely any type of fabric. In any case, to work you will need a needle, threads of a suitable color, scissors and, of course, lace.
Before proceeding directly to sewing, the lace needs to be washed, as it may shrink, and this will lead to unwanted tightening of the fabric. Next, after washing, lay your lace inside out on some soft surface (maybe a towel) and iron it carefully - this way the reliefs of the lace patterns will be preserved in their original form. We remind you that you can see many useful tips in the video lessons under the article.
If you decide to simply sew the lace to the fabric without making any gathers, you need to place the edge of the lace overlapping the edge of the fabric, and then baste it. Next, you need to sew it on a machine using a zigzag seam (in principle, you can use ordinary stitches, but zigzag is preferable).
If you are sewing lace to the hem of a dress, where it is expected to have either folds or gathers, then first we recommend sewing everything on a machine using a wide stitch along the edge, then gathering it on a thread, carefully basting it to the product, and only then sewing it with a zigzag. .
We sew the lace to the fabrics using regular and bow folds.Don't be put off by the name. This is not at all difficult - you just need to take material that has a repeating pattern. Next, you need to pinch the folds at equal intervals (whether counter or regular) and immediately baste them onto the edge of the product. In this case, it is allowed to sew lace not only along the edge, but also directly in the center of the item, which is most often used for finishing. For example, lace can be sewn anywhere on jeans.
In addition, sewing lace is allowed in the middle of the product - along the yoke, at regular intervals along its entire length. In this case, you can choose the type of seam to suit your taste. It is not necessary to use a simple line; you can also resort to the help of the much-loved “zigzag”.
In order to sew on the sewing (as you know, usually only one of the sides is processed), it is better to place the main fabric on top. In this case, it is preferable to use some kind of decorative stitch, of which any machine (modern, of course) has a huge amount. The threads here can be either matching the tone or contrasting.
Sometimes it becomes necessary to sew lace elements to each other, for example, when sewing it to a tablecloth or to a napkin, where you need to combine the corners. The secret is that if you use a regular stitch for this, the seam will turn out thick and completely ugly. Such a seam will “cut” the pattern. To avoid this, we recommend using extra lace. This is necessary in order to use a different stitching method. Using scissors, carefully cut out the design strictly along its outline. Next, apply the cut out “applique” to the other part in such a way that the pattern on one piece fits beautifully and correctly with the other. All that remains is to secure the resulting structure with needles, baste along the contour, and then sew it all in the same “zigzag”.
As we have already said, lace inserts on clothes look extremely stylish and impressive. If you want to sew an original straight lace insert, say, to a blouse, then first baste it face up to the fabric, and then carefully stitch it as close to the edge as possible. Cut out the fabric from the inside out, and fold the resulting edges, hemming them using an over-the-edge seam.
Figured lace is ideally sewn not on a machine, but by hand. To do this, we place it “face” to the fabric and baste it along the curved edges with small stitches. We cut the fabric from the inside out, and then carefully hem the edges. Volumetric lace will look especially impressive if it is sewn to a skirt.
Since craftswomen often need to sew beautiful lace onto knitwear, we will consider this issue in more detail. Of course, there are many opinions on this issue, but we will offer you only one, the safest, in our opinion, option.
So, for work you will need not just a sewing machine, but also a double knitting needle. It can be purchased at any specialized sewing store. Having selected the desired step width, sew the lace close to the edge of the knitwear (in fact, almost overlapping). After the stitching is completed, turn the product over to the wrong side and carefully trim off the excess knitwear with scissors.
In the video materials presented below, you can more clearly familiarize yourself with the procedure for sewing lace to different types of fabric and various elements of clothing.
You can make an evening or casual dress, skirt, top, blouse or trousers from lace. Moreover, the item can be either completely lace or combined with other material. And, of course, you can decorate individual elements of clothing with lace (collars, cuffs, bottom of the dress) or make spectacular appliques from it.
2. Seam allowance cuts can be overlocked with an overlocker or processed using silk bias binding.
3. If you are sewing a dress, tight top or skirt, keep in mind: it is easiest to fit a product made of knitted lace.
4. If you want the product to be opaque, choose a suitable lining. For example, for knitted lace, a knitted lining is suitable, preferably made from natural fibers. If you want the lace design to be more visible, choose a lining that is a different tone than the lace (darker, lighter, or a contrasting color).
5. Elastic lace is very stretchy, so it is better to reinforce the shoulder seams by sewing on cotton bias tape.
6. It is better to choose a model with a minimum number of seams, so as not to cut the lace and spoil its beautiful pattern. Darts are not made on lace; it is better to transfer them, for example, to the side seam (to the waist line).
7. Lace can be used to duplicate both the entire product and its individual parts. You can choose silk, satin, satin or light wool as the base fabric. It is necessary to cut out the parts from the main fabric and from the lace, and baste the lace parts along the contour onto the parts from the main material. Then you can sew the product as a single layer.
8. If the lace has scallops along the edges, they can be used to decorate the bottom of the product, sleeves and neckline. In this case, it is necessary to position the pattern in such a way that the bottom of the dress, skirt or top is cut out without allowances along the scallops. This option will not only look beautiful, but will also make it easier to process the product - you won’t have to hem the bottom or process the neckline.
9. If you want to decorate a dress or other item with lace applique, simply secure the lace to the fabric using paper tape. It is easily pierced with a needle, leaves no marks and is easily removed from the material (if the fabric on which you plan to make an applique is very delicate, try doing this operation on an unnecessary piece). Next, simply stitch the lace with a zigzag and carefully remove the applique stabilizer from the wrong side.
10. Iron the lace very carefully, at low temperature. It's better to try on a small unnecessary piece first. A multifunctional ironing pad can be purchased at the Burda store.
There are 4 master classes in this article:
1. Hems on thin fabrics
2. Stitches for sewing silk fabrics
3. Seams on lace polyethylene fabric
4. Devore velvet sewing technology
1. Hems on thin fabrics
There are several ways to hem the edge of a silk, cambric, or chiffon product.
Hem the straight edge with a Moscow seam
Bend and iron the edge of the fabric to the wrong side by 5 mm. Place a straight stitch close to the pressed fold. We select the threads exactly in color.
Iron the hemmed edge. We bend the edge again to the wrong side and sew again, hitting the needle exactly on the first line. Iron the seam again.
Hem the concave edge with a Moscow seam
This method is suitable for armholes and necklines, when you don’t want to weigh down a product made of thin fabric with processing. The samples show an imitation of the front armhole on five types of fabric: cotton gauze, thick suit cotton, linen, cambric and chiffon.
We sew using a special foot, which successfully replaces the hemming “snails” used in production.
First line we lay it using the main foot at a distance of 0.3-0.4 cm from the edge.
Second line we lay it using a special presser foot 0.2 cm from the fold (the fold is along the previously made first line). If necessary, lightly cut the fabric, not reaching the stitching on particularly concave areas. Next, cut the seam allowance close to the second stitch (the pink swatch on the far right).
Let's do WTO(wet heat treatment) of the concave section, pulling it back. Then, fold the edge 0.3 cm and baste it. We do not sweep straight or curved cuts, if experience allows.
Third line we sew using a special foot, retreating 0.2 cm from the edge. The second line and basting can then be removed. Steam the edge without stretching it.
The stitching on the armhole in the area of the shoulder seam, made on the wrong side will look sloppy. Therefore, if there are transverse seams, we make the third line along the front side. If there are no transverse seams, we make the third line along the wrong side.
On the front side, the edge turns out beautiful and does not stretch during wear. In the same way, you can hem the convex edge at the hem of a flared skirt.
Hem the edge with a zig-zag seam
This method is usually used to process the edges of a scarf or shawl, but sometimes also the edge of a product (sleeve, hem of a skirt). We bend and iron the edge of the fabric to the wrong side by 7-10 mm. We sew a tight zigzag around the fold.
Iron the stitched edge. Using sharp-tipped scissors, trim the seam allowance as close to the stitching as possible without damaging the thread.
The result is a smooth, beautifully finished edge. This seam can be used to hem silk clothes, the hem of a light summer dress, flounces on thin and delicate fabrics, scarves and shawls. On sharp corners it is impossible to make such a stitch without interrupting the seam. Therefore, we leave long threads at the ends of the stitch, after hemming all the seams, we pull the threads into the needle and tuck them into the seam.
The article was prepared based on materials from the forum topics Album Milo, Album March 8. We thank the authors for the photographic materials and detailed MKs.
2. Stitches for sewing silk fabrics
Thin silks and transparent silk chiffons are sewn both by hand and on a sewing machine. Choose a very thin and sharp needle No. 60-70. The stitch length of a machine stitch should not exceed 2 mm, otherwise the seam will be unsightly.
Moscow seam
Above we talk in detail about processing the edge of the product using the Moscow seam. On silk fabrics, a problem can occur: the foot chews the material. To prevent this from happening, we use thin newsprint, which can be easily removed after the seam is stitched. This technique is especially effective on the corners of the part.
French seam
The second name for the French seam is double turnout. It looks elegant and does not spoil the appearance of the product, whereas overlocking thin and transparent silks looks rough.
We sew the parts along the front side, trim the seam allowances to 0.5 cm.
We turn the seam inside out, iron it and stitch it, leaving 0.6 cm from the edge.
The cut will remain sealed in the seam - it will look neat on the front and back sides of the product.
Tip: you can lightly wet the edge of the cut with water, passing it between wet fingers, then the ruffled threads of the fabric will not stick out from the seam on the front side of the product.
We direct the allowances of the two French seams at the intersection in different directions.
If a silk product does not have sleeves, first we process the armhole sections and only then sew the side sections with a French seam. This sequence will allow you to complete all seams cleanly and beautifully.
Covering seam
Place the pieces right sides together and stitch along the marked seam line. Iron the seam allowances to one side.
We cut off the bottom allowance by 2/3 of the entire allowance. We bend the upper allowance and, wrapping it around the lower one, sew it. For a smoother edge, you can sew a guide line along the top seam allowance.
With this type of sewing seam, there is no stitching on the front side of the product, as with the usual sewing seam.
Processing armholes on silk in a product with a sleeve
Sewing a sleeve into an armhole using a French seam is sometimes difficult and requires experience. Using an elastic soft mesh, you can trim the armhole cut with piping when the sleeve is already sewn in. Finishing a seam with a mesh is more aesthetically pleasing than overlocking and will not spoil the appearance of even a transparent product.
Edging the edge of a silk product
There are a lot of varieties of silk - they differ in density, transparency, shine, the way the thread is twisted and weaved in the fabric. Choose the treatment that is most suitable for this type of silk
The simplest and most accessible is shown in the example of a sleeve cut.
We place the binding cut on the bias at the bottom of the cut. We attach it, passing the corner very close to the cut. We bend the seam allowance with tape, baste, iron and attach the edging.
There are many ways to sew silk fabrics. Each time, carefully choose one or another type of processing, having first tried it on a piece of paper.
The article was prepared based on materials provided by lily-56, we thank the author for the detailed MK.
3. Seams on lace polyethylene fabric
Thin polyethylene lace fabric is used, as a rule, as the top layer of elegant clothing. On the Etro-inspired dress, viscose devoré jersey is chosen as a companion. In the process of stitching parts in our example, three types of seams are used: connecting lace to lace, to knitwear, and edge processing. The flesh-colored elastic lining is connected to the dress only along the neckline. It serves as the background in all photographs given in the article.
French seam on lace fabric
Before starting work, put on a universal needle No. 80 and adjust the tension of the threads, stitching the sample at the cut edge. The seam should not pull the two layers of stitched lace together.
The French seam is described in detail above in the article Seams for sewing silk fabrics.
1. Sew two layers of lace fabric from the front side.
2. Cut the allowance close to the stitching.
3. Turn the seam inside out and sew 0.5-0.7 cm from the previous seam.
Iron the seams.
Combination of lace and knitted fabrics
Important! Making a seam according to the algorithm below is only possible on polyethylene lace.
Sew the lace detail along the outline of the pattern. Make sure that the stitching does not tighten the fabric.
Trim the seam allowance to a width of 0.8 cm from the stitching.
We melt the edge of the allowance with a lighter or over a candle. Be sure to try it on an unnecessary scrap to adjust the distance from the cut of the fabric to the fire.
According to the pattern, we adjust the allowance of the knitwear part.
We place the lace detail on the knitted one. We combine the line on the lace with the chalk line on the knitwear, fastening the layers with pins.
We sew the details, entering the needle exactly into the stitch on the lace. Pay attention to the translucent allowance of the knitted part, we will work with it further.
We turn the allowance on the knitted piece so that it is not visible from the front side. We use a zigzag seam along the previously laid straight lines. We trim the knitted seam allowance from the wrong side without damaging the stitching.
Important! We select the stitch width and length of the zigzag stitch experimentally specifically for your lace, sewing samples.
Front view of several parts stitched using the seams described above.
Processing the open cut of lace fabric
This method is used to process the edge, it can be the bottom of the dress and the flounce of the sleeve. After processing, the edge becomes similar to the edge of fabric. We sew the part, stepping back from the edge by the width of the allowance, making sure that the stitching does not tighten the fabric. Then we go along the same line again with a zigzag stitch and trim the seam allowance close to the line.
Melt the cut.
The article was prepared specifically for the Season website. We thank the author of MK lily-56 for the photo of the process.
4. Devore velvet sewing technology
Modern fabric production technologies make working with them much easier. Chiffon-based velvet is now produced with such a thread composition that it can be decated in any way and ironed with steam on the reverse side.
If you have antique “pan-velvet” in your supplies, ironing with steam is possible only on the wrong side on a backing made of velvet, cardstock or terry towel.
Be sure to check on the scrap how your fabric behaves during WTO before you start working with it.
In our example, we used devoré velvet from the project “Velvet dress based on Valentino.”
Fabric composition: 50% natural silk, 50% viscose. The fabric is decated and then processed using the sizing method, which is described in detail in the article. The photo shows the fabric after decating and processing. It has not lost its plasticity, but has acquired the necessary stability, which makes cutting much easier.
Duplicating devore velvet parts
Duplicating velvet parts with adhesive materials is undesirable. One of the ways is duplication with thin knitwear. We cut out the parts that we duplicate from knitwear, fold the velvet and knitted parts, trace the pattern with chalk and baste.
We sew knitwear and velvet parts to the width of the allowance. Cut close to the stitching and overcast the edges. Then we work with each duplicated part as if it were a single-layer one.
We sew and iron the details of the product.
Finishing the edge with organza ribbon
A straight cut of velvet can be treated with a finished organza ribbon 1 cm wide. We attach the ribbon to the front side, aligning the edge of the ribbon and the cut. Sew along the edge of the tape located further from the cut. Trim the fabric to half the width of the tape.
We bend the tape to the wrong side and baste or pin it with pins. We attach the tape along the second side.
Processing the neckline and armholes with bias tape
We sew the finished bias tape to the neck without bending anything on the tape. We sew, stepping back from the edge by the width of one folded edge of the binding.
Fold the binding to the right side and sew the seam to the edge, simultaneously sewing all the allowances.
We lay the second line along the duplicate layer. If it is not there, sew the second side of the binding to the main part.
Neckline finished with bias tape.
Internal sections
A cut of devoré velvet is subject to severe fraying. If overcast, it looks unattractive due to the unevenness of the fabric in thickness. Therefore, it is best to use a linen seam or, as it is also called, a French seam. We reinforce the dart with organza ribbon, in this case it can be overlocked with an overlocker.
We thank the author of the lily-56 project for the MK and the choice of fabric in our store.