Tips & tricks

Working with lace and placing it behind an opening

Tell lace types apart, place motifs, cut single layer, secure it without pins and set lace behind a slit. Plus stitch, needle and pressing.

On the left the inside view of a slit: edges pressed under, lace behind them, held with grey basting stitches. On the right the outside view: lace in the slit, topstitching just next to the edges and a bar tack at the top end

Lace looks tricky, but above all it's one thing: open. Pins slip through the holes, the presser foot catches, and a cut in the wrong place slices through a pretty motif. With a few tricks it's still easy.

You can sew lace as a whole fabric, use its edge as a hem, or place it behind an opening so it just peeks through. That's how the Tove vest gets its black lace inserts in the side slits. Here's which lace suits what, how to cut, secure and sew it, and how to set it neatly behind a slit.

What you need

Lace: galloon or edging lace, allover lace or stretch lace
Sharp, pointed scissors
Sewing clips
Tissue paper or water-soluble stabiliser
Hand sewing needle and basting thread in a contrasting colour
A new, fine machine needle (size 60 to 70, a stretch needle for stretch lace)
Press cloth, e.g. a thin cotton cloth, and a towel

Step 1

Which lace have you got?

Three lace samples: on the left two bands with a scalloped edge, in the middle a piece of allover lace, on the right stretch lace with double arrows for the stretch

To start with, it's enough to know three kinds:

Galloon or edging lace: a narrow band with a pattern. One edge or both are worked as curves, the scalloped edge. Good for hems, edges and inserts.
Allover lace: lace by the metre, patterned all over. It often has a scalloped edge along the long sides too. You cut whole pieces from it.
Stretch lace: lace with elastane. It stretches like jersey and suits underwear, tops and anything made of jersey or sweatshirt fleece.

Give the lace a quick pull before you buy it. Then you know whether it stretches, and so how you'll sew it later.

Step 2

Placing the motifs

Two mirrored pattern pieces lie side by side on allover lace, each with a large flower in the same spot. The bottom edges sit on the scalloped edge, marked in yellow

With lace, every motif shows. That's why it's worth taking your time to lay out the pattern pieces before you cut.

Lay all pieces side by side on the lace and see where the big motifs land. Half a flower right in the seam rarely looks good.
For pieces you cut twice, mirror the motifs: place the second piece so the left and right sides look the same.
Use the scalloped edge as a finished hem. To do this, place the pattern's hemline, the line where the hem would be folded up, on the scalloped edge. The hem allowance below it is left off, and you don't need to hem at all.

Step 3

Cut single layer, around the motifs

On the left a rotary cutter on lace with threads pulled out behind the blade, wrong. On the right scissors cut along a line that curves around a flower, right

Always cut lace in a single layer. With two layers you can't see the motifs on the bottom one, and the layers shift against each other. For the second piece, simply flip the paper pattern over.

Use sharp, pointed scissors. That way you can cut around a motif at the edges instead of right through it.
No rotary cutter on open lace. The blade catches in the net, drags threads along and tears holes.
Only cut away as much as you need. Leftover bands come in handy for inserts later.

More on accurate cutting: Cutting is half the sewing.

Step 4

Securing lace without snagging

On the left lace with pins, one pin has a pulled-out thread loop, wrong. On the right the lace lies on tissue paper, held with clips at the top and secured with long grey basting stitches, right

Pins slip through the holes or pull threads out of the net. On top of that, the presser foot likes to catch in open lace. Here's what works better:

Clips at the edges instead of pins.
Put tissue paper or water-soluble stabiliser under the lace and sew through it. Afterwards, carefully tear the paper away, or wash the stabiliser out. The foot glides over it and nothing catches.
Baste by hand: long stitches in a contrasting thread that you pull out after sewing. It sounds old-fashioned, but with lace it's often the quickest way.

Step 5

Placing lace behind a slit

Here's how to set lace into a slit or window, like the black lace inserts in the side slits of the Tove vest:

Press the edges: fold the seam allowances at the opening to the wrong side, the inside, and press.
Place the lace behind it: from the inside, with the right side of the lace facing out. It should overlap the opening by 1 to 2 cm all round.
Baste: by hand all the way round, through fabric and lace.
Topstitch: from the right side, 2 mm from the edge.
Secure the top: sew a few stitches across the top end of the slit, a small bar tack. That's where it takes the most strain when you wear it.

Finally, pull out the basting and trim the excess lace on the inside to about 1 cm.

Step 6

Stitch, needle and pressing

Top left stretch lace with a small zigzag stitch and a double arrow, below it non-stretch lace with a straight stitch. On the right an iron set to one dot for low heat on a press cloth over lace, with a towel underneath

Lace is fine, so put a new, fine needle in the machine. A dull needle pulls threads out of the net.

Stretch lace: small zigzag, for example 1.5 mm wide and 1.5 mm long. That way the seam stretches with it. Use a stretch needle.
Non-stretch lace: straight stitch, a bit shorter than usual, about 2 mm.

When pressing, less is more. Lace is often made of synthetic fibres and melts quickly. Set the iron to low heat, put a press cloth in between and press from the wrong side on a towel. That way the motifs keep their texture and don't get flattened.