Sewing with lace – a resource list

Last year Natalie Wiener, the notions manager at Britex Fabrics, gave the Bay Area Sewists a great overview of lace for our Learn about Lace meetup. (I’m the organizer for the group.) She also gave us a really helpful handout with links to lace tutorials and more on lace. I put a version of this list as a page under the Bay Area Sewists section of my blog but it was pretty bare bones – no photos and just URLs.

I think it deserves its own post. So I went through all the links to make sure they still worked, added the article titles, more info on sources and photos from the meetup. All the comments after the article titles are from Natalie, unless otherwise indicated in [brackets].

I took the photos at the Bay Area Sewists meetup at Britex Fabrics. Here are links to some of Britex’s lace fabrics and lace trims. (I wrote a recap of this fun meetup here.)

Recommended Tutorials for Working with Lace

General Lace Info

• Lace Trim – Nice list of lace types and terminology
• Sew Fearless post Stretch Yourself – on working with stretch lace
• Threads magazine article Create Couture Lingerie – with thoughts on designing with lace, as well as instructions for lace applique

Seams and Finishes

• Melly Sews‘s article How to Sew Lace – Great step-by-step instructions on making a lapped/appliqué seam
• Threads article “How to Finish Seams on Chantilly Lace” – A nearly invisible seam finish for Chantilly lace
• Pink Hollybush Design‘s tips for seams and closures on heavy Guipure laces – the link Natalie provided is no longer available BUT it turns out Pink Hollybush’s posts on Guipure lace were so popular she reposted them in 2016. Here’s her post about seams and inserting a zipper on a Guipure lace dress and on sewing darts on the bodice of the Guipure lace dress.
• Matching Notches post Sewing Lace, Open Weave, Difficult, and Thin Fabric – Great tip for starting seams in lace and other thin fabrics

Embellishment with Lace (Applique, Insertion, etc.)

• Colette‘s Knickers with Lace Applique and Trim Tutorial – How to add lace appliqué and trim to a garment
• Colette’s Vintage Inspired Lace Inset Tutorial – How to add lace inset
• Colette’s How to Make a Lace Overlay Collar  – How to make a lace collar
• Threads article Embellish Your Cardigan with Lace. Adding lace appliqués to a ready-made cardigan
• Threads article How to Make Painted Lace – Instructions for hand-painting lace with fabric dye

Heirloom Sewing

• Sew Beautiful blog’s Sewing with Lace and Entredeux – Some basic techniques for sewing with heirloom laces [Note: Entredeux is French for “between two.” You can see some lovely examples of entredeux at Farmhouse Fabrics here. Sew Beautiful’s blog posts are now on Martha Pullen.com. That same post is here.]
• Wearing History blog’s tutorial Basic Lace Insertion by Machine – Machine technique for sewing lace insertion
• Wearing History’s tutorial Attaching Laces to Each Other and Gathering Lace – Machine technique for attaching heirloom laces to each other

Patterns and Projects

• So Sew Easy‘s article Sew your own lace underwear – Free pattern and tutorial for making panties out of stretch lace trim. She recommends 4”-6.5” lace trim, which Britex sells on the 3rd Floor.
• How Did You Make This? article Sew a Lace and Satin Bra Top – Free pattern and tutorial to make bra top
• How Did You Make This? article Pattern Custom Fit Lace and Satin Sleep Shorts – Free patterns and tutorial for a lace shorts

Thank you for this great list, Natalie!