Free Standing Lace
 

Has anyone ever made free standing lace objects? I am trying to make some Christmas ornaments and I am having loads of trouble. I have a Bernina 830LE with the embroidery module. I'm using Pellon Sol-U-Film stabilizer, a #11 sharp needle, and Isacord embroidery thread. When I try to make the ornaments, the film eventually rips while it's sewing. The looser I hoop the film, the better it goes, but it always rips somewhere. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I think you may need to double or triple the layers of soluble film to make the foundation stronger.

I triple, hoop tightly, and found out the water soluble mesh is much better than the film.
Use heavy duty film, not that thin stuff for towels. good luck and let us know how they come out.

I have doubled and then floated another piece of top. As mentioned above, you need a fairly think WSS (water-solvable stabilizer). The design can become distorted in the hoop with tearing so you are wise to address the issue if it starts.

Here are tips on this site that might help.

https://www.emblibrary.com/EL/ELProj...oductid=PR2105

What is the stitch count of your design? Are you putting multiple designs on one hooping? It might work better to use a smaller hoop size if possible.

Another helpful blog post for you.

https://www.urbanthreads.com/tutoria...estanding+lace

Best wishes on fixing the issues.

I’ve found the thicker dissolvable stabilizer they sell at JoAnns works pretty good for fsl. Good luck!

I also have a Bernina 830LE. I've done lots of FSL. I find Vilene or Aquamesh works best. It's more like fabric & doesn't rip apart when stitching out the designs. I gave up trying to use film in the hoop & only use the thin stuff on top when needed. Decide what size hoop you will use the most doing FSL & by the size to fit it. Less waste.

I often load several designs in the jumbo hoop to save on stabilizer use. The downside when doing FSL is you need to entirely stitch one design at a time or the Water Soluble Stabilizer can shift throwing the other designs off. Example...you want to stitch out say 3 angels. They are all white. You stitch out the outline, then the wings, skirt, head, etc. Once you go back & forth, to each of the 3 designs, in your hoop, the stabilizer pulled a tiny bit & now your 2nd & 3rd angles wings, skirt, head, etc., do not meet where they are supposed to. I found this out the hard way & wasted a entire hoop full of designs, thread, stabilizer & time.

With the left over scraps of Vilene or Aquamesh you can carefully moisten the edges (barely moisten) & paste them together to make a piece big enough to hoop. Do it on a surface it will peel off easily. Some use metal baking sheets. Let it dry totally before using. I slow my machine down, until the outline stitches have gone over all the patched seams, so it will all hold together well during the rest of the rest of the stitch out process.

Hope this works for you. I love doing FSL. I have one of the Angel Tree Topper designs from Embroidery Library I'll be doing soon. I'm also planning to make some of their 3D butterflies as gifts too.

I'm not familiar with the type or band of stabilizer you are using. I use the mesh type of water soluble stabilizer, such as Vilene. It is very durable. I have been making freestanding lace items for years and have never, ever had an issue with this type stabilizer.

I use water soluable stabilzer from Joanns by the yard. I also put in one layer of chiffon to compliment or blend with the FLS thread. It helps with tearing and adds another bit of design to the embroidery.

I do a lot of FSL ornaments for church bazaar. I get big rolls of WSS from Threadart, use double layer in small or medium hoop and do one ornament at a time. One stabilizer roll lasts me a couple years.

I just made some FSL ornaments for the first time last week. I had thought that water soluble and wash away stabilizer was the same thing, but I was wrong. I use wash away in a single layer although I've been told I should use a double layer. The only problem I've had is occasional thread breakage.[ATTACH=CONFIG]603196[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]603197[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]603198[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]603199[/ATTACH]