Endless Lace
Did you know you can create fabulous, heirloom quality lace on your embroidery machine? Start with a high 
quality design, such as those by Zundt. I will be using a design I purchased from Zundt for this pictorial.
On the right is the single motif I’ve used to create more than an entire yard of lace. For my lace, I chose to use Isacord 40wt polyester embroidery thread on the top as well as in the bobbin. I used a Metz 90/14 embroidery needle, and OESD Badge Master for my stabilizer. Before you start, note that my 44 inches of lace took roughly 2000 meters of thread! So make sure you have enough of whatever thread you wish to use. Oh… and last but not least, this design took 864 minutes to stitch out. I ran my machine at 3/4 speed. At full speed, I had some thread breakage, but at 3/4 speed I experienced none at all.
Begin by combining as many of the lace motifs as will fit into your embroidery hoop, either through your sewing machine screen, or via your embroidery software. If you need a pictorial on combining motifs, you probably shouldn’t start here, as this pictorial is strictly on merging the lace motifs.
You can use any size hoop. I began with a smaller oval hoop, and moved up to my mega hoop, obviously less joining is easier.
Click for larger viewBegin by hooping your stabilizer and stitching out your combined motifs. You probably knew to do that without being told. 
Now you’re ready to combine your first section with the next one. Remove the first section of the lace from the hoop, and trim the stabilizer on the end you’re going to join with the new section, so there’s just about 1/2 inch of it left to overlap the new section.
Hoop a new piece of stabilizer, and stitch out the very beginning of your motif, just 
Click for larger viewenough to give you an edge to line up the first motif to.
This is probably about the trickiest lace design to do this with, and since this is actually pretty easy, if you choose a simpler lace, it’ll be even more so.
Click for larger viewI’ve marked in red pen the edges of the lace that are stitched out to be overlapped. You are going to place those right next to the matching stitchout that is currently in the hoop.
Please note the red arrows in the next picture, showing where to match 
Click for larger viewthe designs up. I’m sorry the picture is slightly blurry, but my camera is quite heavy and I had to hold it with one hand while pointing with the other. Since I am no longer required to do manual farm labor at slave wages, my muscles are pathetic! Get out your trusty can of 505 Adhesive spray, and spray the top inch or so of the existing motif on the back. I tried this first with pins and didn’t do so well, the spray works great!
You’ve already seen how and where to line up the 2 designs, so go ahead and line them up again, and press the existing stitchout securely onto the hoop, matching them as carefully as possible.
Click for larger viewPut your hoop back onto your embroidery module, and start the design over. You’re simply going to stitch right over the small portion you already stitched out as a reference to line up to. By doing so, your lace will be joined as seamlessly as if you had stitched the entire length in one super long hoop. It will not be noticable at all that you’ve stitched this small area twice.
See how these match up? Set your machine to it’s slowest speed while it stitches over the combined pieces. Otherwise (ask me how I know this… ) the stabilizer is liable to bunch up as the presser foot goes flying over it. You can carefully hold it down until it’s securely stitched in place.
On this next photo, I’ve outlined in red pen where the machine has just finished stitching over the lines that I 
Click for larger viewstitched earlier, to line up to. See how it’s a perfect match? It’s as if they’re once piece… they are now!
It will continue to stitch over the other side until both pieces are completely joined, and you will have a fabulous piece of lace in whatever length you want. How cool is that!
Click for larger view
I’m still stitching, so I can’t show you my finished lace just yet, but there’s 44 inches right there. When it’s finished, I’m going to toss it in the washing machine and see how well it holds up!
Update…
Okay I tossed the finished lace into the washing machine on the gentle cycle, then straight into the dryer, and pressed it afterwards. It held up beautifully!
Click for larger view
