Freestanding Battenberg Lace Vest/Shawl

These are instructions on how to embroider and assemble the FSL Battenberg Vest/Shawl.

Stabilizers: We recommend to use water-soluble mesh, such as Vilene. Vilene D0102 is a non-woven dissolvable stabilizer which is imported into the US, is sold in large rolls and is sometimes packaged under different brand names. Some of these brand names are Fabri-Solvy by Sulky, Avalon Plus by Madeira, Wash-Away, and Aqua Magic.

Film-like water soluble stabilizers, such as Solvy by Sulky, Avalon by Madeira and Badge Master are not suitable for Free-Standing Lace embroidery.

Threads: The thinner the thread, the finer the final product will be. That is why for this project we recommend machine quilting cotton thread, which gives bulk to the lace and makes it look hand-made.

Embroidery polyester thread will make very fine web-like lace.

Embroidery rayon thread is too soft, it does not keep its shape and often its color will fades under the influence of chemicals from the water-soluble mesh.

You can use 40-, 50- or even 60-weight cotton, you can use it both in the bobbin and in the needle. If you use 40-weight cotton thread for the needle, you can use 50- or 60-weight cotton in the bobbin.

The drawback of cotton thread is lint. Please don't forget to clean the machine with a soft brush or compressed air after each stitch-out.

To get two-sided embroidery, use threads of the same color in the needle and in the bobbin.

In this project we used embroidery polyester thread in the needle and thick, #30, cotton in the bobbin.

Thread Tension is very important. When you embroider on fabric, it's recommended that the needle thread appears on the back of the embroidery. Then the embroidery looks neat and nice.
With the lace, it's important that the bobbin and needle threads meet in the center of the stabilizer layer.
If you leave the tension as per fabric embroidery, your stitch-out may end up like on the photo below: all stitches and picots look fuzzy.

You need to reduce the tension of the bobbin thread, or increase the tension of the needle thread to make a stitch-out neat. The tension is very individual for each machine.

Needles: We use size 80/12 embroidery needles and 80/12 metallic needles. Our experience shows that cotton thread used with metallic needles gives less lint. The needles should be sharp, so it's advisable to change them often.

Most Importantly: ALWAYS make a test stitch-out and wash away the stabilizer. This helps you to select the threads, needles, stabilizers and settings of your machine correctly. It's very important to select the correct thread tension!

Washing out the Stabilizer:

Rinsing away the stabilizer is also an important step, because the lace can be stretched or distorted if this is done incorrectly. We recommend to use a foam board and stainless pins.

Cut away the excess stabilizer close to the stitches. Take your time and carefully pin every single loop on the lace's outer edge to the board.

Now place the board into a bowl with luke-warm water. Leave the board in the water for at least half an hour. Change the water a couple of times.

Take the board out of the water and leave to air dry. Do not unpin the lace until it's completely dry.

This stitch-out is not a vest part. It's used for demonstation purposes only.

Making the Vest-Shawl:

In this project we used embroidery polyester thread in the needle and thick, #30, cotton in the bobbin.

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Please be sure that the designs fit the hoop of your machine!
There are 4 embroidery files in the set. The files labeled A are similar but of different sizes. The same is with the files labeled B: similar, but of different sizes. The larger files will give you a garment of M-L size, the smaller files will result in a garment of S-M size.

	File A: Stitches: 29566 Size: 180 x 204 mm Colors: 2 Stitches: 29567 Size: 199 x 226 mm Colors: 2
	File B: Stitches: 17020 Size: 104 x 204 mm Colors: 2 Stitches: 17021 Size: 115 x 225 mm Colors: 2

Embroider the file A 18 times, and the file B 4 times. Wash out the stabilizer and let the stitch-outs dry.

Sew the parts according the diagram below. Connect the neighboring picots by hand. Press if needed.

In the end connect the two parts in places marked with red dots on the diagram. This will be the back of the vest.

Feel free to change the style of the vest/shawl to your taste. Out of the parts, you can assemble a lace shrug, triangular shawl, or table linens of different sizes.

Enjoy!

Happy embroidering!

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