Freestanding Lace Flowers Machine Embroidery Design

This is Chris from Needlepointers.com and today I have another Machine Embroidery project you might be interested in, freestanding lace flowers. 

These amazing machine embroidered flowers were stitched with a design pack by OESD.  The design pack comes with designs for a rose with leaves, a lily, an orchid, a chrysanthemum, and two butterflies.

Stitch up a beautiful and long-lasting bouquet of flowers with these designs! I have also found some other freestanding lace flower designs available from other designers.  Mix and match to make your bouquet!

Learn more about stitching freestanding lace flowers by watching our video or reading this article.

Freestanding Lace Butterfly

Several months ago, I shared with you 10 tips for success with freestanding lace projects.  This page shows step-by-step how to stitch a simple freestanding lace butterfly.   

If you need instructions or tips on how to stitch out freestanding lace projects, please visit that page and video tutorial.

For this tutorial, I will demonstrate how to wrap the rose after the design has been stitched out.

WHAT YOU NEED to make freestanding lace flowers

Look at the end of this tutorial for more links to specific products.

• Freestanding lace flower machine embroidery designs 
• Wash Away mesh type stabilizer – do not use the plastic type of stabilizer as this will not hold up to the stitches.
• Alligator Clamps
• Pressing Cloth
• Floral Tape
• Floral Wire
• Embroidery Machine
• Embroidery Threads

The OESD instructions suggest using OESD Aquamesh and OESD BadgeMaster stabilizers.  I found that two layers of a mesh water-soluble stabilizer worked beautifully to stitch out these flowers.

INSTRUCTIONS to make freestanding lace flowers

OESD Freestanding lace flowers Design

Freestanding Lace Bouquet are machine embroidery designs by OESD and the designs can be purchased online through the OESD website or a CD can be purchased from your local dealer.

If you purchase a CD, be sure you have a CD reader on your computer.  I brought this project to a retreat and forgot I don’t have a CD reader on my laptop.  So, I had to borrow a CD reader from a friend, thanks Judy!

This OESD design pack includes machine embroidery designs to make a Rose with leaves, a Lily, an Orchid, a Chrysanthemum, and two butterflies.  By stitching more than one of each flower, you can make yourself a pretty and long-lasting bouquet!

The OESD Freestanding Lace Bouquet design pack includes a PDF with the instructions on how to stitch, the supplies you will need, color charts and a step-by-step tutorial on how to assemble the flowers after they are stitched.

Stitching the Freestanding Lace Flowers

These freestanding lace flowers are stitched in multiple hoopings and then the parts are attached together using eyelets and buttonettes that are stitched as part of the design.

For example, to make a rose, you must stitch the main rose section and then the leaves in separate hoopings.  The assembly of the rose is a bit more complicated because it's wrapped so I'll show how to wrap it later in this tutorial.

The Chrysanthemum has five layers that are stitched in separate hoopings.  The flower is assembled using the buttonettes and eyelets.

The Orchid has three layers that are held together by the buttonette and eyelets.

Finally, the Lily has two layers.  The stamen is formed into a tube around a stick and two buttonette and eyelets hold it together. The lily is also held in a circle by the buttonette and eyelet.

The two butterfly designs only have one layer to stitch out.

I have also searched the internet and found some other freestanding lace flower designs!  Look for links to purchase the OESD flowers and the other flower designs at the end of this tutorial.

Stitching the Rose

Since the rose is the most complicated flower to finish, this tutorial will show you how to finish a rose. 

Since I previously showed how to stitch a butterfly in the tutorial, 10 Tips for Freestanding Lace Projects, those steps will not be repeated here. Please refer to that tutorial for instructions and recommendations on stitching out the free standing lace designs.

I used two layers of mesh fabric type Sew 'n Wash Stabilizer for my flowers.  It was necessary to use two layers of stabilizer because the designs have dense stitching and one layer would pull away from the stitches as the design was stitched.

The rose design has only two colors and the design suggests two red colors.  Roses come in many different colors so use whatever color combinations you would like!  I’ve stitched the rose with two oranges.

The rose leaves were also stitched in a separate hooping.  The leaves are stitched in one single color.

Remember to use a matching bobbin thread when stitching freestanding lace designs since the bobbin thread will be visible on the final project.

After stitching the designs, cut back the excess stabilizer and rinse it to remove most of the stabilizer.  Don’t over-rinse these flowers since they need to be a bit stiff so they hold their shape.  Once the pieces are dry it's time to wrap the rose.

As mentioned earlier, the layers of the different flowers are attached together using eyelets and buttonettes.  These eyelets and buttonettes are stitched as part of the design.

For the rose, there is one buttonette and an eyelet near the center of the design.

There are also two tabs that are used to hold the rose to the stem. The tabs are at the beginning and end of the spiral.

wrapping the Rose

For the rose, use a chopstick, pencil or other pointed stick to wrap the rose spiral around.

Wrap the rose around the stick starting with the tab at the outer edge of the design and the front side of the design facing out.  Hold the tab against the stick and start wrapping keeping the bottom edge even.

To get a more budlike flower, wrap it tightly.  If you want a more open flower, wrap it a bit looser.  You can remove the chopstick once the wrapping has started.

Once you have wrapped it all around, insert the buttonette into the eyelet to hold it together.  The last round may need to wrap underneath the other sprials for the buttonette to reach the eyelet.

This is where the alligator clamp comes in handy.  Insert the alligator clamp through the eyelet and grab the buttonette in the clamp.  

Pull the alligator clamp holding the buttonette back through the eyelet.  

The rose spiral is complete.  If you haven't removed it already, remove the stick.  Hold the rose by the two tabs. 

If you don't have alligator clamps, a pair of tweezers can be helpful in pulling the buttonettes through the eyelets.

Add the Floral wire to the Rose

Place the floral wire into the center of the flower.  It should be placed at least halfway up into the flower.  Hold the rose by the tabs.

Use floral tape to wrap around the wire and the two tabs.

Continue wrapping down the stem and add the three leaves as you go.

And now the rose is complete!

The other flowers are put together by attaching the layers with the buttonettes and eyelets. Then the floral wire is added in a similar way and wrapped with the floral tape.

Make a whole bunch of flowers and create a pretty bouquet!

We hope you enjoyed learning about freestanding lace flowers.

Some other machine embroidery projects you may be interested in are:

• Freestanding Lace Earrings
• Machine Embroidered Greeting Cards
• Octagon Splendour Placemats