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With Valentines Day quickly approaching, I thought this would be an ideal time to revisit my tutorial for making a “see through” heart design using machine needle-lace.

Machine needle-lace is a very versatile technique and one I use often, particularly for making embellishments. But you can also use it for other applications and one of my favorites is “see-through” designs. This needle-lace heart design is a simple project that demonstrates this technique.

If you’re not familiar with machine needle-lace, it’s made using free motion and sewing small, pea-size loops which overlap themselves.

You will also need to use an embroidery hoop to help stabilize your fabric.

You can download this heart shaped template by right clicking on the image and saving to your desktop.

Generally you would use this technique on one or two layers of fabric, or a quilt block. Transfer your heart shaped design to the top of your fabric, hoop your fabric in an embroidery hoop, then stitch one or two rows of straight stitch around the design to stabilize the fabric.

Using small sharp scissors, cut away the center of the design close to the stitching line.

Cut a piece of water soluble stabilizer and pin the stabilizer in place underneath the cutaway design.

Fill in the design with machine needle-lace, then stitch a row of satin stitch to finish off the edge.

For added embellishment, you could also sew a row of decorative stitching around the outer edge of the design.

You could use this design as a quilt block or as a design element for a small project. Isn’t it pretty?

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