6 Tips to Make Sewing a Lace Dress with a Lining Easy

Does the thought of sewing lace make you nervous? Recently, a lace project slowed me down and I am here to say, sew the lace! It is really not that difficult and can be a great addition to your wardrobe. Here are my 6 tips to help make sewing your own lace dress easy. VIDEO included at the end of the blog post.

Lace Dress With a Lining

Here is the lace dress that I recently made. Specific supplies for this dress included lace fabric, lining fabric, and McCalls 7505. (Affiliate Links)

• 

• 

Sewing up the actual lace dress did not take a ton of time, but the thought and planning process was the real hang-up. Instead of wasting your time, I want to give you 6 tips to use so you can create your very own fabulous lace project easily.

Tip #1: Choose a Pattern that Will Let the Lace Shine

What does this mean exactly? Well, look for something simple, not many seam lines, darts, zippers, etc. Rather a pattern that will not distract you with the difficulty level of adding these things to lace. Each extra detail requires more techniques, research, and care to make sure it is done well when working with a lace fabric. If you want to keep your project simple and easy, choose something that works with your fabric rather than against it. I chose McCalls 7505 for the simplicity of the design. I did make some alterations that I will go over next.

McCalls 7505 Pattern Alterations

-Removed Center Back Seam and added fullness to the body to create more swing

-Removed the bust darts and swung the front of the dress out to create swing

-Used the scalloped edge of the lace for the hem and sleeve hem

-Cut 3/4 length sleeves and flared the shape of the sleeve

-Used a lining rather than a facing

-Added bias binding to armsyce

Tip #2: Do Not Cut Lace on the Fold

Cut all your pattern pieces out flat. Lace will shift and you also will have a much easier time matching scallops, motifs, etc if you use a flat pattern piece rather than a fabric on the fold. I prefer to tape medical exam paper (I buy in bulk on Amazon for cheap) to the pattern, to trace off patterns. Fold the pattern piece on top of the paper and trace it off as I did here in my silk post. Then open it back up and cut it out. I now have a whole pattern piece to place on the lace and make cutting out my pattern easy.

Tip #3: Use Sharp Scissors

Or a rotary cutter…but make sure they are nice and sharp. I prefer scissors for cutting lace and have relied on these trusty spring action Gingher Dressmaking shears for years- they are still my favorite pair after countless makes.

• 

• 

Tip #4: Use a Pinking Rotary Blade for quick seam work (And other helpful tools)

There are many options for seams when working with lace. You can take the time to make an invisible seam if you prefer, but I chose to keep it a bit easier. To construct my seams I used a narrow zig zag stitch (.5w 2L) which insures the delicate lace pieces will be secured in the seam, and then trimmed my seam allowance to about a 1/4inch with a pinking rotary blade. I use this Olfa one.

• 

• 

• 

Sewing lace is made simple with a fine delicate sharp needle like this one and strong thread. I used Gutermann Silk Thread but you can also use a high-quality polyester thread.

Hold your lace together carefully by either using fine glass head pins or clips like these.

Tip #5: Something to Consider on Your Lining

Will the lace garment that you are sewing be touching your skin? If so, you likely will want a lining to help with any scratchy fabric irritating your skin. I added a lining to the dress portion only and let the sleeves remain unlined to highlight the fabric. Learn a valuable, time-saving lesson from my error. Sew your lining in the opposite way you typically would for a dress. If you sew your lining to your dress, right sides together, as you normally would, the interior seams, hems, etc will be seen by the public since your lace is see-through (or at least mine would have been based on the sheerness of the lace I used). Instead, sew your lining wrong side (as your right side) that way the guts of the lining will be facing your body, rather than seen by everyone else.

I also chose to cut bias strips to add at the armscye after attaching the sleeves. This seam would have been rather uncomfortable with the itchy lace and the bias binding prevents any scratchy lace from rubbing my skin.

The nice thing about lace is there is no right or wrong side, you can choose what to use. So while one side may be much softer than the other, you are still likely to need a lining.

Tip #6: Handbasting is Super Helpful

If you are creating a lace overlay as I did with this knit dress, hand basting or machine basting is a necessary step. While I was not using an overlay here, the basting was quite important to match up the lace motifs on the seams and the border edges. It only takes a few extra minutes but the detail you can get by using hand stitching, rather than machine, makes it a superior choice on lace. Plus, I find hand-basting stitches much easier and quicker to remove after sewing. After the seams are sewn, take the extra step to tack the lace seam allowance down near the hems to give it a fantastic finish.

Other Helpful Stuff for Working With Lace

How Should You Pretreat Lace?

Lace comes with lots of chemicals, glue, starch, etc added to the fabric. Handwash your lace and hang dry prior to sewing. Be careful when hanging to dry, you may want to lay it out as flat as possible to prevent snags.

Can You Iron Lace?

If you choose to iron your lace, make sure your iron is on a warm/delicate setting and you use a pressing cloth to prevent damaging the fabric. And, as always, test it first to make sure it will not be ruined by pressing.

Sewing With Lace Video

Thank you for reading.