Dark Adornments Lace

There's just something dark and enchanting about lace, making it the perfect accent you've been looking to add to special outfits or costumes. We'll show you how to transform the freestanding lace embroidery designs in the collection of Dark Adornments into six gorgeous lace accents, so you can use them for all your projects that need that romantic lace touch.

Each of these accents requires the lace pieces to be already stitched out, we will show you how each is assembled. Before we begin, see this tutorial for basics on stitching out freestanding lace!

Supplies & Materials:

Supplies

The Choker: The first thing I'll show you how to make is the multi-piece choker. Grab your embroidery design file here, and stitch out four to five lace pieces using the design, depending on how long you want the necklace to be. To assemble this choker, you'll need your pieces of lace, a hand-sewing needle and matching thread, and some ribbon. Hot glue also helps.

The designs featured in this tutorial is:

Dark Adornments (Design Pack)

Getting Started:

To start, place two of the lace pieces together, touching like so, right sides down. Stitch them together where they touch, trying to keep as many of your stitches on the back side of the lace as you can. I prefer to stitch through the thick satins for an extra secure hold.

Hands holding a crochet hook working on black lace with floral and loop patterns against a white background.

Continue adding lace pieces in exactly the same way. Make sure the right side of the lace is always down, or one of the pieces will have the wrong side showing!

Hand holding a needle sewing black lace trim with intricate looped and teardrop-shaped patterns on a white background.

Continue until you have all your pieces stitched together. These pieces plus a ribbon should fit most people. For kids or smaller adults, you may only need four pieces.

Black lace trim with five ornate, symmetrical floral and looped motifs connected in a horizontal row against a white background.

Finally, cut two long pieces of ribbon and stitch them to the back edges of each side of your necklace. Once I stitched mine in place, I also added a dab of hot glue over each ribbon end for extra strength.

Hands threading a thin black needle through sheer white ribbon near a piece of black lace trim with scalloped, ornate patterns on a white background.

Just tie your choker on in a loose bow, and you're ready to go!

Even better, you can adorn your necklace with chains and beads like we did with this Battenberg Lace Necklace, for a truly elegant piece of gothic splendor.

Blonde woman with curly hair stands in front of twisted branches. She wears a blue off-shoulder top and a black choker with leaf-like details.

The Flower

The next piece we'll construct is the rose. From the 6 pieces, it might look complicated, but it's actually pretty easy. To make your rose, you'll need your flower design lace pieces all stitched out, a needle, matching thread, and hot glue.

Six pieces of black lace with floral and leaf patterns arranged on a white background, varying in shape and size, including fan and leaf designs.

Grab the largest lace piece (pictured top right in the previous image) and pull it closed together so the two edges are touching. Stitch it shut in a cone shape, like so.

Close-up of hands sewing or embroidering intricate black lace with a needle, showing detailed lace pattern and metallic silver nail polish on nails.

Repeat this with each of the petal pieces of lace (not the leaf), wrapping each smaller and smaller as you stitch them. When you're done you should have 5 petal pieces stitched into small "cone" shapes of varying sizes.

Close-up of hands sewing a black lace flower with a needle and thread on a white surface, next to two finished black lace flowers with bead centers.

To encourage the petals of each layer to "curl" like a flower, I scrunched each one in my hand to press back the Battenberg edges. Normally we like lace nice and flat, but in this case a little curl makes it look more like a rose!

Hands holding and shaping a piece of black lace with a spiderweb-like pattern; additional lace pieces lie nearby on a white surface.

Now we just need to glue the layers together. Start with your largest most open piece. Add a ring of hot glue around the bottom opening.

Hand holding black lace piece shaped as a flower with a pearl bead in center; a blue hot glue gun applies glue to the lace on a white background.

Press the next size layer on top. Try to make the petals offset, instead of lining up with each other. This will further the look of the real flower.

Hand holding a black lace flower with a spiderweb pattern and a small white bead at the center, against a white background.

Once this layer is in place, add glue to the middle of that one, then add the next size layer of petals.

Hand holding a black lace flower with spiderweb pattern and scalloped edges against a plain white background.

Continue adding your layers until you finally add the last, smallest piece in the middle. Now you have a rose!

Hand holding a black lace flower with multiple scalloped-edge layers, resembling a rose, set against a plain white background.

As a final touch, turn your rose over and add some glue to the bottom. Glue your leaf in place.

You'll notice the rose and leaf both have round openings you can use if you want to build in a wire "stem," but in our case we just made it on its own.

Close-up of two hands holding and pinning a black lace fabric piece shaped like a flower with intricate web-like embroidery.

When the glue is dry you have a beautiful, dimensional lace rose!

Hand holding a black lace flower with a leaf-shaped lace extension against a plain white background. The lace has a delicate, open pattern.

Perfect for costume accents, bouquets, hair pieces, and anything else you can think of!

Stitch a whole bunch for a crown of roses, use them as gifts or lovely accents. Use your imagination!

Person with short curly pale blond hair with pink highlights wears a dark lace flower hair accessory on the side, against a blurred outdoor background.

The Gloves

For these elegant lace gauntlets, you'll need to stitch out three pieces of lace per glove. You'll also want a needle and matching thread, a ribbon for each to lace them up, and a small piece of elastic or thread to hook the top leaf onto your finger.

Two pieces of black lace appliqué on a white background: one pair of symmetrical ornate paisley shapes and one single floral design.

Start with the two matching mirrored pieces. You want to connect them by the two swirl sections. Stitch them together.

Hand holds two black lace appliques with intricate floral and swirl embroidery, featuring rounded edges and fine openwork on white background.

When you're finished stitching the two pieces (as pictured) you'll want to stitch in the third hand piece. Place it evenly between the bottom of the two pieces and stitch them together in all of the places the lace touches.

Close-up of hands sewing black lace appliqué pieces together with a needle and thread, showing detailed floral and geometric lace patterns.

When the pieces are secured in place, take a long piece of ribbon (I used about a yard per each glove) and loosely lace it through the loops on either side. It helps if the ribbon is cut at an angle to feed it through the holes. This will wrap and secure around your wrist in a corset-style fashion.

When it's laced, try it on. Then cut a small loop of elastic of thread and size it to your middle finger. Stitch in a loop to the top of the leaf at the top.

Now that your first piece is assembled, repeat the process to create your second glove!

Hand holding a black lace applique with floral and geometric patterns; sheer white ribbon intertwined around lace, white background.

With both your gloves ready, slide them on, slipping your middle finger into the top loop of each glove, then lace them up with the ribbon lacing.

Close-up of hands wearing black lace fingerless gloves with intricate patterns, dark corset, layered brown skirt, with blurred natural background.

These gorgeous lace gauntlets are perfect for that unexpected accent to your chic outfit, or even stitched in white for a wedding!

Woman with curly blonde hair wearing black corset, blue short-sleeve top, layered beige skirt, and black fingerless lace gloves sits on large dark rock. Trees and roots in background.

The Buckle

This piece is as simple as it gets. You'll need your two lace pieces - the buckle and the strap. Basically, these two pieces slide into each other to create the illusion of a "buckle" (note that it won't actually hold anything closed – it's just for show). Then you just secure it on whatever needs a fun accent!

Needle and thread are great for this, and you can choose to stitch your buckle totally "shut," or just stitch the ends in place and let the buckle open and close as you please.

Two dark lace garment clasps with intricate embroidered patterns against a white background, one featuring a rectangular buckle.

They make great accents on boot toppers, down the front of jackets, on a top hat, or anywhere a fancy buckle is required!

Leg wearing brown leather lace-up boot and white ruffled sock with dark purple lace applique, resting on twisted dark tree roots or branches in background.

The Bodice Lacing

This piece is easily assembled, but the number of pieces you'll want to stitch out depends on your desired length. Grab the design here. You will need a needle and thread, as well as a sewing machine if you wish to secure them in place on your final costume piece.

All of the left pieces will get stitched together in a line, top to bottom, and the same for the right pieces. Continue adding more to get the length you want.

Six black lace applique pieces with swirled, floral-inspired designs and open circular cutouts, arranged on a white background.

To begin, pick one side of your lace, and place right side down, then slot them together like so. Stitch the pieces where they touch. They should form a straight edge along the side when finished.

Hand sewing needle with black thread into decorative black lace trim featuring scalloped edges and swirling cutwork patterns on white background.

Here's what two pieces look like stitched in place. Continue adding more to get the desired length of your "lacing."

Repeat this process on the other half of the lace, so you have two sides to lace together.

Hand with light skin tone holding a piece of black lace with floral and looped patterns and evenly spaced holes along one edge on white background.

Once you have your pieces stitched to their desired length, place them on your garment of choice (down the front of a dress or tank, for instance) about half an inch or so apart.

First, stitch the lacing piece in place by sewing along the outer edge, shown here in blue. Then, secure it right along the edge where it will lace up, for extra strength, shown in pink. Repeat for both lines of lace.

Close-up of black lace trimmed with a scalloped edge pinned on grey fabric with blue and pink dashed lines and text indicating where to sew.

With your lacing in place, you can then cut a long piece of ribbon and "lace" up your new bodice. This left you add a corseted look to any piece you wish!

Note that this element is decorative – while you really can lace it up with ribbon, it won't be strong enough to cinch a tight corset. But it's just right for creating that romantic look on all sorts of garments!

Try it on costumes or plain outfits. It looks great laced down the front as a bold accent, down the back for a traditional look, or in unexpected areas, like shoulders. Anywhere you want the romantic look of lacing!

Blonde woman with curly hair and pink streaks wears a burgundy sleeveless dress with black lace and ribbon detail; she adjusts a black lace floral hair accessory.

The Cat Ears

Finally, the costume season wouldn't be complete without a simple but classic set of kitty ears!

To make a complete set of kitty ears, you'll want to stitch each set of lace twice, so you end up with these four pieces. To assemble them you'll need a needle, matching thread, hot glue, and a plain headband.

Two sets of black lace appliques on a white background. Each set includes one triangular piece with teardrop cutouts and one smaller symmetrical curved piece.

First, assemble each ear. Start with the main ear piece. You'll notice there's a little triangle "gap" in the middle of the ear. Pinch this together and then stitch it closed from the back side.

Hands hold and sew two black lace pieces together with black thread and needle against a white background. The lace features floral and mesh patterns.

Stitching this closed is what gives our kitty ear a nice curve so it looks more dimensional

Hand holding a black lace fabric piece with floral and swirl patterns. The lace is semi-transparent with a curved shape against a plain white background.

Next, stitch the middle line of the ear in place with the middle of its base using just a few stitches to keep it centered. Then, use hot glue to secure the rest of the ear along the curved edge, like so.

Hand holding a piece of black lace with floral and leaf patterns, featuring intricate openwork and embroidery on a white background.

When it's done, you have a simple little cat ear with a base and some wonderful dimensionality! If you like you can skip the headband and just use a hair clip instead with each ear.

Hand holding a black lace piece shaped like a butterfly wing with intricate floral and mesh patterns on a white background.

If you want to put it all together on a headband, grab your hot glue. Measure out the spacing on your kitty ears first, then run a line of hot glue down the headband.

Hand holding a piece of black lace shaped like cat ears glued to a black headband with a blue hot glue gun on a white background.

Press and hold the lace in place until it's dry.

Hands hold a black lace cat ear headband with intricate, symmetrical lace patterns. The background is plain white, highlighting the lace details.

Repeat those steps on the other side for a complete set of kitty ears!

Hands holding a black lace cat ear headband with intricate floral and swirl patterns on a white background.

They're a fun and whimsical way to complete your lace set, especially for a simple and elegant costume.

Blonde woman with curly hair wearing black lace cat ear headband and black lace choker, black sleeveless top, and tattoo of feathers on upper arm.

You'll be the prettiest kitty at the party. Well, at least the prettiest kitty that actually wants her photo taken.

Young woman with curly blonde hair wearing black lace cat ear headband and lace choker holds a white cat with orange patches, standing in front of leafy vines.

Enjoy crafting your own lace elegance with one or all of these Dark Adornments. They combine in endless ways as accents on garments, costume accessories, or elegant embellishments to big events! You're sure to make a big statement this season with your own handcrafted pieces.

Blonde curly woman wearing a blue top, black corset, tan skirt with lace trim, and black lace gloves, crouching on a fallen tree branch in a forest.