There’s nothing quite as cozy as a little lace gingerbread or birdhouse. Real ones are a bit hard to hang around the house, but luckily, we’re craftier than that. Making little lace gingerbread houses and birdhouses with the magic of machine embroidery is easy, there’s no messy frosting required, and I promise they won’t burn in the oven. Plus, they make adorable additions to your tree for the holiday season!
Supplies & Materials:
So firstly, you'll want to stitch out the individual lace pieces for your house. The Gingerbread House has six pieces, and the Birdhouse has seven pieces. Jump over here for the basics on stitching great lace.
You'll notice the walls of the gingerbread house have two colors -- this tutorial covers multicolor lace in more detail, but basically, you'll want to switch out the top and bobbin thread when you move on to the second color.
- Sewing machine OR hand-sewing needle and thread to match your house
- Hot glue gun OR Fabri-Tac glue
The designs used in this tutorial include:
First we need to construct our tiny house. Start by stitching one of the side “wall” pieces to the front “door” piece using a zigzag stitch in matching thread. Make sure both of the “right” sides of you lace are facing up.
You’ll then stitch the other wall piece to the other side of the door piece, and finally stitch one of the wall pieces to the final back piece of the house.
To secure your house in a complete rectangle, you can either try to squish it under your machine for one last zigzag stitch (like I did), or stitch the last corner together by hand. You could also of course seal that last corner with glue.
Basically, you need your little house standing like this.
Once your house is standing, you’ll need to stitch the roof together. Once again, you’ll want to stitch a zigzag of matching thread, up to either side of your little chimney pieces, which should just press together. That little chimney is where you can hang your house from.
Now it’s time to attach the roof. In normal gingerbread circumstances, this would be done with frosting. While tastier, it can’t hold a candle to the awesome holding power of hot glue.
Run a line of glue along the edge of one side of your roof line. Centering the top fold in the middle, press one side down on the hot glue. Repeat this on the other side, so one half of your roof is glued in place.
With the one side in place, repeat this process on the other side.
That’s it! Your little tasty looking but calorie-free gingerbread house is ready to delight your tree. Just string a ribbon or some thread through the open loop in the chimney.
If you are constructing the lace birdhouse, you'll also want to attach your base piece. Start by gluing around the bottom edges of your house.
Place your house on top of the base, making sure to line up the outside edges, but leave a little more space towards the front of the base.
It may help to use a pen or pencil to push out the shape of the hose as it dries. Use the small circle opening to press inside of the birdhouse.
Big or small, they’re equally charming on the tree. And if you were wondering why the bottom is open, that’s because they look SO darn cute when you place them over some lights on the tree. They give off such a cozy glow!
Stitch in your favorite colors and have fun with your tiny lace birdhouse!
So whip up one, or a bunch! They also look super cute just sitting as little houses in perhaps a tiny lace scene. Place a battery candle inside and you have little glowing decoration for your mantel. Either way, on the tree not, they’re sure to provide a charming little addition to your holiday crafting.
