Lace Birdcage

Why does the caged bird sing? Well... it doesn’t really. You can make freestanding lace do a lot, but singing is one we’re still working on. A caged bird, however -- that you can do! And even without the singing, it’s pretty amazing. A 3D lace birdcage design gets an extra touch of dimension with a free-floating bird, dangling delicately in the middle. It’s easy to construct and a pretty cool piece of wizardry out of your machine.

Start by attaching the top dome pieces to each cage side, one by one. You can do this by threading your sewing machine with matching thread, and stitching a small zigzag stitch across the two pieces.

Make sure both “good” sides of the lace are facing out in the same direction (yup, there is a "good" and "bad" side of lace -- if you look carefully, you’ll notice one side stitches a little shinier than the other).

Here is what you should have when you complete that step: four birdcage sides with their tops. You’ll notice that two of the top domes have little loops. These will be important for later.

In the next step, you’ll want to make sure that you stitch your sides together in this order -- with the loop pieces with one normal panel in between.

Use your machine to stitch the panels together down the sides. When you get to your last panel, you’ll need to stitch it back to the first to make a square.

I found I was able to stitch just the top and bottom edge of that last side by squishing each end under my machine, and then I finished stitching it up in the middle by hand.

With your four sides constructed into a square, we now need to add the bottom of our birdcage. You could stitch this on by hand, but at this point I find hot glue to be much easier.

Start by running a line of glue along one edge of your base, and hold it in place to one side of the cage. I’d work one side at a time like that, until you have all four sides glued in place.

OK, now we get into slightly more interesting shapes... the top!

The top really works just like any part. The curved edges at the top of the cage fit together when you fold them in. Once again, start with just one edge, and glue the two sides together, holding each one in place 'til it’s dry.

But wait, before you close it all up, leave one panel open for just a moment...

Grab that little lace birdie, and run a piece of thread through his top loop. Hang him so he’s dangling in just about the middle of the cage. Tie the top of the thread to one of the loops sticking out at the top, so he stays hanging in space.

With your bird in place, you can now glue the last panel closed. You’ll notice as all the pieces come together, those two loops come together to face each other at the top. You can loop a piece of string or thread through these two loops to hang your birdcage.

Your birdcage is complete! The little birdie may not sing, but he sure looks spiffy. Use it as part of dark elegant decor for the season, stitch it in whites for a wedding, even metallic for that extra glitzy look.

Think how cute a whole lineup of these would look, dangling from different heights! All you need is your machine, some thread, and your willingness to hot glue a few fingers together, and you’ve got some caged magic.