Lace Lantern

Light up the night with a pretty little lantern, made out of freestanding lace! These unique lantern designs are simple to put together, and a safe LED candle inside will bring them to life. Gorgeous for holiday decor, special events, or any occasion at all!

The first thing you're going to want to do is stitch out your lace pieces -- three side pieces for the round scalloped lantern, or four pieces for the square lanterns, plus one bottom piece. See these instructions for a basic guide to stitching out freestanding lace -- and make sure to use the type of thread (rayon or cotton) specified in the thread list for that particular design.

So, when your lace is dry and ready, you should have several lantern sides and a bottom piece, as shown. It’s also important to note that this kind of lantern is meant for LED "candles" only, so it’s good to have one on hand to bring a little light to the project when we’re done.

In addition to your lace, there are two simple methods you can use for construction. Hot glue, or good old fashioned thread. You can sew it together mostly on your sewing machine, but you might need a needle around to stitch the final edges closed if that’s the route you want to go.

So, start by laying the lantern sides end to end, like shown. You’ll want to make sure the “good” side of the lace is facing down on all of them.

Then, you can either stitch a small zigzag stitch to connect one to another, or run a line of hot glue in between each one and stick them together (for a square lantern, bend it at a 90 angle before it dries).

To close up your lantern, either run a line of hot glue against that edge and stick together, or stitch it shut by hand with a needle and thread.

The bottom with attach in a similar way. I think the easiest is to run a line of hot glue all around the edges and press your lantern down on top, but you could also stitch it shut.

And with that, all you do is pop that little LED candle inside...

And let the light shine out! A little bit of light goes a long way to craft that special glow!