Lace Teacup

Serve up some classic elegance with this delightful freestanding lace teacup! Stitched in your favorite hue, with remarkable detail,  this lacy design is a charming delight. This simple tutorial will show you how to assemble your embroidered creation.

Begin by stitching each of the ten pieces of freestanding lace on your water soluble stabilizer,  then dry completely (here's more on stitching freestanding lace). We're going to stitch each lace piece one at a time -- only one piece per hooping.

Once the pieces of lace are stitched, rinsed, and fully dry, you have a couple options for how to assemble your teacup: stitching the whole thing or using a combination of glue and stitches. I prefer to use the Fabri-Tac to hot glue because it dries cleaner but it does take some time and strategy to hold the pieces together.

Start by gluing your six cup pieces together. This is a patient process if you are using Fabri-Tac, as you will need to let each section dry independently before moving onto the next -- but it's well worth the wait!

Make sure to hold the pieces together snugly to create a strong bond. I glued together three sets of two, let them dry, then connected two of the sections together and so on.

I used my ramekin cup as a drying tool, to help keep the structure together as it dried.

After the six pieces were dried, you may want to go back and close up the top and bottom seams closer together. This will help you later when you place your bottom piece.

Next, grab the bottom hexagon shape and place it in the center of your cup. You may notice that the hexagon seems a lot smaller than the opening in the cup, so it's useful to stitch this piece -- This ensures a tight hold between the side pieces without gapping.

This is what your basic cup structure looks like when finished.

Next, adhere your two base strips together, and form a circle. It may be useful to use clips or clothespins to hold it together while drying.

Next, grab your teacup handle and stitch the bottom in place, using the thick satin stitches as a basis. This will leave a little "tail" coming off the bottom of the cup that we will curl later.

Curl the top of the handle down and inward then glue it in place, using your clips to hold it.

When the bottom loop is finished drying, rim the top with glue.

Place your loop, centered at the base of your cup!

To form the bottom curl on the handle, I placed a small dab of glue underneath and held the handle back as it dried.

Finally, set your cup with some fabric starch. Turn your ramekin upside down, place the cup upside down on top, then spray with your starch to set.

Your finished teacup is ready to impress! Choose different thread colors and make a variety of tiny cups to adorn your home.

This beautiful lace piece is great for holding rings and jewelry, or even potpourri and dried flowers!