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Steamflake
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3D
lace has become quite a popular staple around here at
Urban Threads, as has
steampunk, so as the Christmas
season descends, it only makes sense to combine them!
Eh? I’m sure you’re nodding right now. We’ve come up
with a fabulous little lace design I’m affectionately
calling a steamflake, as it's a little
3D lace steampunk
snowflake! There is a
flat lace version for those who
are looking for something extra quick, but for those who
are looking for something with a little more dimension,
we have a pretty spiffy 3D version. Today I’ll show you
how to put it together and dress it up to its Sunday
best just in time for the holidays.
Since we’ve
done so much freestanding lace here, I’m going to skip
the basics of stitching it out and go right to
construction. Don’t worry, if you haven’t ever done lace
before, just check out this
neat little tutorial that will guide you through
what you need to do to stitch out your lace pieces. Once
you have your three lace pieces sewn out and dried,
follow along with me!
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So, there are all kinds of ways of
dressing up your lace snowflake, but here are the
materials I’m going to be using today:
-
Three lace snowflake pieces
- A small needle nose pliers
- A cutter
- Some thin copper chain
- Matching metallic thread (probably what you used
to stitch out your lace)
- Needle
- Dangly charms (technical term)
- Jump rings
- Ribbon
- Scissors (who didn’t show up in time for the
group photo)
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So, let's start with our lace
pieces. You should have two pieces that are open halfway
down that are exactly the same, and one that’s open
nearly all the way down all by its lonesome. You’ll
notice the one with the big gash has a distinct loop at
the top. This will be the piece used for hanging.
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Start by taking the two identical
pieces and have them positioned so the breaks line up.
Slot one snowflake into the other until they’ve both
reached the center of the breaks. When properly aligned,
they should be flush with one another at the top and
bottom.
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This is what your little steampunk
snowflake will look like with just two layers. Pretty
spiffy, but we’re not done yet!
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With those two aligned, you can
then slot the third piece over the other two, like
shown. It doesn’t matter which way you add the third
piece. Whichever end has the loop will become the top.
As you can see, you now have a slightly loose but
pretty nifty looking three dimensional steamflake!
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Now, the steamflake holds together
pretty well on its own, but still not quite well enough
to hang without a little help.
Grab your needle
and matching metallic thread, and do a light tack stitch
through the ends of the bottom pieces, stitching them
all to the center.
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Do the same for the top, stitching
once through each side of the flake right at the top.
This will keep your pieces snug and upright, and will
make sure your little snowflake doesn’t slip apart while
hanging out on your tree. Tie off the ends and snip off
the extra.
You’re done!
Ah. Just kidding.
We never leave a good steamflake unadorned. On to the
bling!
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I started with my dangly
centerpiece, this pretty little purple and copper bead.
Use your pliers to open up the hook, and hook it through
the open lace at the bottom of the snowflake. Carefully
use the pliers to close the loop again.
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Next, I wanted to add a couple
lengths of chain. Find one of the bottom corner edges of
your flake, and slip a jump ring through it. Hook one
end of a chain on, and close the ring. Then, decide how
long you want your chain to loop, and snip it with the
little cutter accordingly.
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Do this on both sides. I like to let both sides dangle
down because it’s really easy to tell if you have an
even length on both. When you’re happy with the lengths,
add two more jump rings around either side of your
charm.
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Attach the ends of the chains to
the rings, and close them up like so. Ta da! Even more
dangliness!
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In this next step, it is apparently vitally important
that you have a crazy digitizer coworker come in and
cover you with pink sticky notes while you’re trying
diligently to work.
I should note Danielle felt
this step was important enough to take a picture of to
share with you all.
I’ll just conclude this part
by saying I’m pretty sure this step is optional, but
somehow still seems compulsory around this office. I’ll
also say I’m pretty sure I walked around the office for
at least an hour without knowing I had an extra bright
pink sticky note stuck to my back. Do with this
information what you will.
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Once you’ve scared away your
coworkers with your resident guard bunny, you can
proceed with adding even more dangly bits on one of the
bottom edges of the flake that doesn’t yet have
anything. I added one to each side.
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Finally snip a length of ribbon, loop it through the
top, and tie a knot to make your steamflake ready for
hanging!
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Woo! Check out the prettiness!
Bright metallics
and dangly charms are perfect for bringing some holiday
cheer to your lace this year. It’s pretty and elegant
and I bet most people won’t notice it’s a steamflake
until closer inspection. It’s a perfect way to add a
little steampunky subtleness to make this year’s holiday
decor your own!
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Trim the tree in crafty style! UT has several more
ornament designs, including a pretty-yet-spooky
skullflake. (Psst … lots of our
specialty designs, even if they’re not intended as
ornaments, could easily be made into them! Just stick a
ribbon at the top.) Elsewhere on the interwebs: Over the
Crescent Moon has a pattern for an adorable little
airship ornament. Have an ultra-geeky Christmas with
these little
Katamari Cousin decorations by alittlestranger on
Instructables. And show off your adorable side with a little
gingerbread house ornament; instructions by Laura Howard
are at SewMamaSew. Have yourself a quirky little Christmas!
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Suggested designs for this tutorial:
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