The
freestanding background has been used to simulate lace for many years. It
consists of diagonal runs of stitching that stitch over themselves in order to
lock in the stitches. Using only wash-away stabilizer as a base, the
freestanding background can remain as-is, with no fabric, or as a support layer
for satin and fill stitches. Often, a shape made with the freestanding
background, and some clever inclinations on top-stitch satin columns, can be
made to stand all by itself as lace.
In the example below, the heart came in from the library and was set to freestanding fill. The ‘Diamond’ checkbox was set and the color changed to create the middle heart. The outline was added by copy and paste of the shape, Inflate to reduce its size so the stitches would sit on the background, and the stitch type was set to Satin Border, with all underlay turned on.
Another alternative to the ‘Double’ pass is a single. This creates nice parallel rows of stitching which work for quilting effects, such as sewing rows in a grid on linings, or as background quilting in an In-The-Hoop project, etc.
