Lace cottage tutorial continued....part 2.

Second Stage:

Step 1:
At this point I use a black sharpie pen to darken the windows  Very little of it shows when finished but it makes the sashing on the windows pop.

Step 2:  Once you decide on your lace, put a large enough piece to cover with excess on the top of the cottage.  Depending on the size of the cottage, baste or pin in place.  My cottage is quite small so I just pinned it down.

Step 3:  Turn your needlework over and from the back, baste just around the wall area.  With my particular lace I could have seen  through the lace to baste from the top but it is neater and works better doing from the back.

Step 4:  Turn the needlework right side up and trim leaving at least 1/4" outside the basting line.  Now the fun begins..

I can guarantee that if you trim the lace to exactly fit that it will pull loose.  I work with lace a lot and the biggest problem  is stabilizing a cut edge.  I have a few tricks I use that I will share as I go along.

Step 5:  Choosing laces for roof and trim is fun because as long as it is in scale, the possibilities are endless.

On the left is a 1/2" piece of crocheted lace that I have dyed and antiqued for the roof.  On the right is an assortment of very narrow braid, soutache, cording, and rat tail.  I will antique small pieces of these for trim around the doors, windows and the edge of the roof.

Before I start on the roof I will satin stitch the chimneys and the tiny roof over the door.  I'm hoping to find time to do that this evening.