Freestanding Lace (FSL)

Freestanding lace (FSL) is embroidery design sewn on a water-soluable stabilizer, which is washed away after design is embroidered. The stitches in such design must be laid so that they support each other because there is no fabric to hold them (except for appliques which may or may not be part of the FSL design).

Studio NEXT provides loose fill which can be used as a background to secure the rest of the FSL design. It is called FSL Grid and it is a kind of Mesh > Net object.

Fill made with FSL Grid

The FSL Grid can fill object of any shape, even with holes. There are several grid patterns with adjustable spacing and layer count available in the Parameters window.

Typical FSL design has border made of satin stitches to hold the lace together. In Studio NEXT, the satin stitches are created either with Column tool or with Outline tool > Satin mode.

Other parts of FSL design can be digitized with use of Outline tool > Sample mode, for example.

Remnants of stabilizer make FSL embroidery stiff. If you want more stiffness, spray the finished embroidery with stabilizer dissolved in the water and let it dry.