Cosplayer Atelier Heidi came up with a creative method to make lace appliques for her Zelda costume without using industrial equipment. She applied the lace at the bottom of the skirt and says she used a “Frankenlace” method by making the appliques from other lace. She collected a few different lace trims that had similar elements and then cut the trim into smaller pieces so it could be positioned more easily. Then, she says:

Using a template of your desired shape (I made mine digitally, but you can hand draw one too) practice arranging your pieces until you find a design that suits your needs. This is not my final design in the picture – I went through several versions before I was totally happy with how it looked. You might discover that you need more lace, which is why planning and experimentation are so important. When you’re satisfied with how it looks, it’s time to start putting it all together.

The bottom right square of the above photo shows how the finished lace looks on the costume.

Get complete instructions from Atelier Heidi at Tumblr.