How NOT to Frame Cross stitch 101 .....

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Framerguy

Framerguy

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Apr 12, 2001
Posts
7,261
Location
Destin, Florida
Oh, where to begtin??

A customer brought in a cross stitch piece that her best friend did for her for her birthday. They are both Fillipino and she wanted to get this piece framed and blessed for her birthday on THAT day. So she took it to a flea market and had it framed for 90 bucks. The needleart immediately started to pucker and she brought it to me.

I won't waste any of your time looking at the frame which looked like a Mexican knockoff of a LJ 769042 Bannister moulding with big beadwork on the outside edge of the moulding. It was finished in a dirty copper and the moulding has the exact same look as untempered masonite! It's a real bargain!

Here is a photo of the matting and the needleart out of the frame:

crossstitch3.jpg


You need to realize that the overall size of the needleart is 30"x36", BIG cross stitch, and, yes, those are 1" mat borders at the top and bottom, and yes, those are crooked cut mats. Those are also puckers in the needleart that you see all over the piece! They had plenty of border on the needleart to do a 2" mat all around (which is hwat they had on the sides) but I have no clue what the attraction to a 1" mat on a piece this large had to be??

Now, why is the piece puckered? Well, here is a photo of the "backing board" and the method of attachment for the cross stitch:

crossstitch1.jpg


Yes, that IS a piece of 2 ply cardboard and, yes, the cross stitch is simply lying on the cardboard! No mounting needed! It will stay there with the pressure of the mats on the backing board, they say!

I almost refused to fix this piece until she took it back and demanded her 90 bucks back. But she is very shy and couldn't bring herself to do that. So I am going to mount, mat, and put CC glass on it and put it back in that really ugly Mexican readymade for her!

The sad thing about this is that she included (in MY estimate) a beaded Bannister fillet that cost almost as much as the entire flea market special but wouldn't go and demand a refund so we could start from scratch and give her exactly what she wanted. So, now, she is out the $90, and is paying just under $200 to me to fix the shoddy framing and then stuff it back into a frame that she doesn't really like now that she has seen what I have to offer in my frame shop.

Framerguy
 
Would the first meathod be calles "Somewhat Preservation Framed"?
 
Oh, the joys of framing! But don't we all love a good challenge!
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My first reaction was all the time her friend spent on that cross-stictch! What a friend!!

My second reaction was.....I hope that this frame you have to work with is deep!

And thirdly, thank goodness she has you!! :D
 
Framerguy

I tend to avoid doing that sort of work….truth is I’m not sure how to do it….would you care to do a step by step post on how it should be done……it would be a great learning opportunity for me.

Thanks and not to worry if you don’t think this is the most appropriate place to discuss this……I’m mostly interested in how you mount such an image..
 
I'm glad you anticipted the questions about whether the borders were cut differently and if the mats were crooked. Until I read that info I thought maybe we were looking at some rare form of photographic distortion.
 
Dermot,

Hey, that's a really good idea. I'm not sure that I would be the one you would want to show you the techniques of mounting cross stitch though. I have done it for my entire career and have tried all the different methods of inlay, mounting methods, and marking, centering, etc.. But Buddy Drago or his wife, Marie, may be the experts in this area. They sort of specialize in needleart and both are accomplished crafters who show their needleart. I just mount the stuff.

If you are up for it, I will try to take some digitals of my methods when I mount this one, which differ somewhat from other framers' mounting methods, and post them for you or anyone else to discuss, demolish, or otherwise disect.

FGII
 
I would say that the mat border width was based on fitting the work into a frame that was there on hand. Remember she wanted it done that day.

I also see crappy framing. As long as a large section of the puplic has this "what is the cheapest you can frame this" attitude there will always be someone there doing it cheap. I am surprised the frame wasn't plastic, or was it.
 
It's so satisfying to take something awful and make it nice. Tom, you're going to have fun with this one.

Naturally, we'll want to see the 'after' pictures, as well.

Kit
 
Well, Kit, nice may not be the proper descriptive word in this case. I have some restrictions to work around and the worst is the size of the frame in relation to the size of the cross stitch image. I have already cut the mats and the top mat came out only 1 1/2" at the top and bottom, with the bottom mat coming in at a whopping 2 3/4" top and bottom. The overall width of the side mat margins is 3 1/4" which is much nicer looking for such a large image.

So far, this hasn't been one of my favorite projects. As soon as I sit down with a mouth full of pins and my trusty ceramic thimble thrust (wedged) onto my index finger, somebody comes into the shop. I have been pinning for the last 3 hours, off and on, and still have about a fourth of each side to do.

I am torn between turning the "Closed" sign around and finishing the pinning or turning the "Closed" sign around and heading to the beach while there is still some sun.

Hmm, decisions, decisions!

FGII
 
On the plus side here, it wasn't taped or drymounted or Elmer's glued...


I can forgive sins of omission a LOT easier than bad sins of commission.
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Rebecca
 
The thing is this lady was trying to do good and she trusted someone to do a good job.
Now when you have someone that comes in with a Calder or Warhola and they say reuse the bad frame, does it have to be an acid free mat, and can it be shipped out to CA by the end of the week...and you know they have serious loot, the image goes for several grand and they roll up in a new sport convertible...you think why dont they get it?
d
 
Tom, I'm confused. I thought you were putting a fillet in there. If so, couldn't you get away with just one mat?

And if you're not using a fillet, how about an arch shaped may? It might help to minimize the unbalance between the top/bottom and the sides.

I always hated arched mats when I was cutting them by hand so I charged the earth for them. A tombstone shaped opening would work as well and be much easier to cut.

A fourth of each side to do??? Now I'm really confused. I think it mught be interesting to talk about how we all stretch cross stitch.

Kit
 
Originally posted by Mitch:
Dermot
check out this site.
http://users.bigpond.net.au/osgood/lacing.html
Click to expand...
G'day Mitch,
Thats actually my 'less than acceptable' website. I did those lacing instructions a few years ago to share my method with other framers. Haven't got around to finishing the website or improving the instructions yet.
The method works really well. I've been using it on all the needlework I have framed since 1985.
 
I hope that these photos will answer some of the questions that may have arisen through this thread and also the one that Kit started about the different methods of mounting cross stitch by other framers.

First of all, I must defend Ormond's methods of mounting using the lacing method. I did that for years and it worked very well for me. In the past few years there have been some new ideas for mounting including the use of stainless steel pins, Artcare foamcore, and, yes, even using AEZ by some of you for mounting the fabric. Some of these ideas are worth considering, in my opinion. But, I still lace fabric on occasion and I don't think that anyone should condemn Ormond simply because he prefers the lacing method to another.

I want to emphasize that the techniques that follow are MY preferred methods, they are NOT the "correct" or the "right" way or the "only" to mount cross stitch, they are simply my preferred style of mounting. (End of disclaimer.)

I use a combination of techniques that have already been mentioned on this and Kit's thread. I use the inlay method for mounting the cross stitch onto the mounting board when there isn't enough border to wrap completely around the entire backing board. This is the case with this large cross stitch.

First I cut my mat openings and use them for reference to align my needleart onto the backing. There was mention of using the method that Vivian Kistler teaches for aligning the needleart and either works well. First, size your foamcore to the overall size of the finished matted dimensions.

Pinning1.jpg


This shows the material cut out of the foamcore backing that the cross stitch will be mounted onto.

pinning2.jpg


I remove about 1/8" of foamcore from this "fallout" to allow for the thickness of the cross stitch material when replacing the finish mounting into the outer foamcore. (Oh, yes, save that "window" foamcore!! You will need it later.)

pinning3.jpg


You should have about this much room around the foamcore backing and the foamcore "window" when you remove that little bit from each dimension of the backing board.

pinning4.jpg


Now here is where I may go off on another direction from what many of you are used to doing. As you may notice, the foamcore backing is back together and the cross stitch is laying over it. I visually center the cross stitch using the already cut mats as a guide and then I insert T-pins on all 4 sides to mark the edges of the backing board in relation to the cross stitch image. I do as Kit suggested and count the threads of the material from the very outside dimensions of the image to the gap that is present between the 2 pieces of foamcore and that is where I insert the T-pins. (See arrows.)

pinning5.jpg


Here is a closeup of the placement of the T-pins. You can barely see the line under the cross stitch where the "gap" is located in the backing board.

pinning6.jpg


Now, after the marking pins are in place, I turn the cross stitch over and work from the back side as Kathy suggested to "mark" the edge of the backing board on the cross stitch. The arrow shows the position of one of the T-pins that I inserted from the top side awhile ago. I place the point of another T-pin or preferably a tapestry needle (they have a blunt point on them)in the same line of cloth that the pin is sticking through from the front side. Now this point will be the "marker" for the edge of the backing board. The technique for "marking" takes a bit of practice but, once you learn it, it will be easy to do.

Using one hand to hold the pin at an angle, lift up the backing cloth with your other hand and pull the cloth out from under the point of the pin!&nbspThis is important because if it is done correctly the point of the pin will track along the same thread all the way to the edge of the cross stitch material! You don't want to hop over any threads as you "mark". Once you have pulled the clothe completely out from under the pin point, reverse the process and do the other half of that side. (You started at the inserted pin so you only scored half of the cloth on that side.)

Follow this technique for the other 3 sides and you should have 4 scored "marks" that track along a single thread path on each side and these "marks" indicate where the edge of the backing board will be positioned! Cool!! :cool:

This technique doesn't care if the needleart is slightly out of square or not. As long as you make sure that you don't jump any threads when scoring these "marks" on the back side of your cross stitch, you can straighten the needleart out by pinning the corners (as Kit suggests) or starting at the middle of each side and start pinning towards the corners (as I do.)

I will continue this on the following post as there are more photos than the program will allow on a single post.

Framerguy
 
Ok, on to the next step in the cross stitch mounting process that I use:

pinning7.jpg


Here is a closeup of the score "mark" that you will make on the back side of the needleart cloth by pulling the cloth out from under the point of the pin that you held on the path shown by the marking pin.

pinning8.jpg


Here is another view showing the corner with the scoring "marks" intersecting.

pinning9.jpg


I start pinning the needleart down after lining up the score "marks" with the edges of the backing board. The arrow indicated the starting point on each side. I do opposite sides and work towards the corners of the board spacing the stainless steel pins about 3/4" or so apart. There is a little technique of pulling towards the corners as you stretch the cloth over the edges of the board that will minimize puckers along the length of the needleart as you work towards the corners. You have to gain a feel for this and play around with it to see the results.

YOu will continue inserting pins along each side, alternating from one side to the other until you eventually reach the corners of the backing board.

pinning10.jpg


If all goes well, you should have a well stretched piece of needleart centered on the backing board with no puckers or loose areas on the cross stitch area. This will depend on the abilities and experience of the crafter who did the cross stitch and their mood when they worked on the piece. Some people will pull their threads too tight and it draws the overall dimensions in towards the image. This would be evident on the bottom of this piece, had the crafter been a novice. There are many stitches on the bottom of this piece but the piece was very well done and gave me very little problems.

pinning11.jpg


The last step in the mounting process is to re-insert the finished mounting into the "window" of the foamcore. Here is an area where I am not sure about the technique that I use to secure the mounting to the rest of the foamcore. I use linen tape to hold the insert in the foamcore "window" and I am not sure that is the best way to keep the piece together. I usually back up the entire project with another piece of foamcore which sandwiches the needleart and its border foamcore between the mats and the extra piece of foamcore behind everything.

If anyone has another method of securing the fallout to the foamcore window, I would be interested in learning about it.

I place an ATG gun in front of this piece of finished cross stitch to show you the extraordinary size of this piece! It is one of the largest pieces of cross stitch that I have handled in my career and, part of the reason I took the job was the challenge to mount a piece this large and get a good tight mount.

So, there it is, folks. I hope that this has inspired some of you to tackle some needleart mounting and maybe have given others some useful tips on handling the mounting experience.

Enjoy.

Framerguy
 
Good post Tom, that the method we use, with the exception that we do lace rather than pin our work, the pins can be a bit annoying and are not so easy to work with if the piece has warped.

As for the original method, well it's pretty good actually, as the mounting was fully reversible.
 
Thank you Tom -

That's very clear. Out of interest, how long does it take you to do this? I know this is a biggie, and you took the time to photograph, but roughly.

Rebecca
 
Great example there Tom. You seem to do it exactly as I do too. I swear scoring the fabric along the grain has made a world of difference for me. It is tricky but it helps you square it right up. I score it whether I'm pinning or lacing.

I also want to note that in no way did I intend to suggest that pinning was the only way in that other thread. I just took a little offense at the inference that speed=poor workmanship. I'm all for lacing and pinning. There are no absolutes.

Thanks for taking the time to show all the steps. Good job!
 
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