Question: framing embroidery

[bookaholic]

My sister has gotten into embroidery. She's done some beautiful stuff, like this:


My mom wants to frame some of them, but we weren't quite sure how to do it. Should we glue the felt onto some sort of backing to make it lay flat, because the felt gets these "ripples" in it from being pulled? Should we paint the fabric with glue and water to preserve the stitches? Those sort of things.  

[Annchen]

It'll help if you describe your question a bit more in the subject of the thread. You could name it "question about framing embroidery" or something like that.

I'm not sure if I could help you since I haven't framed anything like that, but I'll try to give you some ideas.

If there's some allowance around the embroidered motif you could have cut a piece of cardboard and then folded the fabric around it and perhaps glue some kind of backing to make the folded ends stay put. I remember doing something like that when I made a embroidered picture.

You could use a frame that's basically a piece of glass held to the back with metal clips. If the embroidery has a different shape than the frame you could use a coloured paper to give a nice background. That kind of frame should work well I think.

Where did you get the idea to preserve the stitches with glue?! Don't do this, it's get messy and the glue might leave stains. There's no glue involved in embroidery as far as I know.

I hope someone else have better advice, but you should change the subject to help people know what you're asking for.  

[knitting_needle_ninja]

Normally when you embroider, you should leave a border of 1-2" around for framing, then fold this back around a piece of foamcore and tack it in place. The most important thing is to make sure the stitches can breathe, so don't press it real close to the glass. For this reason, it's probably best to have it professionally framed.

Seeing as there is no border around the edge, I would perhaps sew it onto another piece of fabric, making sure it was stretched flat and smooth, but only if you insist on framing it yourself. Really, you're better off taking it someplace like JoAnns or Michaels and having it framed professionally.

I wouldn't put glue on it, except maybe a little for the "tacking in place" part. I deffinately wouldn't soak the whole thing in a glue mix.  

[sonicrunner001]

I would suggest getting it framed professionally.  

[kochi~mochi]

if theres a little bit of room around it you might try stapling it to a piece of cardboard around the corners. My auntie did that for a lot of her work she did when she was younger (as she got older, she started leaving enough space to sandwich it between pieces of... something stiff and pretty looking, i think its called matting or something.... and then frame it. 3nodding