Framing

[Corey.G]

I'm curious to know what everyone does for framing? Do you take it to a professional framer? Do you do it yourself? Do you mount it, without a frame? What do you do? And any tips would be helpful.

I never usually do anything special. Just trim it to fit the cardboard in he frame I bought from wal-mart and it's good to go.

[ChicagoMay]

I've only ever framed/mounted one piece, for a friend's wedding. I had my landlord cut me a 5x7 piece of tile when he was renovating another house and used that to mount it... then I just like... sewed the back around it o_O It wasn't done very nicely.

I have a few 5x7s that I wanna frame, but I will probably do what you do and get Walmart frames and do it myself. Bigger piece I plan on getting it professionally done, but it is quite expensive!

[tiffstitch]

Almost all of my pieces are framed by me in Walmart or Michael's frames. There are a few pieces I've gifted without frames due to getting it done the night before, etc., but I'm trying to finish them myself from now on. I will avoid professional framing because of the high cost locally. Michael's especially has a new range of frames that look very nice and have some unusual sizes, 8x8, 5x5, 8x12, so it will fit a lot of projects that normally call for custom framing.

The only pieces I haven't framed are projects that call for different kinds of finishing, ornaments, etc. But that is awfully fiddly for me, so I tend to avoid it!

[koko]

I've only had one project professionally framed, and the price was astronomical! After that I looked for other options & found an online company that does custom size frames and mats at very reasonable prices. You have to do a little assembly but it is much better on my wallet!! The company is Frames By Mail and they also have great customer service and shipping is not too expensive. Here are the projects I've framed with their products: Practice Makes Purr-fect, To Have & To Hold Wedding Sampler, C is for Kitty-Cat.

[Wandatoo]

For most of my smaller items, I use purchased frames, from Walmart, etc.

But because I try to mount the the larger ones by lacing them onto foamboard, many of the frames are not deep enough, since they're usually made for photos.

So I keep an eye out for 'deeper frames' at garage sales, etc., and have found quite a few lovely ones.

For a couple of larger 'gift' pieces, I've used a framer, but the cost is just crazy.

Question - Do you use the glass?

[matilda314]

I've framed or finished everything I've done myself with one exception. I think the crooked-ness etc adds to the homemade charm . The one thing I had professionally framed was a very large sampler I did for a friend who was a fireman. It was a fireman's prayer and I had it framed at the LNS that has since closed. I was there often so I got a great deal at the time. It was the project I've done I'm most proud of, so it was worth the extra $$ to have it done well.

[Squirrel]

If its a smaller piece I lace and frame it myself. However anything over say 8x10 or 10x12 or as a special gift goes to my framer. Yes its expensive, but he makes a lovely job of it and there is the added advantage of nicer matts to go on it.

Sally

[Corey.G]

Question - Do you use the glass?

I do actually. Not sure when I should out glass there and when I shouldn't.

[Parksfarm]

I've always heard that if you use a mat, then you can use glass but you don't have to, you have a choice. The mat keeps the glass away from the stitches. If you don't have a mat, the glass will flatten your stitches and moisture can get trapped underneath the glass and damage the stitching... I've always framed my own and in the past did not use glass. But now we heat with a woodstove and it is very dusty in here all winter long. So anything going up on our walls from now on will go under glass.

I've only had one piece professionally framed and it was $90 bucks back in 1993 - can't even imagine what it would be now! Yikes!!

[Trylla]

I've had 3 projects professionally framed this year, and it cost a small fortune, but they look fantastic. I've tried framing something myself once with a frame from Michael's. I left the glass off and used cotton batting between the fabric and the foam board to give it some dimension. I thought it looked decent.

[Serinde]

I'm in the lucky position of always being able to use a professional framer. My local guy (and his mum) are not only very reasonable (and I mean VERY ) but are willing to think outside the box when it comes to interesting framing. The most recent (the tiger and the small hardanger, both in my gallery) cost a total of £40, and that included them painting the hardanger frame. Excellent service.

I never use glass these days. I'm sure that also keeps the costs down.

[Oiralinde]

I usually frame them myself, but I got my brother's wedding sampler professionally framed. It was $160 at Michael's! I'm going to try a local guy next time.

[Arianwen]

It depends on the piece. I've framed 2 pieces that have then been given as gifts. One I laced the back (I think) the other I used a DMC mounting board that was already sticky and you just pressed the stitching on - I didn't like that much. The frames were just bought ready made, one from a DIY shop the other from a discount frame shop

All my other pieces are unframed as I don't have the space to display them so they get washed and ironed then rolled and placed somewhere safe till I decide what to do with them.

My Night and Day fairies I had frames specially made for them that -should- be the right size, with glass and a mounting piece to go between the two in colours that are complimentary. This means the 2 frames match too. They also supplied the mounting board, acid free ready for mounting. I think they cost me about £50 a piece which was pretty much cost price. Expensive and not something I would do for every piece I stitch, but well worth it for special pieces.

I wont be mounting them myself because I am not very good at it. I cant get it straight or the tension even. I have a friend who is excellent at these things and have asked her if she will mount them for me when I am ready. I am also going to ask her to help me with my lacing to try and improve so I can mount them myself in the future. I imagine that paying to get them framed would be expensive, and I would rather pay out to get the frames made to get it just right

I know that the place I bought the frames from can mount pieces too, but I would rather do it this way.

[kimkat_tkl]

My mum has started to do framing for our family. We order the frames online from a company called Frameco, and they send us the four pieces of the frame for mum to put together. We've got a whole range of mats and foamcore here that mum will then cut to go into the frame (and a shop that sells the sheets of mats about 20mins away if we don't have anything suitable). The only problem is we haven't found a good place to get the glass from yet.

[Fizzbw]

I just got a made to measure frame from ezeframe - its lovely, perfect size, the colour of the mount is how it looked on the website and the frame is as it looked as well. They sent me a free text to tell me when they were delivering it - to the hour!

Recommend them!

http://www.ezeframe.co.uk/?gclid=CN_cve ... 4QodJVZ5Yw" target="_blank

Niki x

[tiffstitch]

I never knew all this info about having glass over my stitching. Glad to hear the discussion, thanks for bringing it up Wandatoo. I'm like Corey, not sure when it should be there or not. I'll be more careful in the future.

Thank you also for those framing sites, that will be handy for my DH's hobby of photography as well!