How to Frame your Embroidery

 

Woodland Alphabet and Numbers embroidery patterns and samplers are now available at littledear.etsy.com!! These designs have been in the works for several months and I'm so excited to finally share them with you. With lots of beautiful nature details, they are so soothing to look at and to stitch, plus, they're educational too!

So often, my patterns are circular and fit perfectly into a standard embroidery hoop, which is a great way to frame them (Click here for a tutorial!) But these are not round, the images are 8x10 inch and rectangular. So, I decided this was the perfect time to show you some easy framing techniques for embroidery.

The first way is pretty straight forward:

1. Start by ironing and hemming the edges of your embroidery by machine or by hand. (I like to hand stitch it with the Running Stitch.)

2. Choose a frame a few inches larger than your embroidery piece and cut a piece of mat board the size of your frame.

3. Use double sided tape to adhere your embroidery to the center of the matte board and place it in the frame.

This technique is super easy, functional, and it won't destroy your fabric, in case you decide to use it for something else later! You'll need a piece of white foam core, which you can get in any craft store or office store. It usually comes in large sheets which you'll need to cut to the size you need. 

(In this case, 9x11 inches, leaving space for a border around the embroidered area.)

1. Iron your embroidery and lay it out flat, face down.

2. Center the foam core piece over the embroidery.

3. Fold the top edge of the fabric down over the foam core and tape it to the back.

4. Fold the bottom edge up and tape it, check to make sure the edges are even on the front.

5. Fold in the sides and tape them down, then fold the corners and tape them. 

Done! Now you have a stretched embroidery piece that you can frame, or even just set up on a shelf.

You can also stretch your embroidery fabric onto a wooden canvas frame. You can get separate canvas frame pieces like these in any length you need and fit them together at the corners to create a custom sized frame. You'll need 4 frame pieces, white cardboard and a staple gun for this method.

1. Build your wooden frame by fitting the pieces together. 

2. Cut a piece of white cardboard or poster board the same size as the wooden frame.

3. Place the ironed fabric face down, with the board centered over it, and the wooden frame on top.

4. Fold the fabric edges over the frame and staple them down to the back with one staple at the top, bottom and both sides, making sure the embroidery is even on the front.

5. Continue pulling the fabric tightly over the back of the frame and stapling it down along each side, and then at the corners.

Here is a fun and easy way to make a wall hanging with your embroidery!

You'll need two straight sticks at least 1/2 inch in diameter (you can also use dowel rods,) 6-8 flat thumb tacks and a length of ribbon or twine for hanging.

1. Iron and hem the edges of your embroidery.

2. Cut the sticks or dowel rods to 2 inches longer than the top and bottom of your hemmed embroidery.

3. Place a stick at the front, top edge of your embroidery and pin the fabric to the back of the stick at the center. 

4. When you pin the corners, put the pin through the end of the hanging ribbon and the fabric into the stick, or you can tie the ribbon on afterwards.

5. Repeat with the second stick at the bottom of the embroidery (only without the hanging ribbon.)

There you go! I hope you find these ideas useful and try some of them out for framing and hanging your embroidery art. Let me know if you have any other techniques in the comments, and be sure to look for my new ABC and 123 patterns and samplers at littledear.etsy.com!

 

Happy Stitching! xo aimee