Everything I’ve framed so far has been framed in a custom frame I ordered. When I finish stitching a piece, I decide how much border or margin I want. Let’s say it’s 1 inch on each side so I run a basting thread around the piece, 1″ from the edge of the stitching. Then I measure from basted line to basted line. Let’s say that size is 8″ x 9″. Next, I would check out the places where I order frames online, find one I like and order a frame that fits an 8″ x 9″ piece, order glass if I want glass, and order an 8″ x 9″ acid free mat board.
The box arrives, I stick it under the bed for years! No . . let’s say I’m really going to frame this one. I take out the mat board, glue an 8″ x 9″ piece of thin batting to the mat board, let that dry, then when I place the stitched piece on top of the mat board, the basted thread lines should line up perfectly with the edge. I pin, make sure it’s all straight, then lace it and, unless there’s a straight border (vs. a curved or zig zag border), I remove the pins. It’s so hard to get a straight stitched border straight and keep it straight, I do not remove the pins on those.
Then, I add the glass, put spacers in, add the stitched piece. At this point, I add cardboard if needed to fill up the “hole”. The “rabbet” is the depth of the hole which the piece fits into.
What I learned using a Hobby Lobby frame:
- The rabbet is way more shallow than any I’ve ever worked with. By the time I added the thin batting to the mat board, there wasn’t enough space left in the hole for the glass so I didn’t use it. I don’t always use glass anyway. I will always use glass when framing something that will be in the kitchen or breakfast room in order to help keep the piece clean. When I do use glass, I always use UV protective glass and that’s mostly when pieces are going to be hung near a sunny window but, though doubtful, we could move to a different house some day and I don’t want to be guessing which glass has UV protection and which doesn’t so if I’m using glass, it’s UV protection.
- The two frames I bought from Hobby Lobby both have little ridges and the very back piece is supposed to slide into those ridges. Even without the thinnest matting material, I don’t think a cross stitched piece would have fit in there so I had to trim off the edge that was supposed to slide into the ridge, then use the glazier points to keep the back in place.
I couldn’t order a custom frame because I didn’t have time since this was kind of a spur of the moment deal. I had planned to make a pillow but am glad I decided to frame it. But . . lesson learned . . order custom frames or pay closer attention to the frame I’m buying.