Framing tutorial's on a budget!

I do all my framing myself. Here a tutorial on how. And I am sure I will have most professional framers cringing....
Iron your piece on low heat. Be sure to check fabric and threads to make sure they don't have a problem with heat. Always iron on the backside. This keeps from flattening stitches and beads.

Arrange your piece on the foam board backing. Try rubbing alcohol, in a spray bottle, if you can not get all wrinkles out of your fabric when ironing. Test on threads first. I have found that the alcohol allows me to smooth the fabric, with the sides of my hands, to get rid of wrinkles that the steam iron will not. The rubbing alcohol is colorless, dries quickly and evaporates. Leaving a virtually wrinkle free piece.

 Spray alcohol on your piece and use the side of your hands to lightly rub any wrinkles that didn't come out when ironing.

Make sure your foam board is the correct size for your frame. You don't want to go through the trouble of all this measuring, only to not have your work fit properly in the frame. Center your piece. Now the work begins. One of the most difficult pieces to frame is a work with a border. Trying to get the border even, and straight, takes time and patience.

 Start at the bottom corner.  Work your way up the side and insert stick pins in the foam board to hold your measurements. You may have to tug on the fabric slightly to maintain the set measurement you need for an even edge.

 After all your measurements are done, and pins inserted. With the straight pins still in place. Set your frame over the piece so you can see if your work is straight and will fit properly in the frame.

Remove frame. Flip your work to the backside.

 I use acid free double sided tape to secure the sides of the piece to the foam board.

 Roll the tape out onto the foam board. Secure the sides, folding the corners.

 Fold down each corner and secure with a pin.

 With white thread, sew each folded corner, along the side with a whip stitch. This secures the corners so the piece is less likely to move after the pins come out. My picture didn't come out very clear.

 Now the back is secured.

 Flip to the front and recheck your measurements

 Insert in your frame. I put card board backing and secure with packing tape. Not the most professional way. But, i am on a budget and no body looks at the back anyway.... Only thing left is to attach a hanger for putting on the wall.

 Voila!! Done!

I hope this helps you frame some of your pieces and you are successful in your effort!
thanks for stopping by.
Deb

Shirred fabric frame
I was looking for a different way to frame some Shepherd Bush projects that are round. Round frames are expensive and difficult to find in the sizes I needed. This was my solution!
Okay, be prepared. This frame requires sewing machine time. It has been awhile since this was done so I had to look through my old post to bring this one to this tab.

 . I used some of my glass mixing bowls for templates, as the 2 designs were different sizes. And the glass bowls made it easier to see what I was doing. Cut my frames out of foam board. LOVE this stuff!

 Cut a slot in each frame for the fabric to be installed on the frame.

 Used pins along the side to center the stitching. Turned over and basted it in place.

 Then used fray check on the raw edges.

 Measured the outer edge of my frame and doubled the measurement to cut my fabric with.

 Made my measurements, folded over 4 inches wide by 73 inches long piece of fabric.

Ironed it down and cut the width and length I need.

The folded over the 4 inch x 73 inch piece in half.  I didn't iron this, as I did not want a crease through the center of the fabric. Just pin together for a 2 inch tube and sew the complete length on a sewing machine.

Now the difficult part! Turn the tube right side out. This takes some time. I tried sewing the outside of the fabric and putting the seam on the backside of my frame. Didn't work well. The fabric became bulky and didn't look good. So it is the hard way for me. I used the handle of a wooden spoon, also. Not professional, but it worked.

Now the fabric tube is right side out. Slide the fabric onto the foam board circle with the sewn seam on the back. The method I used is clamping the foam board in my knees and pulling the fabric on to the foam board taking care not to bend the board.

 I did have a "helper"!

You can move the fabric around on the ring and arrange it so the gathers look even. This may take some time. If you find the fabric does not move easily, you can shave a little off the foam board and try again. Without having to sew another piece.

  When the ends meet, just fold them under, fit together and put a couple hand stitches to keep in place.

Center the design in the frame. As you can see, the backside is uneven. This doesn't matter as long as the piece is centered in the frame on the front side. You can hold everything together with pins until you are finished hand sewing.

Quick stitch the two edges together with basting stitches. I like to sew all my projects. Have had some nasty results with glue turning yellow, over time. Even with the glues that are made for this project. I also sewed a ribbon to the back, so it could be hung on the wall.

 A bit of work. But, I like the effect!