Needlepoint finishing

Block it first

If the piece is old or inherited, ask a textile conservator before it is dampened, blocked or trimmed, before glue or any adhesive is put on it, and before it is made up into anything: see old needlepoint.

Whatever the method, the piece has to be square first. If stitching has pulled it out of shape, it is blocked. Blocking comes after the stitching, so a name you are stitching into a stocking goes in first. If the piece is going to a finisher, ask before you block it. Otherwise you can do it yourself or have a shop do it.

Three ways to finish a piece

Send it to a professional finisher. Needlepoint shops take in finishing and pass it to specialist finishers, who add the backing fabric, cording, lining, leather or hardware. The work is done by hand. At the time of writing, shops publish starting prices of roughly $55 to $80 for a simple ornament, with pillows and stockings starting higher and handbags running to several hundred dollars. Turnaround is mostly measured in months: finishers publish figures from about six weeks, for a belt, to nine months, depending on the finisher and the piece. For pieces wanted by Christmas, finishers set their own deadlines, often months before it. The deadlines three shops published for one Christmas fell between nearly four months and nearly nine months before it, depending on the shop and the kind of piece. Ask your own finisher for this year's date, and ask early.

Finish it yourself. A flat ornament is a good place to start. See how to finish an ornament. A knife edge pillow can be sewn at home, and a picture can be laced over a board and framed: see how to finish a pillow and how to frame needlepoint.

Use a self-finishing item. These are ready-made goods with an opening sized for a piece of needlepoint: leather key fobs and luggage tags, and acrylic coasters and trays that take a stitched insert. Self-finishing needlepoint gives the size to stitch and the steps: read it before you trim the canvas. For a leather fob or tag, you stitch enough to fill the opening, trim the canvas close to the stitching, and press it onto the adhesive sheet inside, with no sewing. The insert for an acrylic coaster or tray is the needlepoint wrapped over board and backed with fabric, with cord sewn round the edge.

Planning before you stitch

• Keep the margin. Leave the bare canvas around the design untrimmed. Blocking pins go through it.
• Stitch the right size. For a leather fob or tag, measure its opening and convert to stitches with the size calculator before you begin. You may need an extra row or two all round to fill the opening. An insert for an acrylic coaster or tray is sized differently: see self-finishing needlepoint before you begin.
• Ask about extra rows. Some finishes need rows of plain background beyond the design, which the finisher turns under. Belts commonly need two on each side, one shop requires the same for key fobs, and one finisher asks for two around every stocking. Many other finishes need none. It depends on the piece and the finisher, so ask before you stitch the edge. If you will finish the piece yourself, the ornament and pillow guides say what rows their methods use.
• Choose durable stitches for things that get handled. Basketweave wears harder than the other forms of tent stitch.

By type of piece

• Ornaments are backed with fabric and edged with twisted cord, with a hanging loop at the top. They can be lightly padded or given a gusset for depth. See how to finish an ornament.
• Pillows are backed with fabric and filled with an insert. The edge can be a plain knife edge or a boxed side, trimmed with cording, welt or fringe. See how to finish a pillow.
• Belts are mounted on leather with a buckle. This is specialist work; see how to make a needlepoint belt.
• Stockings are most often lined and backed with fabric such as velvet, edged with a welt or cord and given a loop at the top. If you are stitching a name yourself, do it before the stocking is blocked or goes to the finisher. Some finishers offer monogramming. See how to finish a stocking.
• Pictures are framed. Not every needlepoint shop frames; if yours does not, choose a picture framer with experience of needlework or textiles. See how to frame needlepoint.