Needlepoint frames and stretcher bars

Do you need a frame?

Not always. Mono canvas is flexible, and a frame keeps it stable while you stitch. A frame is not required, though: you can stitch with the canvas rolled in your hand.

A frame keeps the canvas flat and square, so a piece worked on one often needs little or no blocking afterward. It keeps your tension more even and makes the canvas threads easier to count. With a stand, it leaves both hands free: one above the canvas and one below, passing the needle between them.

Stitching in hand bends the canvas with every stitch. Rows of continental and half cross stitch can pull it out of square. Basketweave is less likely than either to warp the canvas and helps keep it square, which suits it to stitching without a frame.

The kinds of frame

Stretcher bars are light wooden bars that slot together at the corners into a rectangle. The canvas is tacked or stapled on, and the whole design stays in view. They suit smaller pieces: on a large frame the middle gets hard to reach.

Scroll frames have two rods joined by two side bars. The canvas is fixed to the rods at top and bottom and the spare length is rolled up, so you see one part of the design at a time. They suit long or large pieces such as a belt. The sides of the canvas stay somewhat loose, and scroll frames do not suit raised stitches or beads, which the roll can flatten.

Hoops are a poor match for canvas. Needlepoint canvas is too thick and stiff to sit well in one, and whatever lies between the two rings gets mashed, so a hoop should only be used when the whole design fits inside it and the rings sit on the bare margin.

Stands hold the frame for you. A floor stand sits on the floor by your chair. A lap or table stand rests on your lap or on a table. A sit-on stand has a base that tucks under your thigh. Some floor stands hold stretcher bars, scroll frames and hoops, but many stands are made for hoops and will not take a heavier frame, so check that yours fits before you buy. A small frame can be held in one hand. Large ones are easier in a stand.

What size stretcher bars to buy

Measure the whole canvas from edge to edge, bare margin included, not just the design. You need one pair of bars for the width and one pair for the height. An 8 by 10 inch (20 by 25 cm) canvas takes a pair of 8 inch bars and a pair of 10 inch bars.

Bars come in a thin "mini" weight, for small pieces you hold in the hand, and a sturdier regular weight for larger ones. The two do not fit each other. Needlework bars come in pairs, and any two pairs of the same weight from one maker lock together. Each maker's bars differ slightly, so choose one make and stay with it.

If the canvas falls between two sizes, take the size down, so the bars are not too large for the canvas. A little canvas then hangs over the bars on each side. The size up also works, as long as the canvas still reaches the wood to be tacked: on larger bars it stops short of the outer edge of the frame. A side that falls short of its bar can be laced to it once the other sides are fixed: pearl cotton, fastened in the bare margin, is wrapped around the bar and through the canvas several threads in from the edge, all the way down that side, then pulled tight one wrap at a time.

Bars can also be chosen smaller than the canvas. On bars up to 2 inches (5 cm) smaller, up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) of canvas lies beyond the bars on each side. Bars several inches smaller pass the test below only on a canvas with a wide margin; the spare is then wrapped partway around the outside of each bar and fixed to the bar's outer edge.

Whatever size you choose, two things must hold. The canvas must reach the wood on every side where it is to be tacked. And the whole design must lie inside the opening of the frame, clear of the wood: it is the bare margin that is tacked to the bars. Test this with a ruler before you buy: on each side, the width of the bar plus any canvas that will hang over it must come to less than the bare margin. Bars differ in width, so measure the kind you mean to use. Then check the fit before you start: slot the bars together and lay the canvas over them.

This is one reason to leave at least 2 inches (5 cm) of bare canvas around the design.

How to mount a canvas on stretcher bars

You need the bars, masking tape, a pencil, and rustproof thumbtacks or brass tacks. Staples, put in with a staple gun, also work: read "Tacks or staples?" below before you choose. Have ready a tape measure, for finding the middles and checking the corners (a T-square also checks the corners); a mallet, or a hammer and a block of wood, for a stiff joint or a frame that needs squaring; and a tack puller for taking the tacks out at the end. For the rest of the kit, see tools and supplies.

Settle two things before you start.

Which side up? Either way the canvas is tacked across one face of the frame. What changes is which way the design faces. On a blank canvas, the design is the side you will stitch on. With the design facing away from the bars, you stitch on top of the frame. With the design facing the bars, you turn the frame over to stitch. The design is then face up inside the frame, with the bars standing around it. That is called stitching in the well. Both are correct.

Which way round? If the canvas has a selvage, that edge runs along the lengthwise threads. A piece that will hang on a wall should be worked with those threads running up and down, which puts the selvage at the side.

1. Bind the cut edges of the canvas with masking tape so they do not fray or snag your thread.
2. Slot the four bars together. A stiff joint may need a tap with a mallet, or with a hammer on a block of wood that protects the bar. Check that the corners are square with a T-square, or measure from corner to corner both ways: the two measurements should match. If they do not, adjust the frame gently until they do, tapping the bars the same way.
3. Mark the middle of each bar with a pencil. Measure to find the middle of each edge of the canvas too, and mark it on the masking tape, not on the canvas: step 5 matches the two.
4. Lay the canvas on the frame, centered, the way up you chose, with its threads running parallel to the bars. Check that the whole design lies inside the frame, clear of the bars. If the design faces the bars, hold the canvas to the frame, lift the two together and look from underneath. On a blank canvas, the design is the pattern's stitched size, centered on the canvas: measure it in from the edges. If any of the design lies over a bar, do not tack the canvas down. It needs larger bars, on which less of the canvas lies over the wood; lace any side that then falls short of its bar, as under "What size stretcher bars to buy" above. On bars the size of the canvas nothing hangs over. On bars a size down, for a canvas between sizes, a little hangs over on each side. On bars smaller still, more hangs over: that spare can be wrapped partway around the outside of each bar, with the tacks or staples put into the bar's outer edge. On bars a size up the canvas stops short of the outer edge of the frame and is tacked nearer the inner edge.
5. Match the middle of the top edge of the canvas to the pencil mark on the top bar, lifting the edge if it hides the mark, and tack it there. Pull the canvas tight (see "How taut?" below) and tack the middle of the bottom edge at its mark. Do the same for the two sides.
6. Add a tack on either side of each of the first four, then keep working outward toward the corners, pulling the canvas tight as you go.
7. Finish with tacks no more than 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart. The more tacks you use, the better the tension holds as you stitch.

The corners can also be tacked straight after the four middles, before the tacks between.

How taut? Drum tight.

Tacks or staples? Tacks pull out and go back in, so they are easy to move when the canvas slackens. Staples are taken out and replaced: remove them carefully with a staple remover and needle-nose pliers, and secure the canvas again with new ones. Good brass tacks, which will not discolor, suit a piece that will be on the bars a long time. Staples will do for a quick one.

How to mount a canvas on a scroll frame

Choose rods at least as long as the canvas is wide. The length of the side bars decides how much canvas shows at once.

Before the canvas goes on, bind its cut edges with masking tape, as in step 1 above. Mark the middle of each rod with a permanent marker. Then, as in step 3 above, measure to find the middle of each end of the canvas, the two edges that go on the rods, and mark it in pencil on the masking tape, not on the canvas. The marks help to line the two up.

How the canvas attaches depends on the rods:

• Rods with a fabric strip: sew each end of the canvas, the two edges that go on the rods, to the strip on its rod. A canvas sewn to the strip stays on the frame until the piece is finished. If it works loose, it has to be sewn on again.
• Split rods: first work a thick line of stitches across the bare margin at each end of the canvas, between the tape and the design, which keeps the canvas from pulling through. Then slide each end into the slot.
• Plain rods: fix the canvas with tacks, or with masking tape and staples.

Fit the rods into the side bars. Roll the spare canvas onto the rods until the part you want to stitch is taut, then tighten the knobs or wing nuts. To move on, loosen them, roll, and tighten again.

Keeping it tight, and taking it off the bars

If the canvas on stretcher bars goes slack, the tacks can be moved to tighten it. With staples, take them out along two adjacent sides, stretch the canvas again and staple it back. Some bars have screws set into them that push the frame apart, which tightens the canvas without removing a tack. On a scroll frame, roll the rods tighter.

When the stitching is done, lever the tacks out with a tack puller. Staples come out with a staple remover and pliers, as under "Tacks or staples?" above. Bars and tacks can be used again. If the piece is out of square, block it.

If you have no frame

Roll the canvas up to the area you are working on and hold the roll in your other hand. Clips will keep it rolled. Use basketweave wherever it fits, and expect to block the piece when you finish.