How to frame needlepoint

Block it first

If the piece is old or fragile, ask a textile conservator before you block or frame it. Blocking dampens the canvas, and museums mount old textiles differently: the piece is sewn flat onto a fabric-covered board instead of being wrapped around it. See old needlepoint. Everything below is for new work.

A canvas that leans will not sit straight in a frame. Block it first, until it is square, and leave it pinned until it is bone dry.

Do not trim the bare margin. It is what wraps around the board, and with 2 inches (5 cm) all round there is enough to grip, which makes the piece easier to pull straight.

Masking tape is one exception: adhesive tape is on the list, in the next section, of what should never touch a textile that is meant to be preserved. If the cut edges were bound with tape for stitching, leave it on until you know how the piece will be mounted. If it will have a mat, or a framer will mount it, leave the tape on and take the piece to the framer as it is. With no mat, once the piece is blocked and dry and the board is cut in step 2 of "How to lace a needlepoint", cut off the taped strip only if what is left still folds over the edge of the board and takes the lacing stitches described there. If it would not, leave the tape on and ask a framer.

A small piece is the other, if it is square or rectangular. A round or oval piece goes to a framer. Lacing runs across a gap between two opposite margins. On a board about 4 inches (10 cm) across or less, two margins of 2 inches (5 cm) laid flat meet on the back and leave nothing to lace across. Cut nothing until the piece is blocked and dry and the board is cut in step 2 of "How to lace a needlepoint". Then fold the margins over the board with their raw edges folded under, as that section says. If they still meet, and the piece is to be laced with no mat, trim them evenly, only until a gap is left to lace across, and only if each margin can still be folded under and take the lacing stitches described there. That takes more than 1 inch (2.5 cm) of bare canvas on every side, so never leave less. If it cannot be done, or you are unsure, ask a framer.

What to mount it on

A national conservation institute, in guidance it says applies to needlecraft made for display at home, lists what a textile can safely rest on: acid-free matboard, acid-free foam board and fluted plastic board. For small textiles it names 4-ply or 8-ply acid-free matboard.

It also lists what should never touch a textile: acidic paper, card and matboard; unsealed wood and hardboard; glues, adhesive tapes and adhesive-coated boards; staples, tacks and nails. Old samplers show why. They were tacked to wooden boards, the tacks corroded and stained the cloth, and the wood exposed it to acid.

That is the standard for a piece that is meant to be preserved, such as a family heirloom. The same guidance says the many other materials framers use are acceptable when long-term preservation is not the main concern.

Lacing, pins, staples or sticky board

• Lacing. Strong thread runs back and forth across the back of the board between opposite margins. Nothing sticks to the canvas. One framers' guild standard has five levels. It prefers lacing or sewing at the two lowest and requires one or the other at the top three.
• Pins. Stainless steel pins go through the margin into the edge of a foam board. A framer's manual lists it for cross stitch and for needlepoint. Ordinary sewing pins can rust. The framers' standard calls for lacing or sewing at its top three levels, not pins.
• Staples. The canvas is stapled to a board or to wooden stretcher bars. The framers' standard accepts it only at its two lowest levels, and the conservation list rules out both staples and bare wood. If you use wooden bars for a piece you value, seal them or face them with rag matboard, because the wood is acidic.
• Sticky board and glue. No adhesive should touch the needlework, because adhesive can damage the work as it ages, and the conservation list rules it out. Glue also limits finishing the canvas another way later.

How to lace a needlepoint

You need the frame (step 1 says how to choose it), an 8-ply acid-free matboard, a ruler or tape measure, a pencil, scissors, strong thread such as carpet thread in long lengths (step 6 says how long), a large needle, and clothespins. To cover the board as in step 3, add white cotton fabric. A frame with glass needs spacers too: see "Glass or no glass" below. The 4-ply board named in "What to mount it on" is for a small textile sewn flat to its board; for lacing, use 8-ply.

Boards for mounting are dense and must be cut accurately and square. They are trimmed to size with a straight board cutter, or with a craft knife or utility blade guided by a T-square; with only a straightedge and a knife, control and straight lines are difficult. A framer can cut the board to the size in step 2.

These steps are for a square or rectangular frame with no mat. A round or oval piece goes to a framer. With a mat the board is a different one: read "Mat or no mat" below before you cut anything. These steps also lay the piece face down. In blocking, a piece worked in raised stitches is kept face up so they are not flattened: take such a piece to a framer.

The lacing pulls on the margin, so each stitch needs a firm hold in it. Fold the raw edge of each margin under first, by more than half an inch (1.3 cm), before it is held with clothespins in step 5. Take each stitch about half an inch (1.3 cm) in from the fold, so that it passes through two layers, and set the stitches half to three quarters of an inch (1.3 to 2 cm) apart. An edge that is likely to fray can be finished with an overlock or zigzag machine stitch before lacing. Canvas is open, so check that the knot at the start of each length cannot pull through a hole before you tighten the lacing in step 7. Fasten one that can with a few small stitches into the margin, the way step 7 fastens the other end.

1. Measure the blocked stitching, across and down, and choose the frame from that. If it will have glass, read "Glass or no glass" below before you choose: the frame must be deep enough to hold the glass, the spacers that keep it off the stitches, and the laced board. A frame is measured at the back, inside the recess that holds the board. The lip at the front overlaps the edge of what is inside by about a quarter inch (6 mm), so the opening seen from the front is smaller than the inside of the frame. With no mat, the board should be about the size of the stitching: the outer rows then sit under the lip, and stitching smaller than the opening shows bare canvas. Measure the lip on your own frame. If the stitching is smaller than the frame, a mat covers the difference, and the board is then not the one in step 2: see "Mat or no mat" below.
2. Cut the board to fit the frame, 1/8 inch (3 mm) smaller on every side than the inside of the frame, to leave room for the folded canvas. Any cut that "Block it first" allows, to the taped strip or to the margins of a small piece, is made now, with the board in hand.
3. If you like, cover the board first with white cotton fabric, washed beforehand and laced on as in steps 5 to 9. Cut the fabric 4 inches (10 cm) longer and wider than the board, which leaves 2 inches (5 cm) to fold over on each side. On a board about 4 inches (10 cm) across or less, cut the fabric smaller, so that a gap is left on the back to lace across. Conservators mount on a board covered with prewashed cotton.
4. With the pencil, mark the middle of each side on the board and on the needlepoint. On the needlepoint the mark goes lightly on the back of the bare margin, well clear of the stitching, where it will be folded behind the board. If you marked the middles on the masking tape when the canvas went on stretcher bars, those marks went with the tape: measure and mark again.
5. Lay the needlepoint face down on a clean surface, with the board on top. Match the marks so the rows of stitches run straight along the board. Fold two opposite margins over and hold them with clothespins.
6. Cut the thread before you start: two lengths for this pair of margins, each long enough to run from the middle of the side to one end without a join. A length crosses the gap between the margins once for every stitch from the middle to that end, counting the stitches in both margins, and needs some over for the stitches themselves, the knot and the fastening in step 7. Measure the crossing, count the stitches you mean to take in both margins, and multiply before you cut. Tie a firm triple knot in the end of the first length. Start at the middle of one side and take zigzag stitches back and forth between the two margins, working to one end. Leave them loose for now. Go back to the middle with the second knotted length and work to the other end. Do not join a new length part-way: if one runs short while the lacing is still loose, draw it out and start again with a longer one.
7. Pull the lacing snug, working along from the knot at the middle toward each end, so the canvas fits the board closely without being strained. Once it is snug and even, take the clothespins off. Before you fasten off, turn it over and check that the rows run straight along the board. If they do not, ease the lacing, shift the canvas and tighten again. The surface will not lie perfectly until all four sides are held. Then fasten each end with a few small stitches into the margin and a knot.
8. Lace the other two margins the same way, across the first lacing. Before you fasten off, turn it over and look again. The edge rows should follow the edge of the board, and the surface should lie flat. Ripples mean it has been pulled too tight in one place or left too loose in another. Ease the lacing and adjust it, then fasten off. If the fault lies in the first lacing, unpick the few small stitches and the knot that fasten it in step 7, ease the lacing and fasten the ends again.
9. Fold each corner flat and whip stitch it down with a new length of the lacing thread.
10. Set the laced board into the back of the frame. If there is glass, it goes in first, then its spacers, then the board. The edge of the laced board must rest on the spacers along every side. The board was cut smaller than the frame in step 2, so check that it cannot slip between the strips toward the glass. Then, before you close the frame, hold the board in and look from the front: the glass must stand clear of the stitches. If either check fails, ask a framer. Close the frame with its backing board and fasten it the way the frame provides.

To keep dust out, conservators seal the backing board to the frame with tape. The back of the frame can also be covered with a sheet of brown paper. The case against sealing wool needlepoint in, given under "Glass or no glass" below, is a case against the glass, not against closing the back.

Mat or no mat

A mat is a board with a window cut in it. It hides the bare canvas at the edges, and it can hold the glass away from the stitches.

Needlepoint is thick. Spacers are built up under the mat to match the thickness, and a mat that overlaps the textile is raised so that its edge does not press in. Take the piece with you when a mat is cut, not just its measurements. The window should match the size of the stitched design, so that no bare canvas shows and not too much of the stitching is covered. On artwork in general, a mat overlaps each edge by at least 1/8 inch (3 mm).

With no mat, the board is the one cut in step 2: the inside of the frame, less the allowance for the folded canvas.

With a mat, it is not. The frame is then bigger than the stitching, and the margin may not reach around a board cut to the frame. Under a mat the piece is pinned to a smaller board, cut out of the middle of a frame-sized one and fitted back into the border that is left, with the mat on top; or it is pinned flat to the face of a frame-sized board, with the mat laid over the margin. Ask the framer who cuts the mat to cut the board too, or to mount the piece.

Glass or no glass

There is a case for glass and a case against it.

For glass. The conservation institute says glazing reduces damage from dust, airborne pollutants such as smoke, and accidental soiling, and that glazing with an ultraviolet filter gives some protection from light, though not complete. A textile museum recommends glazing where dust or smoke is a problem.

Against glass. A framer's manual says needlepoint worked in wool does not need glass and should not be sealed behind it, because the wool needs air and can mildew without it. It would glaze one only where it needs protection, such as a kitchen.

Either way. If you use glass, it must not touch the stitches. Spacers lift it: a window mat, or narrow strips of acid-free board or plastic hidden under the frame's lip. Glass resting on a textile crushes raised stitches. Moisture can also condense where glass is touching or very close, which leads to staining and mold.

The strips are fixed in one of two ways. Either the glass goes into the frame and narrow strips of spacer are glued to the inner sides of the frame, resting against the glass; or strips cut narrower than the recess of the frame are fixed to the glass with double-sided tape. Either way the strips lie between the glass and the laced board, and the edge of the board must rest on them along every side. Keep glue and tape off the needlework: the conservation list rules both out against a textile. Step 10 of "How to lace a needlepoint" has two checks to make before the frame is closed.

Glass is heavier and breaks; plastic glazing is lighter but scratches more easily, and static on it can pull at loose fibers.

A piece without glass will need dusting.

Doing it yourself, or using a framer

To do it yourself, measure the blocked stitching, buy a frame to suit it, and only then cut the board. With no mat, it is cut to fit the frame. Ready-made frames come in set sizes. Where none suits, a framer can make one to measure. If the piece will be glazed, choose a frame deep enough to leave space between the glass and the stitches.

Framing is among the more expensive ways to finish needlepoint, so ask for a quote. Not every needlepoint shop frames. Choose a framer with experience of needlework or textiles, and ask:

• How will the canvas be held to the board: laced, sewn, pinned, stapled or stuck?
• Are the board and mats acid-free?
• If it is glazed, what keeps the glass off the stitches, and does the glass filter ultraviolet?
• Can the mounting be undone later without harm?

Agree the size with the framer before anything is mounted.

Hanging and light

Hang the frame from screw eyes, D-rings or a sawtooth hanger sized to its weight. If you use wire, a framer's manual suggests one with a breaking point about three times the weight of the picture, fixed a quarter to a third of the way down from the top, with a little slack.

Light fades dyes and weakens fibers, and the damage adds up and cannot be undone. Watch where the sun falls through the day and hang the piece somewhere else. Keep it away from fireplaces, radiators and heating vents, and off the outside walls of unheated buildings. Do not fix a picture light to the frame. Glass with an ultraviolet filter helps, but it is not a complete shield.

Framing or another finish?

A laced or pinned piece is whole and can be taken out of its frame. Ornaments, pillows and stockings are made up with fabric instead: see needlepoint finishing, how to finish an ornament, how to finish a pillow and how to finish a stocking.

For the frame you stitch on, see frames and stretcher bars.