Phase 3: Framing Up

I don't think I've shown much detail about my framing up process before. I briefly described it and showed a few pictures for one of my early Midori pieces, but I haven't done it for any of my JEC phases. And I've gotten much better at it since my Midori pieces. So I'll go over the process today so you can see everything I do.

Some people don't enjoy framing up. And even I admit that dressing a slate frame can take a long time to do. But still, there's something about the process that I've always liked. Unlike the tedium of transferring a pattern, there's enough variety in the framing up process to make it enjoyable for me. But I especially love framing up my JE pieces. Although it takes about an hour, it's simple to do and gets the embroidery so beautifully taut.

The first step is to attach the cotton ends. Sometimes I sew on my own cotton ends, and sometimes I have Mary Alice do it for me. She did it for me this time because I didn't feel like getting out my sewing machine. 😂 The main thing about this part is to try to match the grain lines and sew the seam along a line of the weft.

Once that's done, I iron the piece on a silk setting (no steam) to remove any wrinkles:


You can put a thin cloth over the piece and iron it that way as well, but as long as my iron is clean, I've never had a problem. Once the silk is ironed, I turn up the heat and iron the cotton ends as well. It's probably not strictly necessary, but I like everything to be smooth and flat.

Then it's time to put the fabric in the frame. Each cotton end goes in between the split dowel, which is then inserted into the warp bars to hold the fabric snug:


I measure between the seam line and the split dowel at about three places along the fabric and mark an equal distance at all three points with a pencil (close to the split dowel). Then I tug the fabric through the split dowel until the edge of the wood lines up with the markings on my fabric. It's usually roughly 8.5 inches per side, but it's mostly trial and error. You need to get enough fabric through the dowel so that it can be tightened very firmly, but not so much that you can't make the necessary revolutions of the dowel. I test it out a few times on each side until it feels right. 

Then I insert the nail straight down into the end of the split dowel and turn it towards the outside of the frame (clockwise for the right dowel; counterclockwise for the left). It's important to turn the nail 1 and 3/4 turns to wrap the fabric around the split dowel and keep it snug:


On the second side, it should take some effort to get the nail under the screw dowel. I usually pull the nail out a bit, twist it a smidge farther than it needs to go, and then push it back in so it locks under the screw dowel:


This makes the fabric very taut in the warp direction. 

Then it's time to tighten the fabric in the weft direction by lacing it to the warp bars. I use a #3 milliners needle and Japanese lacing thread (buttonhole/topstitching thread also works well). I start by going down into the first hole outside the silk, coming up between the cotton and the bar, and repeating till the thread is wrapped a few more times. Then I do about three or four buttonhole stitches around the wraps to secure the end:


As you can see above, to start the lacing, the needle goes down between the fabric and the warp bar and comes up in the cotton end. But for all the other stitches, it will go down through the next hole and be ready to come up through the fabric. 

It's important that the stitches be at an angle from the holes. You never want to lace directly across from the hole to the fabric or it can cause too much strain. The general rule is to divide the distance between the two holes into thirds or fourths and to have your stitch start about 1/4 - 1/3 away from the first hole and end about 1/4-1/3 away from the second hole:


Once I've laced all the way across, and before securing the end of the thread, I go back to the beginning to remove the slack from my thread. Using my awl, I tug the thread in the same direction it's already going (always at an angle):


I use my left thumb to hold the thread taut while I move on to tightening the thread at the next hole. I work my way down the warp bar about twice this way to make sure there's no slack left in the thread and to get the fabric very close to the warp bars — usually touching:


The fabric is turned up a little because it's so close to the bar, but this is fine. And when I tighten the screws, it will stretch the fabric away from the bars.

But before I do that, I have to secure the other end of the thread by going through the last hole (one just beyond the edge of the silk) a few times and then securing the wrapped thread with a few buttonhole stitches:


Once I've laced both sides, I can tighten the screws. I do a little bit at a time on all four to keep them even. And I start by tightening the ones closest to the warp bars:


When all four of these first screws are tightened evenly, I tighten the second screws against the first ones to really secure them. At this point, the fabric feels very hard, and if I tap it with my fingers, it sounds a bit like a drum. I test all over the fabric to make sure it's evenly taut. If any place feels a bit soft or slack, that usually means it can stand to have one or more screws tightened. I basically tighten them till I can't really tighten anymore. 

The screw system is very nice because you can get the fabric as taut as you need to without having to cut a slightly larger piece of chopstick if it's just a hair too loose, as you would on a traditional frame. It's so much simpler and easier. Someone told me they'd heard that the screws can loosen up if the piece is on the frame for a long time, but Golden Fan was on this frame for 4 months, and I never noticed that being a problem. But even if they do loosen slightly, you can always quickly and easily retighten them, so I don't really see this as a problem.

And here's phase 3, all framed up:


I'm very excited to start this one. It was a pleasure to frame up, so here's hoping it will be equally delightful to stitch. And I hope describing the framing up process in more detail will be useful to someone. If not, it’s useful to me as a journal. It can be months between framing up pieces, so it’s nice to have a reminder, especially since the mind is the first thing to go. 😂 



Comments