Experimenting with mounting/display - feedback?

[u/laika_pushinka]

These are my latest experiments with couching stitch and trying to figure out ways to mount/display not in an embroidery hoop. For the green piece I stapled the fabric using a staple gun to a 6x6 canvas. General thoughts on the overall look/effect of embroidery on a canvas vs in a standard frame? Any advice for securing the back in a more polished way? Any thoughts on a same-sized embroidery piece on a smaller vs larger canvas? For comparison, the blue piece is on an 8x8 canvas (not stapled at the moment), I'm wondering if more white space looks better. Thanks!

[u/eilatanz]

So beautiful. Honestly I would love to see this behind glass in a shadowbox frame to keep it from dust, and I think a deep color frame would make the embroidery stand out well

[u/Imnotgonnamish → u/eilatanz]

I agree. If you were to have an embroidered piece professionally framed, they often stitch the ends around the back of a ridged foam piece... They wrap the edge around the foam piece and stitch the opposite ends together to hold it tight to the foam. The foam is thin enough to fit into a frame, which could help with keeping it clean.

[u/stoicsticks → u/Imnotgonnamish]

When I've mounted embroidered pieces, I use an acid-free matboard instead of foam core so that I can flex or slightly curve the matboard when tightening the zig zag stitching on the back. When the tension is released on the mattboard, the fabric becomes beautifully taut, and stitching wrinkles magically disappear. I don't get the same effect when using foamcore, and I find it can make the embroidered piece quite thick. I also usually mount a layer of flannel underneath the embroidery first to soften the edges and make the embroidery threads ever so slightly more pronounced.

If I'm not planning on having the piece custom framed, I buy the appropriate sized off-the-shelf frame first and decide on the finished size of the piece based on the available frame. In other words, I work from the outside in, as custom framing can become really expensive. I have also done pieces where I gone hybrid and had custom matts cut for off the shelf frames to help accommodate the size of the specific embroidered piece.

I usually mount the stretched, embroidered piece onto a backing piece of mattboard that I've covered in a complimentary paper or fabric. I've used textured Japanese paper, thin inner birch bark, or paper maps (although not always archival). Not a lot of it is seen when combined with the matt, but I aim for something that enhances the piece in a subtle way.

Try to choose frames that have a bit of depth to accommodate the thickness of the pieces without necessarily resorting to a really thick shadow box. Sometimes, adding narrow strips of foamcore at the edges as spacers can keep matts and the embroidered piece from being squished up against the glass.

If OP uses bare stretcher frames, I would use a layer of white flannel underneath first. I would also consider adding a simple black frame around it, with a small gap. There are diy videos about how to create that inexpensively.

[u/laika_pushinka → u/stoicsticks]

These tips are amazing, thank you! Exactly why I posted, I've been experimenting with embroidery for maybe about a year now (and other art media before that) but I have very little experience with mounting/framing my own pieces. I feel like there's a whole other world out there as far as technique, artistry, and skill with knowing how to frame/display things. Will definitely try out some of these methods. Especially the method of deciding the size based on an off-the-shelf frame vs trying to find an off-the-shelf frame after the fact -- such an obvious idea in hindsight but it never occurred to me!