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Stretching is a critical part of finishing any stitched piece well. Following are some good, basic
guidelines you can refer to time and time again, when stretching practically any piece of needlework you've stitched.
Materials:
- An Exacto knife with a very sharp blade
- A metal ruler
- A pencil
- One piece of 3/16" thick acid free foam core cut to the same size as the frame you plan to use.
Be sure to measure the frame from the back, as measuring the front opening will result in foam core that is cut too small.
- High quality stainless steel dressmaking pins.
Preparing the foam core:
- Establish the frame size.
- Subtract 1/4" from both the height and the width (10" x 8" becomes 9 3/4" x 7 3/4".)
- Mark the measurements of the frame onto the foam core then re-measure to check for accuracy.
- Following the pencil lines cut the foam core to size.
Stretching your design
- Position the design in the center of the foam core and keep it in place with a single pin in the middle.
- Stretch your stitching by pulling the fabric towards the back and placing two pins through it into
the edge of the foam core. Do this on all four sides.
- Adjust the tension so that the fabric is smooth and taught between the pins. If your fabric is properly
centered, you should be able to simply use the topmost threads that lie along the front edge of the foam
core as a guide to help you pin. Insert four pins at center of each side and rotate. Do this all the way
around until the stretching is complete.
- Once the design is fully stretched, hold it upright and away from you. Check for lines that are bowing,
or "bumps" along the edges of your work. Remove a few pins closest to the problem area and adjust as needed.
Replace the pins.
- Purists can finish the back by mitering the corners and sewing the stitching over the foam core, although,
with today's high quality stainless pins, there is no real need to remove them. If you choose not to remove
the pins, simply insert them all the way into the foam core by gently rocking the design from corner to corner
on a hard surface. You need not apply much pressure. If a pin goes in crooked, simply remove it and replace,
pushing it all the way in by hand.
Important Tips:
- When stretching your needlework, do not fully insert pins until positioning and stretching is perfect.
- As you're stretching and pinning, don't be tempted to complete one whole side at a time, because
if you're out of alignment even a little, this may force you to begin again. By stretching evenly around
the piece, you can make small compromise adjustments as you go, and the end result will be a
professional looking piece.
- Parts of the design that are heavily stitched will shrink back more than areas with few stitches.
You will need to increase the tension slightly on lightly stitched sections as they are more prone to
sag if not stretched sufficiently.
Here's to beautiful stitching!
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