In 1995 my mum treated me to the framing of an embroidery that I had been working on for a year. Little did she know what the framer was going to do.
Now that I am a picture framer I was curious to know how my own work had been framed. I opened up my embroidery to discover a truly awful job. The work had been cut and stapled to a piece of hardboard. The acids in this board were leaching out and had already discoloured the edges of the fabric. Left in this way the embroidery would have been ruined by the acid and the fabric completely discouloured. The outline of the tree was clearly visible on the backboard and the staples would probably have rusted too over time. I was left with the bare minimum of fabric to work with so as not to show the staining. I supported the embroidery over an acid free foamcore board using a lacing technique and added a double mount to hide the marks on the fabric. Reframed in an oak moulding with Tru vue70 glass (because of its UV and anti reflective qualities) it showed off to best advantage the detail in the embroidery stitches.
I was much happier knowing that I had saved my work to hang on my wall for years to come. Not all framers know how to deal correctly with textile pieces and can actually ruin them if framed incorrectly.