Making canvases for fabric pictures

[LizW]

So far I have been using pre-made artist's canvases for pictures, but they are far from ideal. I bought a piece of wood with the intention of making my own, but then I read that you need an extra piece so the canvas doesn't sit on the frame. I was thinking maybe this is for if you're painting?

Is there anyone out there who makes pictures on canvas frames? And if so do you work on the frame directly or do you stretch the picture on it after? And what fabric do you use, I was going to use a thick calico.

My pictures are mixed media, appique, embroidery, transfer etc.

[Ann Clare]

How do you manage the frames? I have made several hangings using a variety of techniques but have framed them later.

Ann (Clare)

[Romilly]

I think that you may be confusing two different kinds of frames. When talking about paintings, there's the internal frame that the canvas is mounted on - usually with staples. I've never seen the canvas separated from that frame at all. Then when you "frame" the piece later, sometimes you don't want the decorative frame and glass to touch the work, especially textiles, so you'll put in a little spacer to keep it away from the textile. The finished product has two frames: one internal and functional and one external & decorative.

A lot of textiles are worked separately, and then stretched around a frame or square piece of wood later. This can be useful if the textile piece is very big - you don't want to have to maneuver around a wooden stretcher frame while working. But the wooden stretcher frames are also sometimes used like a hoop to support the fabric while working... So it's all very individual. Currently I'm painting on stretched artists' canvas and adding fabric and stitching later...

I'm just now expanding into mixed media, so this is an interesting conversation for me. I'd love to see some of your work on artists' canvas!

[LizW]

Yes, we should share our work. I would be happy to use artist's frames for convenience, but there's always so much wood behind that the is a large portion of the canvas I can't sew onto without a real struggle. I reckon I don't need to worry and just make a basic frame using a slender piece of wood.