Friday, February 11, 2011

Small stretcher frames

Small stretcher frames can be covered with felt, or you can use canvas frames that have been either spray painted or covered with fabric as a base to put your fiber art on. I like to use Velcro as an alternative to sewing or gluing your art work to the frame. By using the Velcro, you can easily switch out your art if the sizes are similar.
Picture #4
picture#4
This is the piece of art I made for my niece for Christmas. She told me she got new furniture that was red and blue. The stretcher frame is covered with black felt that has been backed with a stabilizer, the felt is too flimsy on its own.
Here is another version of using a stretcher frame. I layered the quilt top with batting and backing and quilted it. Once it was quilted I stretched the edges over the frame and attached it to the back with a staple gun. I think I would rather finish the piece and then stretch fabric over the frame and then attach it to the fabric on the frame. What do you think?
001

3 comments:

Gayle from MI said...

Your pieces are so organic looking that they look much better "not square and even". I like the idea of adding the finished piece after the fabric or felt is stretched on the bars. Just my humble opinion you understand.

Anonymous said...

I agree in my preference to finish the piece and then attach it to the stretcher bars. I love the two pieces.

Anonymous said...

I like the looks of both, and think that the method of mounting on the stretcher bars would depend greatly on the piece itself, as well as the tastes of the quilter.

Personall, I'd say the one mounted on the stabilized felt is better for a couple of reasons. One reason is the flexibility of being able to change out to another piece when you wanted something fresh and new.

Another is that it looks more "finished" to me...like it's framed because the black felt works as a frame for the smaller piece mounted on it.

In this specific case, it also helps that the black makes those beautiful colors pop! Because of the value difference makes it luminous.

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