Finishing other than framing for larger pieces

The only way to keep a wall hanging that size "firm" would be to have a pocket at the bottom for a heavy dowel or something similar. I have a hand tied silk rug that is about 20" wide x 36" long and I put a pocket at the bottom and have a *very* heavy piece of metal bar inside. You could try something similar if you wanted to finish the piece as a wall hanging. Have you thought about making it up into a bolster type of pillow? It's so narrow, you would need to add fabric to the four sides but I could see it done up this way. Now mind, I don't mean just a regular type of pillow that is "squarish" but a ROUND or TRIANGLE bolster type with a flat bottom. Do you sew much? It's not difficult to make this type of pillow and done up with the proper coordinating fabric, it would be lovely! CiaoMeow >^;;^<

To expand on Tia Mary's idea, you will want to put a dowel/bar in the top as well -- the top bar will keep it from sagging. There's a wall hanging in a church in town where they used tabs hung from a rod -- that doesn't work either, unless there's a rod in the piece itself. The wall hanging is hanging in swoops between the tabs.

What I would do, if I wanted to hang a piece like this as a wall hanging, is this. Take the stitched piece, and tack it to a backing fabric. Use matching floss, and make the tacking stitches between the cross stitches, or over the corners if there are any unstitched areas. Make lots of these little tacking stitches. The lack of support for the stitched fabric is what made the other one look saggy. (Cross stitching adds quite a bit of weight to the fabric.) Then make a wall hanging, treating the backing fabric/stitched fabric as one piece, and adding a separate lining (which will be the back of the wall hanging). Put rod pockets at top and bottom. If you want the rods to show at the ends, make the pockets open ended and use longer rods. If you don't want the rods to show, close up the pocket ends and use shorter rods.

jenn

-- Jenn Ridley : snipped-for-privacy@chartermi.net WIP: Oriental Butterfly, Insect Sampler, Rose Trio, Carousel (TW) Most recently Finished: TicTacToe Sampler, Snow, Morning Glory Stitching log:

As an RVer, and ex-fulltimer, if you follow the above suggestion, maybe you could put velcro tabs on the wall, and the back of the piece.

I must say, though, that I went into someone's motorhome, and the husband had cross-stitched a lot of wildlife pictures, and they were all on the walls ( their's RV was a Safari, so that was an appropriate subject).

I have several small things in our Bounder, includng a good-sized picture in the bedroom. A little of the 3M double sided foam tape keeps them in position. If you change RVs, you an use fishing line to slip between the wall and the tape, and the things come down just fine. If there is any residue "Goo-gone" does a fantastic job!

Gillian

Have you considered mounting it like an actual canvas, on a stretcher-type frame(real technical terminology here, as you can see)? Or a solid board(that might be too heavy)? JM2C, Carey in MA

Thank you jenn,

I had no idea of how to make a wall hanging, These details will make all the difference. I am going to keep all of this information

Barbara T

So perhaps framing is not out of the question. I will have a lot to consider and decisions, decisions.

Yep Goo-gone is great stuff, we keep it on hand as well.

Barbara T

Now this is interesting as well. That thought went fleeting through my mind. My hesitation is a "stretcher frame" has no "colorful edges" (More technical terminology :->) as in a frame and it would look bare. I could make a ruffle but that seems out of place with those mountains and cacti.

More thinking is needed Thank you all very much

Barbara T

If you do a round bolster, you don't even need to put a "medallion" over the ends. If the fabric is soft enough, you can put a small casing on both ends and then thread a nice ribbon or something similar through the casing and draw it up tightly so that you don't actually see inside the pillow. If you can draw it up tightly enough, then just put a piece of fabric inside the ends as you draw up the casing and if anything is seen, it will be that piece of matching fabric :-). As for the wall hanging, don't forget a rod at the top. You can do either a casing or tabs on the top AND the bottom if you use some sort of decorative rod. My silk rug has a dark wood dowel on the bottom -- ordinary wood about 3/8" thick and a smallish gold metal curtain rod at the top. The weight is provided by two absolutely lovely hand carved jade weights hanging by twisted silk cords from the bottom dowel. If you are concerned about the bottom rod bouncing against the side of the RV, then use some sort of curtain rod at the top AND the bottom so that the bottom rod can be attached to the hanging hardware. Rather like you see a curtain hung on a French Door and held in place both top and bottom. Let us know what you finally decide, OK?? CiaoMeow >^;;^<