The Framers Forum

Hi,

I have been given a Picasso printed scarf commissioned I think in the 50s for a Peace Conference against nuclear weapons. I have seen them auctioned for £2000 so I have to be sure I'm framing it properly.

I plan to surface mount it with a window mount but not overlapping the work. So I need to work out a way of attaching to the back matt without in any way prejudicing the art. I have thought of invisible stitching but this will be very difficult as the seam is only about 4mm wide. The option would be double sided conservation tape9Which does stick to fabric and comes off without any damage. But would this dry out in time through the fabric and lose its adhesion?

Any ideas would be very welcome indeed!!

Regards

John

Go with your original thought and stitch it. Under no circumstances would I put any adhesive tape anywhere near any fabric I frame. You just can't be sure that it won't cause some kind of damage to the piece. And on something of that value its a definite no!

As you are planning on surface mounting it then a 4mm hem is plenty big enough to use to sew support it, you will just need to keep the stitches small and go carefully. I would pre-do the holes in the support mount and then use a thread of the same material as the scarf (ie if it's silk, use silk thread) and of a colour that won't show if the fabric is sheer. Make your stitch into the back of the hem and do enough so that it is fully supported and not sagging at any points. It will take a bit of time but it will be worth it and you will know that no harm's been done to it if it ever needs to come out of the frame and you haven't done anything to devalue it.

The benefits to the framer of support sewing were brought home to me recently when was framing up a handmade Honiton lace fan for a customer. I had it ready to go into the frame when I realised I'd used the wrong colour mountboard to sew it to. A few choice words to myself, followed by the snipping of a few stitches and it was removed ready to sew onto the correct colour and no harm done.

Many thanks for that very quick reply. Just the advice I needed! I imagine its necessary to stitch all the way round as gravity won't be enough as its thin material- tea towel thickness.

Regards

John

Yes, I'd say all the way round is best on something like this.

Happy stitching

What about placing it on a backing of padded velvety-type fabric and using acrylic glazing directly on it. Preferably UV AR type. The backing material should be grippy, so that only light pressure from the glazing should hold it in place. Shallow spacers round the edge to account for the padding. The one snag I can think of is the backing material may go weird if it presses against the glazing. But with the right one it should work.
Acrylic has different thermal properties to glass so condensation should not be an issue.

This type of acrylic is quite pricey, but will save the time spent stitching.


Just a thought - never actually done one.

Thanks that is definitely an option.

If you only stitch it around the edges it can sag forwards in the centre and apart from not looking too clever, it could touch the glass. It's not easy to stitch around the outside and apply some tension as well. Support sewing should support over the whole area .... otherwise where's the support coming from?

If it's OK to put stitches in the hem I'd sew extensions on and lace it, but then your mount would need to go over that hem. Or you could just close frame it with rebate spacers, which is what I did with this one - also with extensions sewn on. http://theframersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9569

There is more to the DCO (Direct Contact Overlay) that Prospero mentioned - and the "AR" with acrylic stands for Abrasion Resistant, not Anti Reflective.

I find illuminated magnification very helpful when the neatest and most accurate sewing is required.

I agree Robo that on a lot of fabrics sewing around the edges isn't going to give enough support, but I was trying to respond to how best to support this given the way the OP wanted to display it, and sewing support as described is certainly better than the adhesive suggested. It is possible to provide tension this way, not the easiest compared to some other methods, but possible. And as I presume the scarf is pretty lightweight this could still be an option to be considered.

Previous ones we've done have been pinned over board to provide support, but I read the OP as wanting to show the scarf in its entirety which would preclude that method as well as others, such as adding extensions.

However, if the OP can change how it's going to be displayed then other methods do of course open up as possibilities and of course both methods you've mentioned would work very well.

Well maybe he can change the way it is to be displayed - and if not then anyone else with the same dilemma might find this thread before making the final decision. When making replies to problems like this I'm always conscious of that.

Here's another idea anyway, stitch the thing, around the hem, to a whole (larger) piece of fabric, (as opposed to extension strips) calico, linen, muslin ........ wash that fabric first. Make sure the fabric and the item are as equally taut as possible, then lace it and leave a small margin of the fabric exposed.

If that fabric was 'nice' (out of the three above, that would be linen) you could maybe forget the aperture mount and use a spacer - in fact it might look better set back more from the glass - and conservation-wise, the further the better!

Padding with polyester wadding, either under both fabrics or between the two, will give considerable aid, but then you'll need much more than a single mount for glass clearance.

Many thanks to all who helped with this. We managed to get enough tension by just stitching the work through the matt as its thin cotton- tea towel weight. It seems to have worked! But I can see that stitching it to another backing fabric and lace that behind would also be a good solution.

Cheers

john