The Framers Forum

I would like some advice please.

Just recently I have had a surprising number of sports shirts in to mount and frame.

Up until now I have "stitched" and not tagged.

After reading many old posts on TFF discussing this I have decided that tagging is the better option. One of my preferred suppliers has a tagging gun in the catalogue but "Morplan" has a wider choice of both guns and tags.

When it comes to needle and tag size what model is the most suitable?

Thank you in advance and I look forward to any thoughts/opinions.

Peter

Peter,

Great questions... tagging guns of course have been around for a long time and the first time I saw them used as an alternative to sewing was while teaching in Australia about 18 years ago.

I will say that a long or medium tag can easily be taped on the back side to secure, and if sufficiently narrow, it won't be as difficult to pass through the the substrate. Regardless of which gun and tag you end up with, many framers find it useful to make a primer hole through the mounting substrate first so the tag more easily penetrates into the form within the Jersey. Be sure to place a sufficient number of tags for the weight being supported.

Secondly, I don't think that we've ever relied on ONLY tags, but mix in a little sewing to secure sleeves, collars etc. But it does certainly improve the time spent sewing down an entire jersey.

Regards,

John

Good evening John

Thank you for your prompt and helpful reply.

I have made a note of all your points especially making a pilot hole in the substrate. It's encouraging you confirm, even with some essential stitching, this method speeds the process.

The company I mentioned (Morplan) supply such a comprehensive range of tagging guns and accessories making me uncertain regarding the size of gun/needles/tags to purchase but hopefully further advice will ensue.

Peter

We buy tags from Morplan, we mainly use the 7mm 71306 and 11mm T tags 71312. The 11mm ones go through the shirt foam board and mount all in one go, discretely placed of course

I've bought a lot of different sized tags from Morplan and two sizes of gun, one from Lion and one from Morplan. You end up buying more tags in a box than you will ever use, but every size off tag that I bought has turned out to be very use.

Without checking I can't tell you how many tags are in a box, but it is thousands and some of the really long ones are extremely helpful when framing objects. Object framing is not particularly easy at the best of times and anything that you can add to your kit of bits for such work is always nice to have.

I have a micro tag gun and a standard gun, because you can get some amazingly long standard size tags, which are great when nothing else fits the bill.

Thank you for your reply NYAF very helpful as always

I can see the benefit of long tags, easier to tape down behind the substrate.

You have two tag guns, micro and standard, which one are you more likely to use on the average football shirt?

Regards.

Peter.

I have to be very careful how I answer this question, because it's not a simple, or straight forward answer. Not all football shirt will necessarily have exactly the same fabric, or the same possibilities for inserting tags in places where they will not show.

My self, I tend to play things by ear and do what ever is necessary to get the best result. I think that I am right in saying that to get tags longer than 40mm you will have to use a standard size tag gun.

I may not be the best forum member not give a precise answer on football shirts as I like to turn this sort of work away. In my experience football shirt customers are never wanting to pay a proper price for so much hard work and you have to spend too much time with the customer before the customer decides not to bother.

Roger and Mark

Thank you both very much for the advice, really appreciated.

With all the help received and much consideration I am more confident regarding choosing the items to purchase.

I hope I have not been a PITA but I am always cautious when making decisions especially relating to my business, even small ones. This policy has stood me in good stead over the years.

Mark I note your comments re Football shirt customers in your area. Thankfully, this part of the country, although sparsely populated, is reasonably affluent (plenty of corn barons farming grade "A" silt land). Therefore, I have never found getting my price difficult. But like most people they want value for money.

Regards

Peter