Framing a Small Textile Piece

I have a small quilt that I plan to enter in a juried show for small quilts. I thought a frame would make it look less trivial, and more significant as a piece of art. I liked what Pat Dolan did a few months ago http://patsartjournal.blogspot.com/2007/01/framing-fiber-art.html with similar sized pieces and decided I would do something similar. I wasn’t able to find a Pre-assembled square frame in the size I needed, so I decided to build my own.

Two sets of pre-cut 11 inch wood frame sections were easy to assemble with a bit of wood glue and plastic pegs that push in to hold the corners together. The plastic pegs don’t make quite as tight a joint as I would like, so I was glad the salesman at the art supply store suggested I color the cut ends with a black marker before assembling it.

The artwork was centered on a piece of acid free foamcore, and lines were lightly drawn onto the foamcore about a quarter of an inch in from the edge under the fabric. Two small holes were made in the foam corner at each corner.
Using multiple strands of thread, the quilt was sewn at each corner through the holes, catching just the back of the quilt and a bit of batting, but not going through to the front of the quilt.

Plexiglas was cut to fit the frame. Standard frame quality Plexiglas was recommended over non-glare, because non-glare is not completely clear, and becomes more evident if the artwork is set back from the face of the plastic.

Plastic spacer was cut to fit around the perimeter of the Plexiglas. What was available was an eighth of an inch wide and a quarter inch in depth. It can be scored with a utility knife and snapped to the correct length. It comes with adhesive on the back which is used to fix it onto the back of the glass.

One more piece of foamcore was cut for a back board, and glazier points were used to hold everything in the frame.

Scotch Tape Roller meant for mounting photos does not work well on the back of picture frames. It seems to need a smoother surface to dispense well. Aleene’s scrappbooking glue worked great to attach the paper dust cover to the back.