Frame help!
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SunkistShiek
- Rank 5 - Frog Mario
- Posts: 235
- Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:11 pm
Frame help!
Ok, I'm in serious need of advice/help. I have started one of my first huge cross stitch projects (Link's Sword). The piece of cloth that I have is about 30" X 36" and that gives me enough room on all sides to work with and have an edge. Anyway, I've got it on a HUGE! circle hoop which absolutely sucks for this. It's supposed to attach to a floor frame/holder but I don't like it, and I've been trying to do it with just the hoop, but that's just insane. Where I need help is finding something for the project that I can easily work it on. I was thinking a scroll frame would be best, but I can't find any that are big enough in retail stores so that I can compare sturdiness or whatever, and I don't want to just blindly drop ~$50 for a frame that'll be completely useless. Plus there are things like "No Baste"/"Webbing"/other-vocabulary-words-I-have-no-idea-the-meaning-of. So, does anyone have any advice for me on this?
WIP
Link's Sword (4/30); SAL Sampler; Adult Size Monster Pants (knitting)
Link's Sword (4/30); SAL Sampler; Adult Size Monster Pants (knitting)
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Eliste
- Rank 10 - Cape Mario
- Posts: 1007
- Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2011 3:41 pm
- Contact:
Re: Frame help!
IMO, the best frames in existence are the Millennium Frames. You can read about how much I love it here. You won't get it quickly though, and it does cost a good chunk. However, you'll probably swear off all other frames if you get it (like I did).
What you really need to consider is how much space you want to work on at one time. You don't have to have the entire thing framed up at once, as long as it is working properly. Likewise, even just changing to a smaller hoop and rolling the excess material and securing it might work.
If you're talking frames, you need to figure out whether you want to have it fully exposed all the time, or whether you are willing to work on smaller sections at a time. A scroll frame (also known as roller frame) is handy and allows you to roll up the excess fabric you're not working on. Slate frames are more robust, get more even tension, but will have the entire working area exposed.
One thing to consider is that you can buy frames with varying lengths. So, you might consider getting a frame with only 10" sides, but 38" long. This is something you can only do if you are not buying it pre-packaged. There are a number of places that this is possible online- Hedgehog Handworks does slate frames in the US, I know, but you may not want that. Roller/scroll frames should be buyable through most needlecraft sites. If you were in the UK/EU I could give you a rake of sites to go to, but the shipping would probably be prohibitive.
I'm not a fan of the Q-snap, but I know plenty of people who are. Those, because it is easy to move them around, you can get away with a much smaller frame because you can take the fabric off the frame easily (and should).
Basting is a process of tying your fabric taught on a frame or to just get it to stay on the frame at all. It is useful to do for even tension, although if you have a good enough frame it may not be necessary. Slate frames will require basting.
My personal preference has always been for wooden frames. I am always too worried I will break the plastic ones with the tension I like. I definitely feel that I can get wooden frames (and hoops) tighter than their plastic counterparts.
I will say that getting the larger sized frames can be tricky. Just that a lot of people don't stock the longer arms.
Hope that helps!
What you really need to consider is how much space you want to work on at one time. You don't have to have the entire thing framed up at once, as long as it is working properly. Likewise, even just changing to a smaller hoop and rolling the excess material and securing it might work.
If you're talking frames, you need to figure out whether you want to have it fully exposed all the time, or whether you are willing to work on smaller sections at a time. A scroll frame (also known as roller frame) is handy and allows you to roll up the excess fabric you're not working on. Slate frames are more robust, get more even tension, but will have the entire working area exposed.
One thing to consider is that you can buy frames with varying lengths. So, you might consider getting a frame with only 10" sides, but 38" long. This is something you can only do if you are not buying it pre-packaged. There are a number of places that this is possible online- Hedgehog Handworks does slate frames in the US, I know, but you may not want that. Roller/scroll frames should be buyable through most needlecraft sites. If you were in the UK/EU I could give you a rake of sites to go to, but the shipping would probably be prohibitive.
I'm not a fan of the Q-snap, but I know plenty of people who are. Those, because it is easy to move them around, you can get away with a much smaller frame because you can take the fabric off the frame easily (and should).
Basting is a process of tying your fabric taught on a frame or to just get it to stay on the frame at all. It is useful to do for even tension, although if you have a good enough frame it may not be necessary. Slate frames will require basting.
My personal preference has always been for wooden frames. I am always too worried I will break the plastic ones with the tension I like. I definitely feel that I can get wooden frames (and hoops) tighter than their plastic counterparts.
I will say that getting the larger sized frames can be tricky. Just that a lot of people don't stock the longer arms.
Hope that helps!
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discoqueen
- Rank 2 - Fire Mario
- Posts: 44
- Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2014 2:38 pm
Re: Frame help!
Online stores are probably going to be your best bet. I know when I was looking for one myself, Joanns or Michaels didn't have any on their site and trying to google '30" scroll frames' or anything along those lines really didn't pop up any decent places for me either.
But online stores should tell you what kind of wood their frames are made of so you could do some research on the type of wood yourself. Or even if they don't, they should have some kind of 'contact us' section so you could email and ask the questions you're needing answers to. The one I have is maple and it's pretty darn good; and a couple other sites I had visited that seem to handmake theirs also used maple, so that might be the wood you'd want.
Personally, I'd stalk eBay or Amazon. I know they sell the 30' dowels separately, which wouldn't work necessarily if you don't have the other half of the frame already; but that's certainly cheaper than going to a site and having to toss out $40+. And at least you'd have buyer protection too (I know eBay does that through them and PayPal for double coverage) if what you bought turned out to be not as advertised. Or the seller, if you contacted them about returning, they can be pretty decent and understanding, depending on who it is.
But online stores should tell you what kind of wood their frames are made of so you could do some research on the type of wood yourself. Or even if they don't, they should have some kind of 'contact us' section so you could email and ask the questions you're needing answers to. The one I have is maple and it's pretty darn good; and a couple other sites I had visited that seem to handmake theirs also used maple, so that might be the wood you'd want.
Personally, I'd stalk eBay or Amazon. I know they sell the 30' dowels separately, which wouldn't work necessarily if you don't have the other half of the frame already; but that's certainly cheaper than going to a site and having to toss out $40+. And at least you'd have buyer protection too (I know eBay does that through them and PayPal for double coverage) if what you bought turned out to be not as advertised. Or the seller, if you contacted them about returning, they can be pretty decent and understanding, depending on who it is.