{"id":6205,"date":"2018-10-01T13:16:42","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T18:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/?p=6205"},"modified":"2020-10-04T13:18:06","modified_gmt":"2020-10-04T18:18:06","slug":"finishing-a-tapestry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/?p=6205","title":{"rendered":"Finishing a Tapestry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The finishing procedure for mounting a tapestry is my<em> least<\/em> favorite activity.&nbsp; I think most tapestry weavers would agree.&nbsp; Yet it has to get done.&nbsp; I can&#8217;t say the results make the drudgery <em>worth it<\/em>, but the resulting finished piece is a wonderful thing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, I turn the tapestry to the back side and trim the longer weft ends to shorten them.&nbsp; It looks like I was not yet done doing that on this piece.&nbsp; With weft ends that sit close to the selvedges on the side, I try to tie them to a weft end that is further in from the selvedge, in order to keep them from sticking out the side and being visible.&nbsp; If I&#8217;m going to mount the tapestry, I can make sure all weft ends along the selvedge edges are well tucked to the back as I sew the tapestry to the frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this photo I am turning down the warp threads along the bottom of my piece and using&nbsp;backstitch&nbsp;to capture and constrict the warp threads on the back.&nbsp; This is the technique that Archie Brennan uses taught to members of the Wednesday Group. I am capturing two warp threads with each backstitch, and then moving forward by one warp thread as I work my way from left to right across the piece. (I am left-handed.)&nbsp; I know this is hard to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1139-e1538407751420.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" src=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1139-e1538407751420.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1139\" class=\"wp-image-5608\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is&nbsp;a video from DMC showing how to do backstitch (right handed).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cRQ8peJhliY\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Imagine that these stitches go around your warp threads and catch a bit of the weaving&#8211; just do not&nbsp;let your needle go all the way to the right side of the tapestry.&nbsp; Just catch a bit of weft while encircling the warp threads that you&#8217;ve folded to the back of the tapestry.&nbsp; When you tighten each backstitch, it constricts the warp threads you&#8217;ve captured in the stitch.&nbsp; When you&#8217;re done you can take a small pair of pliers and, while holding the tapestry for resistance, you can use the pliers to pull each warp thread snugly to the back of the piece.&nbsp; Just be gentle when doing this!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This piece I&#8217;m finishing happens to have a shaped edge, so I&#8217;ll show you that I still do a running backstitch to capture the warp threads along the shaped edge.&nbsp; It&#8217;s the same as doing a straight edge of warp threads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1141-e1538407612174.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" src=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1141-e1538407612174.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1141\" class=\"wp-image-5610\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is my piece, with both edges finished.&nbsp; I am using a cutting board with a 1-inch grid as a work surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1143-e1538407576872.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"525\" height=\"700\" src=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1143-e1538407576872.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1143\" class=\"wp-image-5611\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1143-e1538407576872.jpg 525w, http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1143-e1538407576872-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>After measuring my finished piece I can decide how to mount it.&nbsp; In general, smaller pieces hang better if mounted in a way that keeps them firm and stationery.&nbsp; I often use&nbsp;stretcher frames for paintings.&nbsp; I buy them from art supply sources.&nbsp; Where I currently live, Jerry&#8217;s Artorama is my closest choice, and I can order them online without having to drive there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have skipped showing how to cover your stretchers with fabric.&nbsp; This is an individual choice.&nbsp; I usually use two layers of fabric.&nbsp; My outer fabric is usually linen.&nbsp; This has two benefits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1.&nbsp; Two layers of fabric will protect your&nbsp;tapestry from any damage that could happen from coming in contact with wood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2.&nbsp; Two layers of fabric allows you more choice for your outer fabric.&nbsp; It is no longer necessary to find something quite as sturdy if there will be two layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Linen is my preference because it&#8217;s a sturdy, natural fabric that works well with the varied weft materials I use in my work.&nbsp; For this piece I&#8217;ve used a medium weight, navy blue linen.&nbsp; Underneath it is a layer of heavy natural linen.&nbsp; My husband does a great job of stretching the linen on the frames for me.&nbsp; He gets a neat edge.&nbsp; I will add that you want the tucks of fabric in your corners to be at the top and bottom of the piece.&nbsp; When the tucks, or folds, are on the sides, you will see them when the piece is hung on a wall.&nbsp; No good!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1192-e1538407472766.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" src=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1192-e1538407472766.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1192\" class=\"wp-image-5613\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In the photo above, and the one below, I am making guide lines to help me place my tapestry on the frame.&nbsp; This is what Susan Martin Maffei taught me, and I think it&#8217;s brilliant! As you can see, on the back of the frame I have inserted push pins at the borders of where I want my tapestry.&nbsp; For this piece I want the tapestry to fit 1&#8243; away from the side edges, and 1.5&#8243; inches in from the top and bottom.&nbsp; I make these measurements on the <em>back<\/em> of the frame and insert a push pin in each corner at that spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then I can take some tapestry warp and wrap a line from the pushpins on the back across the front, both top and bottom, and across each side.&nbsp; When I&#8217;m done the front looks like this.&nbsp; I still have one guide line to add at the top of this frame.&nbsp; The warp thread is tied to a pushpin, then wrapped the front of the frame and tied to its coordinating pushpin on the back.&nbsp; Now I have guidelines for sewing my piece to the frame!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1193-e1538407442415.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"525\" height=\"700\" src=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1193-e1538407442415.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1193\" class=\"wp-image-5614\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1193-e1538407442415.jpg 525w, http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1193-e1538407442415-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>With the guidelines in place I can now pin my tapestry to the frame.&nbsp; I have used t-pins for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1195-e1538407391916.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"525\" height=\"700\" src=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1195-e1538407391916.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1195\" class=\"wp-image-5615\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1195-e1538407391916.jpg 525w, http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1195-e1538407391916-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I prefer to use a curved needle for sewing the tapestry to the frame.&nbsp; I also use thread that matches the weft, and that means that I may have to change thread color a number of times during the sewing process.&nbsp; I catch a bit of tapestry and insert the thread through the backing fabric.&nbsp; It&#8217;s slow&#8230;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1196-e1538407318609.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" src=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1196-e1538407318609.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1196\" class=\"wp-image-5616\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>When done, I add a hanging device on the back, which is usually two small eye screws and a length of picture hanging wire.&nbsp; Done!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG_1415-e1537909162743.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"933\" src=\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG_1415-e1537909162743.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1415\" class=\"wp-image-5580\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You may notice a butterfly of yarn and some &#8217;embroidery&#8217; on the piece that wasn&#8217;t in the photos previously.&nbsp; Originally I used the &#8216;flying shuttle&#8217; technique to weave in something resembling a lowercase, cursive &#8216;z.&#8217;&nbsp; Then Susan Martin Maffei and a few others in the Wednesday Group asked me to consider hanging the whole piece in the other direction&#8211;with the shaped edge at the <em>bottom.<\/em>&nbsp; After some time I removed the flying shuttle &#8216;z&#8217; and left that extra weft hanging on the back of the piece.&nbsp; A couple of years went by.&nbsp; This piece was pinned to my big bulletin board.&nbsp; In the long run, I wanted the piece as it was originally.&nbsp; So I took that bit of weft still hanging on the back and tried to work it back in where it had been.&nbsp; Of course, now that is not officially &#8216;flying shuttle&#8217; anymore, but I feel that it still counts since I&#8217;d done it originally.&nbsp; I finished off with the butterfly.&nbsp; Don&#8217;t you have spools with extra thread\/yarn stuffed into the center of the spool?&nbsp; I have lots of those!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The finishing procedure for mounting a tapestry is my least favorite activity.&nbsp; I think most tapestry weavers would agree.&nbsp; Yet it has to get done.&nbsp; I can&#8217;t say the results make the drudgery worth it, but the resulting finished piece is a wonderful thing! First, I turn the tapestry to the back side and trim [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fine-craft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6206,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6205\/revisions\/6206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}