How to Frame a Tea Towel or Fabric

This tutorial is for anybody that wants an inexpensive but effective way to frame fabric. This will work for needle point projects, tea towels, or just yardage of your favorite fabric. Today I will be using one of my D.I.Y. embroidery kits as an example.

You will need:

• Foam core (try to get acid-free)

• Ruler

• Straight Pins

• Utility knife, or exacto knife

• Tape

• Frame (I got mine from ikea for $10)

Use a utility knife or exacto knife to cut down the foam core so that it fits snugly inside your frame.
Next, figure out exactly how you want your fabric to hang in the frame. I used some painters tape to temporarily hold the cloth in place while I turned over the frame to look at placement. Once everything looks good, take off your painters tape and place the foam core on top of the cloth. Ideally your fabric would wrap around the foam core on all sides, but with this particular piece it only wraps on two sides.
With straight pins, secure the fabric onto the foam core. Push your pins at a very shallow angel so they are not poking through to the other side of the foam core. Make sure to push the pin all the way into the head. If the pin is only half way in the fabric can slip around. Start with doing 3 pins on each side, then go back and fill in pins every could of inches.
It is very tricky to get everything straight onto the foam core. The first time I tried this, the piece ended up being crooked. I got out my trusty ruler and measured to the bottom of the numbers on both sides to get a more accurate placement and then re-pinned everything. It was definitely worth it in the end.
Here is the stretched piece ready to go in the frame! Place face down: the glass, mat, fabric piece, and lastly the backing.
I find it is easier to use a butter knife than my finger nails to get the clips to go down.

Next, attach your wire and you are ready to hang your framed fabric piece on the wall.

Let me know in the comments how this technique worked for your project.