Prior to starting your embroidery you will need to frame up your fabric with either a slate frame or a seat frame. What type and size of frame you need will depend on the piece you are working on, for our courses we recommend a 10 inch seat frame or an 18 inch slate frame.
Framing up a Hands-Free Seat Frame
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A hands-free seat frame is a fantastic tool for embroidery, allowing you to work with both hands while keeping your fabric taut. Follow these steps to frame up your fabric correctly.
What You’ll Need:
• Hands-free seat frame (hoop and stand)
• Fabric (fabric will be supplied in your kit)
• Fabric strips or bias tape (optional, for extra grip)
• Needle and thread (optional, for securing fabric to the hoop)
• Scissors
Step 1: Preparing Your Hoop
Wrap the Inner & Outer Hoop (Optional): For extra grip, wrap the inner hoop with fabric strips or bias tape. This prevents slipping and protects delicate fabrics. Stitch the ends of the tape together with a few stitches.
Step 2: Placing the Fabric in the Hoop
Position the Fabric: Lay your fabric over the inner hoop, ensuring it’s centred and smooth.
Attach the Outer Hoop: Place the outer hoop over the fabric and press it down evenly.
Tighten the Hoop: Use the hoop screw to gradually tighten, pulling the fabric taut as you go.
Step 3: Adding fabric tension
Check the Fabric Tension: The fabric should feel like a drum when tapped. If it’s too loose, loosen the hoop, pull the fabric tighter, and retighten.
Attach to the Seat Frame: Slot the hoop into the seat frame’s clamp, adjusting the angle for comfortable stitching.
You can order one of our Adjustable 10 inch Seat Frames here
Framing up a Slate Frame
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A slate frame is a traditional and highly effective tool for professional embroidery, providing excellent tension control for precise stitching. At Hand & Lock we recommend framing your fabric the couture Parisian way as it is much quicker than the traditional English way and provides the same level of tension.
What You’ll Need:
• Slate frame (we recommend an 18 inch slate frame)
• Fabric (provided in your kit)
• Cotton tape (or twill tape or 1 inch thick ribbon)
• Strong thread (DMC Cotton Perle works well)
• Needle
• Scissors
• Dressmaking pins
Step 1: Preparing the Frame
Measure the Rollers: Measure each roller from the inside edge of the large holes and mark the centre of the webbing with a pencil or inserting a pin at the halfway mark.
Tip: Webbing is not always applied centrally, so measuring from the holes ensures your fabric will be straight in the frame.
Step 2: Preparing the Fabric
Cut the Fabric: Choose and cut your fabric along the grain line.
Tip: If cut along the grain, the fabric will naturally straighten in the frame, even if it doesn’t appear perfectly square.
Determine Orientation: Decide the top and bottom of the fabric - these edges will be attached to the rollers. Mark the centre of the top and bottom of the fabric by folding it in half and pop a pin in halfway.
Step 3: Pinning your fabric
Taking the pinned fabric, match the centre pin to the centre pin of the binding. Ensure that you are pinning the wrong side of the fabric to the bottom of the binding on the slate frame bar. Starting in the centre, pin the full width of the fabric keeping the tension as even as possible. Ensure the edge of the fabric lines up with the edge of the binding.
Step 4: Mirror the fabric on the other side
Pin the fabric on both sides in exactly the same way keeping the right side of the fabric facing up. Ensure the edge of the fabric lines up with the edge of the binding and ensure each side is an exact mirror of the other.
Step 5: Attaching your fabric
- Thread up your needle with a piece of DMC Cotton Perle (cut this length to the same length as the twill ribbon plus 10cm)
- Beginning on one side of the binding, stitch three x 1cm stitches one on top of each other. Ensure the stitches are at least 1cm away from the edge of the binding (as pictured).
- Working from one side and keeping your thread tension tight, stitch 1cm stitches through the binding and the fabric finishing your thread with three x 1cm stitches and a knot for security.
- Repeat this process on both sides of the frame.
Step 6: Insert the stretchers into the sides of the frame
Insert the Stretchers: Place the stretchers into the frame sides and use split pins in the small holes to keep the rollers (the sides of the frame with the binding) separated.
Tip: Double-check the distance between rollers on both sides with a measuring tape to ensure accuracy.
Step 7: Stretching the fabric width
Once the fabric is pulled taught between the rollers, you need to stretch the fabric width-ways towards the flat bars. To start this process, pin your ribbon to the top left corner of the fabric (use the bottom right of the fabric if you are left handed or find this easier).
Step 8: Stretching the fabric width
- Repeat the process, taking the ribbon over the bar and then under the bar to form a ‘V’ on the top and a ‘V’ underneath. The general rule for this is that if the ribbon has come from underneath the bar you need to send it back underneath when you are creating the ‘V’ shape.
- Repeat this process on both sides of the frame.
Congratulations you are ready to begin stitching!
Download our free guide to framing up including helpful illustrations here
Author: Lucy Martin
