This was inspired by a comment from a friend on my post about Kasuti embroidery. The bird is in DMC 3807 blueish purple and the border is in DMC 718. It came out really well! The stitched area is about 3.5 in x 4.5 in (8.9 cm x 11.5 cm). It’s on 28 count evenweave linen. The twisted cord edging is DMC 823 pearl cotton #5.
I signed up for a class to learn some finishing techniques, and took this along. So now it’s stretched over padded mat board with a nice twisted cord edging, a handle to hang from, and fancy backing fabric. I like the cord – it saves a lot of trouble trying to match up frames to a non-standard size, and it looks great.
It was a bit of a pain though, since the teacher’s approach involved carefully attaching the stitched linen to one padded mat board and the backing fabric to different one, then sewing them together, then sewing on handmade cording to hide the stitching and frame it. I’m pretty sure you can do something similar with only one mat board, and some other tricks to reduce the work. I’ll have to investigate further. There’s got to be a better way.
Here’s a photo of the stitching holding the two boards together, before I finished sewing the cord over it:
If you look very closely at the back, you can see the stitching holding the cord on.
embroidery for ducks 
Learning new techniques is fun and challenging. Sometimes the old ways are a bit challenging, too. But, that is the way it was done, so it is good that you were able to learn that also.
This is lovely. I think it’s a great way to finish a small piece of needlework. How did you attach the pieces to the padded mat board – glue, lacing?
They’re laced to the matboard – horizontally, vertically, then some extra on the corners to secure it in place and round the corners off. I’m thinking that braids may be easier to produce than twisted cord.
A lovely little piece of work 🙂 Such colours! And on the background!
Stuff on lacing and backing :
http://rutholearytextileart.blogspot.com/2010/11/damp-stretching-flowers.html
http://rutholearytextileart.blogspot.com/2010/07/spirograph-iii-damp-stretching.html
http://rutholearytextileart.blogspot.com/2010/07/ok-change-of-plan.html
http://rutholearytextileart.blogspot.com/2010/08/spirograph-panels-backing-and-hanging.html
http://plays-with-needles.blogspot.com/2011/02/lacing.html
http://sukylady.blogspot.com/2011/03/finishing-small-ornament.html
thanks so much for the links!
If you use felt for the backing piece you could do without the second mat board, but getting a really good finish is easier with the technique you were taught, even if it does take a while!
As a person who does not enjoy lacing, I would probably not use a second board for the backing fabric, but just sew it on.
I liked the idea of using felt, As the fabric wraps over, the felt can be a little smaller, and nothing shows on the edge, so a different method of hanging could be used.
However it has occured to me that by using a second board and padding, the piece will stand away from the wall a little when it is hung, And it certainly looks very good.
Gwendoline