Poor Man's Custom Framing

Okay, so I'm not a man and I'm not poor but I am a gal that likes to save a buck or two. Knowing how much I like birds, my mom hand embroidered me three adorable birds on white muslin for my living room. I was so excited when they were done and went searching for frames. Ummm...wow. Priced framing lately? Not what I wanted to spend. The fact that I needed three of them only made it worse.


So I thought, who needs matching frames?? Not me, no sir. Off to the thrift store I went and found this beautiful picture for $2.98. The picture is pretty bad but the frame was large and solid wood.

I knew I could make the matting out of the ugly print...





I took the backing off, pulled out the print (which was attached to a heavy cardboard, score!) and measured how big I wanted my opening to be. A few pencil lines and I was ready to cut.




This went quickly with a razor blade and the straight edge ruler. HINT: Be careful not to press too much, forcing the razor through the cardboard so hard the end of it hits your dining room table. Nope, please don't do that.







I decided to cover my mat with fabric. I had a neutral fabric that I had purchased when I was deciding on what to use for my rocking chair and it was the loser. There was plenty for this purpose though. Isn't that great when you have something you can reuse in a way you didn't think of when you bought it?





Iron your fabric first so it is nice and smooth, then place your mat over the back of the fabric....

Get out your trusty glue gun......

And start folding over the edges, gluing them to the back of the mat. I used a fabric scissor to cut the fabric toward the corner, making it easier to fold. When you get to the inside, trim the fabric so that you have an empty square in the middle.

Be careful when you cut toward the inside corner not to go too far. You don't want to see the mat at all from the front of the picture. I cut almost to the inside corner, leaving a bit so when it is folded, you have a slightly rounded edge of fabric and the cut does not show.

After this was done I put it into the frame, placed my embroidery over it and tucked it all in. It looked unfinished on the back and I was concerned about dust getting in so I made a backing for it.

I had this wallpaper left over in the basement so I cut a piece and glued it around the frame. Not the best job but you won't see it anyway.

And here is the finished product!! Wasn't that easy?

It's not a perfect, professional framing job but I'm happy with how it turned out. And the best part is that it only cost me $2.98!! This frame is 17x20. Try finding a new, solid wood frame in that size for that price.

Now I need to search for two more so I can get the others framed up. After that I'll decide what color to paint them. Since I'll be buying mismatched frames, I plan on painting them all up the same color for unity. White or black, I haven't decided yet.

I'm sharing this project today at these great blogs! Be sure to check them out!

http://asoftplacetoland-kimba.blogspot.com/