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Wenches know that sometimes, you just shouldn't work in hand for the best results. When completing french knots or when working surface embroidery, Wenches need to have the ground held taut somehow. There are many different systems and each one is excellent only sometimes. The Lazy Wench, ever free with her opinions, will now set forth what she has found about each. If there are unfamiliar terms on this page, check out the terminology page.
Hoops On the 'pro' side- using a hoop is convenient because hoops are easy to find, come in small sizes and they are usually familiar objects and therefore not scary. They will hold ground taut in both directions, (horizontal and vertical) and are simple to set up.
On the 'con'side, hoops will crush stitching already completed, they will leave hoop marks if left too long or used without protecting the edge from wear and skin oils. They are not to be used with congress cloth and are not good for canvas. It is possible to skew the fabric when setting up the hoop, creating really funky wrinkles in the finished project. Those wrinkles will be created by varying tensions in the stitching and will never go away.
Tips- Place your inner ring on a table and then put the ground over it. Loosen the outer ring tension and right handers should position the tension screw at 10:00. Lefties, set it for 2:00. Then press the outer ring down over the fabric and inner ring and tighten the tension screw. Tug carefully on the ground to make it taut inside the hoop and watch the grain of your threads. Tug a little, tighten the screw a little, working slowly to get to the tightness you desire. Wrapping fabric around the inner or outer ring will not protect from crushing, but will give a tighter grip. Plastic hoops can sometimes be washed in the dishwasher to clean them. Hoops that depend on springs for tension are better for machine embroidery or for not bothering to use at all. Remove hoops frequently and move them if you are crossing already stitched area. Do not ever leave them in place for more than a few hours at a time. If you can't start or stop a fiber because you keep whacking the needle into the side of the hoop, either move the hoop or put the fabric in with the other side up.
Q-Snaps Pro- Easy to find, available in a variety of sizes, fast to set up and light weight. They provide two way tension.
Cons- Do not provide really high levels of tension for crewelwork, as they slip easily. You can still have slightly off grain tension, but it's more difficult to do and since they slip, I've not seen the funky wrinkles. They will crush your work if the snap on portions are placed over finished stitching. Sliding the snap on portions off without paying attention has been known to cut or damage finished stitching or the ground. Over time, the snap on things lose their grip, especially after using them with bulky grounds. Not good with heavy, dense grounds, like canvas or congress cloth. I do not recommend them for use while doing surface embroidery, as they slip too much. Counted work on linen is usually fine.
Tips- Putting a strip of fabric between the ground and the snap on things improves tension and protects your work from damage when removing them. The fabric strips will not prevent crushing. Use a process similar to placing an embroidery hoop to set Q-snaps up. They do not have to be moved frequently and can be left in place for days if Wenches release the tension by twisting the snap on parts slightly. They do not look at all historical. Placing the snap on tension parts into hot water will restore some of the gripping power lost when using bulky fabrics. Release the tension to fasten ends that are awkward. If your fabric is small, you don't have to use all four of the snap on parts, just use two.
Scroll Frames Pro- Easy to find in a variety of makers and sizes. They provide good tension vertically and when laced, provide good tension horizontally. Lacing is optional. There are add ons for really creating good vertical tension. Tension can be released when Wenches are not stitching and once set up, usually require minimal adjustments or repositioning. They can be used with canvas or congress cloth and if the sides are laced, are good for surface work.
Cons- require more set up time than a hoop. Tension on some systems is not consistent, they'll slip when using a larger size. Some frames require significant hand strength to get and maintain desired tension levels. They are heavy and The Lazy Wench recommends a floor stand for the larger sizes, knowing that some floor stands will not support a large scroll no matter what you do. Cheap scroll frames have wing nuts sticking out and these seem to catch on everything. Smaller frames are portable, larger ones require more effort to move from place to place. Finished areas of stitching will still be crushed if rolled around the bars. Turning the work over to look at the back is difficult using some stands.
Tips- Fastening the ground to the tapes is the make or break task. The fabric must be straight and centered. Stitching carefully on the grain of the ground isn't enough, you have to stitch straight on the tapes, too. You can roll the ground so the work goes to the outside, or to the inside. Keeping it to the inside will keep it cleaner. Burying ends when you are stitching near one of the bars can be difficult as the bars get in the way. Release the tension and deal with the end, then restore tension. When lacing the sides of the piece, don't cut the thread from the ball until you are done stitching. Do not turn a hem to finish off the edges of work that will be rolled onto a scroll frame. The hem will add bulk and your tension will be uneven. If you have to roll up areas of finished work mixed in with unworked areas, pad the unworked areas with plain white paper towels or scraps of fabric so it is the same thickness. Rolling up something that is a mix of thick and thin will give you uneven tension. If you just pull really hard, you'll distort your fabric.
Slate Frames Pro- Avalilable in a variety of sizes. Cheaper than scrolls of certain manufacture and lighter than any scroll frame of equivalent size. It is expected that horizontal tension be established by lacing the sides of the work, though it is not required. Good tension can be consistently achieved for large pieces. No fancy tension devices are required for very taut tension and tension may easily be released and restored.
Cons- Not easily available in the US. Require more set up time than a hoop, q-snap or scroll frame. Rolling the work around the bars may leave creases or crush the work, as the roller bars are squared off. Rolled work or fabric may be padded. They are shaped differently on the sides than scroll frames and stands built to support scrolls, may not support slates.Turning the work over to look at the back is difficult using some stands.
Tips- Almost anything that applies to scroll frames, applies to slates. Check out the detailed instructions on the slate frame page.
Stretcher Bars Pro- inexpensive, available in a variety of sizes, can be used with a variety of grounds. They are light in weight. The work is never rolled and will not be crushed.
Cons- They must be purchased in the correct size, you end up with a lot of them. Because the work is not rolled, reaching the center of large pieces may be difficult, if not impossible. Tension will start firm, and become slack as you work. Re-stretching in the middle of a project is not unusual, especially when working with linen. You cannot loosen tension when you quit work for the day. The thumbtacks on the edges of the project can snag your working fiber.
Tips-Do not get artist's stretchers, they are shaped differently and won't work the same way. Purchase brass or quality steel thumbtacks and The Lazy Wench strongly suggests a tack pushing device (not a hammer) and a tack pulling tool, too. If you find youself using these a lot, there is a canvas stretching gripper device, like a wide mouthed pair of pliers that will save your hands. When stretching a piece, start by identifying the center of each bar and the center of each side of the ground. Place the first four tacks in the center of each side, north, south, east and west. Then check that the frame is square (you can use a protractor or a t-square) and put in one tack to each side of the first four. You'll have a total of 12 tacks placed. Check for square again. Then keep going from side to side, adding one tack to each side of the center set, working towards the corners. When halfway done, you'll have something that is tight in a plus sign shaped area and floppy in the corners. I've been known to put my tacks in at the sides, not on the face of the work. While it requires a little more of the ground for fastening down, it reduces the thread snagging problem. Purchase extra thumbtacks, they die of boredom, they die when you re-stretch and sometimes, they just leap out of the stretcher bars and hide.
When using anything other than a hoop, I like to use a stand to hold my work up in the air in front of me, so I can use both hands to stitch with. One alternative to a stand is a frame weight. To use a frame weight, just sit at a table and put your frame or hoop on the table with the work area hanging over the edge. To keep it from falling off the table and to allow more area to stick over the edge, put something heavy on one corner that's still on the table. A brick, a bag full of coins, a beanbag toy with extra weights, a book, anything will do, as long as it's heavy enough and clean. That heavy object is called a frame weight. Some Wenches stitch something pretty, fill it with heavy whatever and make virtue out of necessity. Some just carry around a brick. Some Wenches use a clamp instead of a weight.
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