Comments on Mounting Lace

I was thinking of placing it on a piece of cloth and placing the cloth on a piece of stick board (or whatever it is called - I have used it for cross stitch pieces - very sticky on one side) and Sew onto fabric, yes. Hopefully, nice, all-natural-fiber-fabric. Please *do not* stick it on a sticky board. Those things are wonderful to stick fake clay bricks on to make a miniature gazebo floor. And to stick a cross-stitch project which is fraying (you didn't work the threads back in properly) and which you intend to give to your husband's boss's wife (if you really dislike her).

Go to your nearest framing place and get a piece of acid-free framing cardboard (shouldn't be too much if your piece isn't outsized; they always have the centers of the cardboard they had to cut out from the framing jobs). Stretch your fabric (with lace applied to it) over that as evenly as you can (a lot of framing stores will offer the service to you; it's your choice; my experience is that no-one treats *my* lace the way it deserves to be treated ). Get the framers to frame it properly (unless you have the tools and the know-how yourself).

Our place is so small that my bringing the original (fabric mounted) piece of lace in (when I was looking for the acid-free cardboard to stretch it on) had everyone so interested it really was a painless experience.


Someone I knew in NE Pennsylvania 3 years ago was framing lace with a technique worth mentioning. She was using chiefly doilies in tatting, crochet, and others, the best of what was available from antique dealers, flea markets, etc. She had asked me to produce some for her to use, but that proved financially unfeasible for both of us.

She used a shadow box effect with 3 layers in a deep frame:

Top: Glass with a beautiful scrolled mat frame. She had the equipment to produce the scrolled mat. It's expensive!

Middle: Lace mounted on glass with a special acid free glue. Very time consuming and tedious.

Bottom: Solid color mat.

I think she just used something like 1/4" foam board between the layers.


We also recommended you have a little space between it and the glass.

You must use "regular" glass to mount with spacing. The non-glare glass must be flush against the piece beneath it or you get major distortion. Sometimes it is very difficult to even see the mounted piece.


But if you glue it, you cannot use it later if you so desire! I love to take it out and look at it, use it, etc. Even my needlelace butterfly can be used on my shoulder with a fancy dress or good blazer!


As I remember, the glue was also water soluable, so the lace could be removed by soaking in water. But even then it's not simple, not something you would do to use the lace for a weekend. More like, so it's available to your great-great-grandchildren!

To frame a piece of lace temporarily for a week-long display, convention, or show, the easiest way might be to sew it to a piece of cloth which is over stretcher bars. The stretcher bars with cloth with lace can be fastened temporarily in a deep frame. Large stitches in back (with small stitches in front) can be easily removed with a seam ripper.

Or the earlier suggestion of putting the lace between glass and a cloth-covered sturdy mat board and framing temporarily might work. No sewing, gluing, etc. Just remove the brads or framing points from the frame!


[ Main page ]