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I made a cross stitch when I was 10. 31 years later I found it again and decided to get it framed. The person who does the framing said he had framed other cross stitches and as I'd had pictures (not cross stitch) framed by there before and was happy with them i thought it would be OK.

I thought it looked really nice and paid for the frame then noticed it was damaged. The woman in the shop said it was their fault and she would get the man who framed it to fix it when he got back off holiday but it would be about 10 days.

I went back after two weeks and thought it was OK until I got it home when I noticed it wasn't straight. I thought maybe it had moved when I was carrying it in a bag but when I turned it over I noticed that the frame didn't have the usual tape on it and the board at the back was about half an inch away from the frame.

I took it out to straighten it and tape it but then noticed that the cross stitch was stuck with a sheet of double sided tape on a piece of wood and there was only one piece of tape at the top holding it to the mount. Since I don't want to complain again in case they make it worse again or pay someone else another £20 to get it framed again I thought I would do it myself. There is about 1/4 of an inch round it because at the time i made it I didn't know about stretching. I just wondered how I could frame it. I have seen about attaching another piece of aida to it and wondered if anyone else has any experience of that.

Hmmm! I'd complain if I were you! At least try to get your money back for bad workmanship!

It's easy enough to frame something and I'm sure you'd do a better job than the "professional" framer.
What a shame that after noticing that the frame was damaged you should find that it still hadn’t been framed properly!

wendywombat wrote:Hmmm! I'd complain if I were you! At least try to get your money back for bad workmanship!

It's easy enough to frame something and I'm sure you'd do a better job than the "professional" framer.
What a shame that after noticing that the frame was damaged you should find that it still hadn’t been framed properly!

I agree! I also think that the framing store should know that you are dissatisfied. I can't understand how they thought you wouldn't notice such a poor job!

Carole

I forgot to say it is a computer shop where they also do framing and they have moved to a smaller shop. The old shop had a separate room with the framing things in it. Now though the framing is in the same room as the computer things.

I suppose it is my fault for not checking but since it looked straight and the frame wasn't damaged I brought it home. I have already taken it apart to sort it out so I don't think I could take it back because they could say it was my fault it isn't right. Also I don't know if I will see the framer as he rarely seems to be there and the people that are there claim to know nothing about framing. In fact the woman I complained to said they could use a pen to cover the chipped part.

I don't even know if the framer knew it wasn't right and they tried to fix it themselves. I only saw him when I took the cross stitch in to be framed. I know he was on holiday but when I went in to collect it he wasn't there even though they said he would be back then. All I know is I won't be going back there or recommend them to anyone. I should have done it myself but I wanted it to be done properly because it was an old one.

I worked out what the problem was. The frame was bigger on one side than the other. Not by much but enough that it doesn't look straight. I have managed to make it look a bit better now but I still not happy with it. At least it won't slide around now. Next time I will do it myself and only do patterns that fit frames I can buy in stores rather than being done by a framer. I guess I am not happy because before he moved premises he was really good and had framed a few things for us. Though they were pictures and a poster rather than a cross stitch.

Cant really add much that would help you, but I either go to a trusted place and suck my teeth at the cost and yes that has been as much as 50 or 60 pounds for a custom made frame with 2 mats but he does an excellent job every single time, but some of these pieces have taken me over 18 months to stitch and if it's worth doing it's worth doing right.

Other than that I do some myself (mostly the one i keep for me). Sometimes though you are not going to be able to find frames to fit stitching exactly so I bought myself a mount cutting kit and it's been brilliant as you can cut a mount to say 1 inch depth on the sides but 2 inches on the top and bottom to fill the gaps of a mismatched frame.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mount-Cutter-S ... cutter+set" target="_blank

That's the one I have and I use it on a cutting mat.

Thank you for that cristaltipps. I used them because I had used them before and thought they were good but that was where they used to be. Now they have moved they don't seem as bothered about framing and it seems to be more hidden.

The frame looked good when I first saw it and was finished off with the tape they used. The only problem was the frame was chipped slightly. It was only when I got it home I realised that the tape they usually put on the back was missing and all the other problems.

I thought I would put a piece of card to put in the frame to fill it so it wouldn't move as much. I measured the top and one of the sides to get the size but noticed it was wider at the bottom than at the top and narrower on the left than the right. It was only a millimetre or two but it was still out. When I measured the other frames he did they aren't like that. They are the same width top and bottom and left and right.

With all the other things that happened I can't help but wonder if the people in the shop didn't tell him and just tried to fix it themselves. I am not saying that is what happened but looking back it seems strange it wasn't done to the standard I expected of him.

Oh well I suppose I will never know and just put it down to experience. I know I will never use him again there are just too many people involved now and I won't recommend him to anyone.

cristaltipps wrote:Cant really add much that would help you, but I either go to a trusted place and suck my teeth at the cost and yes that has been as much as 50 or 60 pounds for a custom made frame with 2 mats but he does an excellent job every single time, but some of these pieces have taken me over 18 months to stitch and if it's worth doing it's worth doing right.

Other than that I do some myself (mostly the one i keep for me). Sometimes though you are not going to be able to find frames to fit stitching exactly so I bought myself a mount cutting kit and it's been brilliant as you can cut a mount to say 1 inch depth on the sides but 2 inches on the top and bottom to fill the gaps of a mismatched frame.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mount-Cutter-S ... cutter+set" target="_blank" target="_blank

That's the one I have and I use it on a cutting mat.

It is a shame really that after you have had good work that one shoddy piece has put you off using them again and re reading your post it does sound to me as though someone else might have tried to correct it, which you might have accepted had they been truthful with you. As you know the stitching takes many hours so when you have it framed its supposed to enhance it not distract from it.

I have looked on the Yell site for this place and there is nothing about framing just computers. So I wonder if they are just concentrating on computers. There are other framers near here but it puts me off using them. It is a shame because it looks like one of them has done a nice frame on a maple leaf pattern. I know i shouldn't let one bad framer put me off but it does.

Allie G, do you have a regional forum / Facebook group where you can ask for local recommendations? I wouldn't avoid all framers because of one bad experience - it sounds like that shop no longer have their professional framer, and were trying to keep doing framing work despite not having the skills. It's handy to know if you've got a decent framer locally because sometimes there are jobs that are worth paying that bit extra for to get professionally framed.

Best wishes

InkySloth, yes we do and I tried posting on there but no one replied. I will try on another one we have. There are local framers that are also artists I found and one of them said on his website he framed an embroidery so if I have anything I might ask there.