How to Back Your Finished Embroidery Piece

Welcome here! Today I want to talk about four different ways you can use to back your finished embroidery piece. This post will specifically address scenarios where you want to display the piece as wall art. I’m so excited to share this blog post with you, because it’s my first foray into a post with videos!

The First Option – No Backing

The first option we’ll look at is the simplest of all four ways. In this scenario, you will have decided that you want to keep your art work in the hoop, but you need a way to secure the extra fabric so that it’s not dangling around all ratty and unprofessional looking.

Step 1 – Trim the Excess Fabric

After you’ve finished your piece, trim an inch or two around the circle of the hoop. Some people will trim the fabric very close to the hoop, and if you’d like to, you can certainly do that. I’m always a little bit paranoid so I will trim my fabric to around two inches usually.

Step 2 – Sew Around the Circle

For this part, you will need to prepare a needle and some thread. The fabric I used for this embroidery piece is white, so I will be using white embroidery thread. Try and match your thread to whatever colour of fabric you used for your piece. I like to use 2 strands just for an extra bit of strength. When you cut the thread you’re going to be using, make sure you allow enough to go all the way around the hoop. This project was done in a 5 inch hoop, and I probably used about 24 inches of thread. This will be more than you need, but using that much thread will make it easier to work with.

For your first stitch, make sure that you hide the knot of your thread on the underside of the fabric.

Alright, that’s it! That is the first option. In my opinion, you would only use this option if you were keeping the embroidery piece for yourself and you knew that you wouldn’t ever be peaking at the back of the work. If you were going to sell your work, I would suggest using one of the other options, as they all create a more professional finished look and are also designed to secure all your thread and stitches down. You wouldn’t want someone to be browsing your craft fair stall and look at the back and see the nitty gritty of your work.

The Second Option – Back with a Piece of Cardboard or Thick Paper

This second option has some of the same steps as the first option. However, before you sew the fabric around the hoop, you will need to take your finished embroidery piece out of the hoop and measure the carboard or cardstock first.

Step 1 – Trace the Carboard

You will be using any carboard or thick piece of cardstock paper that’s quite stuff. Put the inside hoop (the one without the screw) overtop a piece of carboard and then trace around the inside of the hoop. Make sure you’re doing the inside of the hoop, not the outside.

Now that you’ve measure your cardboard, you can go ahead and place your work back into the hoop and sew around the circle, exactly the way it was demonstrated in the first option.

Step 2 – Cut the Cardboard Circle

Next, cut out the circle you just traced. I would suggest cutting around the inside of the pen line, not the outside. It doesn’t matter too much, but you might find that trimming along the outside of the pen line makes the cardboard just a little too snug, especially if your pen tip is a bit thicker.

Step 3 – Place the Carboard in the Hoop

This last step is super easy – just place the cut circle of carboard inside the back of the hoop. It should fit in there nice and snug, and wouldn’t fall out even if you jostled it around a bit.

That’s it, that’s option number 2! Now, I will say for myself, this option actually looks quite clean at the back, but it still isn’t the option I would go with if I were going to sell the finished piece. It’s a good DIY option, but not really a quality finished piece. You go ahead and do what you like, though!

The Third Option – Back with Felt

For this method, you will be using felt. Try and find felt that matches the colour of the fabric. If you aren’t able to, go with white. What’s nice is that felt is easy to find. If it’s not at the thrift store, any dollar store will carry it, and they usually have multiple colours.

Step 1 – Trace and Cut the Felt

As with option number 2, before you sew around your hoop, you need to take your finished embroidery piece out of the hoop and measure the felted fabric first. However, you will measure the fabric using the outside of the inner hoop, instead of the inside of the inner hoop. For this step, I combined the tracing and cutting into the same video. Why did I do that? I don’t know, I’m still a confused noob.

Step 2 – Sew the Felt Using a Blanket Stitch

Now that you’ve traced and cut the felt, you can place your embroidery piece back into the hoop. You will be sewing the felt to the back of the piece using a blanket stitch. Use 2 threads that are the same colour as your fabric. You will see in the first couple of stitches that I forgot how to do a blanket stitch; just forget about that. By the third stitch, I had remembered. As you go, make sure that you grab the fabric and the felt at the same time so that the felt is fastened in place.

Alright, that is option 3! In my opinion, this method is the best way to back your embroidery piece if you’re going to leave it in the hoop. It’s clean and professional, but also still grounded in that homemade feel.

The Fourth Option – Placing in a Frame

Okay, this is the method I am most excited to share with you, and it is also my preferred way of finishing my embroidery pieces. I think it’s also actually the easiest method to do, as there is no tracing or cutting or sewing. Almost all of the pieces I sell, I sell in a frame of some sort. Sometimes it doesn’t work to put it in a frame, and that’s okay, but if you’re able to find a circular or square frame that matches the look of your artwork, I would suggest doing that. If you are looking for a shop to buy circular frames from, I recommend this Etsy shop: UniversalHappyGift – Etsy Canada. The frame I used in this tutorial is not from their shop, but I have bought from them before, and their work is so precious and beautiful!

Step 1 – Optional – Glue a Piece of Paper to the Glass

This step is not strictly necessary. If the fabric you used is quite thick, you can probably skip this step. However, the fabric that I used is actually quite thin, and so when I went to glue the fabric to the glass, I noticed that the there was a dark spot in the centre of the glass where there was no fabric. If this happens to you, you can glue a piece of paper to the glass first. I used a simple, clear craft glue that I found at the dollar store. Put a few dots around the circle and that will be enough to hold the paper in place. I put a book on afterward just to help anchor the glue in place.

Step 2 – Glue the Embroidery to the Glass

In this step, you will put glue all the way around the frame and then stretch the fabric over the glass. The tension from the glue will hold fabric in place, and you can continue to stretch it so there are no creases or wrinkles.

And that is the fourth and final method! After this point, you will secure the back of the frame to the rest of the frame, and it will result in a very professional and clean look.

The Finished Product

Alright, I’ve shown you how to back your piece, but how do they actually look displayed on the wall? Now, I did unfortunately forget to take a picture of the first option, so that picture is not included, but it would be pretty much the same as option 2 (carboard backing). The one on the left is with the carboard backing, the middle one is the felt backing, and the right is of course in the frame.

Now I know what you’re thinking. “You can see a dark spot on the two with the hoops!” You are correct. That was my bad, I honestly chose a fabric that was just a little too thin. I have backed my pieces with felt lots of times before and that doesn’t usually happen. If that does happen to you, you can cut out a piece of carboard and place it on the inside of the hoop, and then sew around it so that the carboard is directly touching the fabric. So it would be layered fabric, carboard, sewn fabric. The other option would be to choose a fabric that is heavier weight so that you can’t see through it so easily.

What do you think? Which is your favorite? I just think the circular frame is so charming!

Some Other Information

Did you happen to come across this post without ever having embroidered? No problem, you can read this blog post that details some of the basics of getting started: Everything You Need to Know About Starting Your First Embroidery Project – Friendstitch Embroidery

And below are a few patterns that you can use – for free!

Let me know your thoughts below!