Strategy

Seanette Blaylock wrote:
One of the projects in my queue [fairly far down, I admit :-)] is the
Marbek Nativity. I would prefer the finished version to be all one
picture, not have it chopped up into five segments [besides, that
special frame is $200!]. I did consider the idea of doing it all on
one large piece of fabric, but gave up that idea when I added up the
widths of the panels and got a result of over 5'2"!

My current scheme for this is to do each panel individually, then sew
them together into one piece for framing. The question is, assuming I
do this on navy or black [it *was* a night scene, after all :-)],
will
those seams be conspicuous enough to cause a visual problem or can
they be "hidden" or de-emphasized?



Have you looked into the framing price for it as one big unit?

Even if one sews individual pieces of fabric together, it's still going
to result in something 5'2" across. A frame that size is going to end
up costing much more than the $200 for the special frame!

If the point of the strategy of doing it as one large piece was to save
money on framing, I think the strategy is flawed from the start.
Caryn

Maybe I'm being dense but I'm not quite getting something here...

I have never looked at this pattern so I have to admit I'm talking only
from what I reading and my own general assumptions.

If I read correctly, Seanette said that the custom frames to finish as
designed were ~$200. I know what my regular framer has charged for the
only piece I've sent him so far, and I'm reasonably certain that a more
than five foot wide frame would cost a LOT more than the $200 for the 5
custom frames. I paid $165 for an 9x11 wood frame, single mat with
colored bevel, and no glass. Based on the linear pricing ($2.50 per
inch) for the frame I picked for Winter Blues, the frame alone on the
Nativity would be 10 linear feet plus whatever the vertical dimension.
10 feet is 120 inches... at 2.50 per inch is $300, and that's not a
complete frame, nor is it mat or glass or any of the rest of what may
be needed.

Now, I don't know how my wood frame compares in price to whatever
Seanette may choose, so my logic in using my known pricing may be
faulty.

Another thing to consider is how stable will such a wide single frame
be? I don't know how they're assembled, if there's any kind of
reinforcements put in place when it gets to be beyond a certain size,
but I'd personally be leary of having such a long piece without some
kind of back support.

Just my completely uneducated thoughts on the subject. Ignore as you
will =)

Jenn (posting through Google)

"Jenn" had some very interesting things to
say about Strategy:

If I read correctly, Seanette said that the custom frames to finish as
designed were ~$200. I know what my regular framer has charged for the
only piece I've sent him so far, and I'm reasonably certain that a more
than five foot wide frame would cost a LOT more than the $200 for the 5
custom frames. I paid $165 for an 9x11 wood frame, single mat with
colored bevel, and no glass. Based on the linear pricing ($2.50 per
inch) for the frame I picked for Winter Blues, the frame alone on the
Nativity would be 10 linear feet plus whatever the vertical dimension.
10 feet is 120 inches... at 2.50 per inch is $300, and that's not a
complete frame, nor is it mat or glass or any of the rest of what may
be needed.

I don't like mats :-), and really don't like the notion of chopping
the picture up into the five pieces the custom frame forces. The
chopped-up picture is my major objection to using the custom frame.

Karen knows someone who's good at woodworking, so we may be able to
come up with a less expensive way to get this done.

Another thing to consider is how stable will such a wide single frame
be? I don't know how they're assembled, if there's any kind of
reinforcements put in place when it gets to be beyond a certain size,
but I'd personally be leary of having such a long piece without some
kind of back support.

Definitely a point to be considered probably five years or so down the
road when this sucker's actually ready for framing. :-)

--
"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be
doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding.
:-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL

If the strategy is to reduce the size, why not just do it over one?
That would cut the width to something around 31 inches.. much more
doable for framing and hanging.

(And of course, it would also cut costs for fabric, fibers and
framing!)

Paula
wrote:
Seanette Blaylock wrote:
One of the projects in my queue [fairly far down, I admit :-)] is
the
Marbek Nativity. I would prefer the finished version to be all one
picture, not have it chopped up into five segments [besides, that
special frame is $200!]. I did consider the idea of doing it all on
one large piece of fabric, but gave up that idea when I added up
the
widths of the panels and got a result of over 5'2"!

My current scheme for this is to do each panel individually, then
sew
them together into one piece for framing. The question is, assuming
I
do this on navy or black [it *was* a night scene, after all :-)],
will
those seams be conspicuous enough to cause a visual problem or can
they be "hidden" or de-emphasized?



Have you looked into the framing price for it as one big unit?

Even if one sews individual pieces of fabric together, it's still
going
to result in something 5'2" across. A frame that size is going to
end
up costing much more than the $200 for the special frame!

If the point of the strategy of doing it as one large piece was to
save
money on framing, I think the strategy is flawed from the start.
Caryn

"HeyPaula" had some very interesting things to
say about Strategy:

If the strategy is to reduce the size, why not just do it over one?
That would cut the width to something around 31 inches.. much more
doable for framing and hanging.
(And of course, it would also cut costs for fabric, fibers and

It's not entirely an issue of size [my sole objection to the single
piece of fabric is that I don't think I can manage 6' scroll rods,
pseudo-Q-snaps, or such, and in-hand is NOT an option for me, even on
small pieces]. Most of it is that I just have a strong preference for
having the image all one unit and not cut up into pieces.

As for over 1, I'm considering it, but adjusting sizes of Kreinik
could be a pain [and Santa got me all the Kreinik for this piece this
year! :-)]. Also, my vision isn't the greatest, and I'd be doing this
on navy or black. Adding over 1 to the challenge could result in
ocular mutiny. :-)

--
"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be
doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding.
:-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL

Seanette Blaylock wrote:


It's not entirely an issue of size [my sole objection to the single
piece of fabric is that I don't think I can manage 6' scroll rods,
pseudo-Q-snaps, or such, and in-hand is NOT an option for me, even on
small pieces]. Most of it is that I just have a strong preference for
having the image all one unit and not cut up into pieces.

As for over 1, I'm considering it, but adjusting sizes of Kreinik
could be a pain [and Santa got me all the Kreinik for this piece this
year! :-)]. Also, my vision isn't the greatest, and I'd be doing this
on navy or black. Adding over 1 to the challenge could result in
ocular mutiny. :-)

I can understand your feelings, but I think you're
in a catch-22. I can't imagine any way to join the fabric
that is truly invisible. You could attempt to cover the
joins in a way that made it look like you were looking
at the scene through a window. You could reinforce the seams
(so that they wouldn't pull upon stretching) by stitching them
down to a backing fabric. I just can't imagine how a seam could
be made invisible, sorry.

Best wishes,
Ericka

And add years to the construction time? just a thought

gillian
"HeyPaula" wrote in message
oups.com...
If the strategy is to reduce the size, why not just do it over one?
That would cut the width to something around 31 inches.. much more
doable for framing and hanging.

(And of course, it would also cut costs for fabric, fibers and
framing!)

Paula
wrote:
Seanette Blaylock wrote:
One of the projects in my queue [fairly far down, I admit :-)] is
the
Marbek Nativity. I would prefer the finished version to be all one
picture, not have it chopped up into five segments [besides, that
special frame is $200!]. I did consider the idea of doing it all on
one large piece of fabric, but gave up that idea when I added up
the
widths of the panels and got a result of over 5'2"!

My current scheme for this is to do each panel individually, then
sew
them together into one piece for framing. The question is, assuming
I
do this on navy or black [it *was* a night scene, after all :-)],
will
those seams be conspicuous enough to cause a visual problem or can
they be "hidden" or de-emphasized?



Have you looked into the framing price for it as one big unit?

Even if one sews individual pieces of fabric together, it's still
going
to result in something 5'2" across. A frame that size is going to
end
up costing much more than the $200 for the special frame!

If the point of the strategy of doing it as one large piece was to
save
money on framing, I think the strategy is flawed from the start.
Caryn

Seanette Blaylock wrote:

It's not entirely an issue of size [my sole objection to the single
piece of fabric is that I don't think I can manage 6' scroll rods,
pseudo-Q-snaps, or such, and in-hand is NOT an option for me, even on
small pieces]. Most of it is that I just have a strong preference for
having the image all one unit and not cut up into pieces.

As for over 1, I'm considering it, but adjusting sizes of Kreinik
could be a pain [and Santa got me all the Kreinik for this piece this
year! :-)]. Also, my vision isn't the greatest, and I'd be doing this
on navy or black. Adding over 1 to the challenge could result in
ocular mutiny. :-)

I don't think there's any way to make the seams invisible but you could
combine the two end panels on each side so you only have 2 seams instead of
4.

Another thought......can you work vertically from left to right or right to
left rather than top to bottom? If you kept the fabric all one piece the
scroll rods would only have to be as long as the largest fabric height.
They'd probably weigh a lot and would require support to stitch but they
wouldn't need to be 6' long.

-
X-No-Archive: yes
"Seanette Blaylock" wrote in
message ...
"HeyPaula" had some very interesting things to
say about Strategy:

If the strategy is to reduce the size, why not just do it over one?
That would cut the width to something around 31 inches.. much more
doable for framing and hanging.
(And of course, it would also cut costs for fabric, fibers and

It's not entirely an issue of size [my sole objection to the single
piece of fabric is that I don't think I can manage 6' scroll rods,
pseudo-Q-snaps, or such, and in-hand is NOT an option for me, even on
small pieces]. Most of it is that I just have a strong preference for
having the image all one unit and not cut up into pieces.

You wouldn't need 6' scroll rods. If you turned the piece 90 degrees and
worked on it from side-to-side instead of up-and-down you could get away
with 34" ones which would be way easier to handle.

emerald

"emerald" had some very interesting things to
say about Strategy:

You wouldn't need 6' scroll rods. If you turned the piece 90 degrees and
worked on it from side-to-side instead of up-and-down you could get away
with 34" ones which would be way easier to handle.

If I could cope with the rotated color key symbols, that could work
[must try it on a smaller piece first].

--
"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be
doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding.
:-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL