How do I hang a suzani (embroidered textile) on the wall?
December 28, 2015 7:52 PM Subscribe
How do I hang a suzani (embroidered textile) on the wall?
I have a suzani that I would like to hang on the wall. It's basically an embroidered fabric: unlike a rug, it does not have any thick backing, nor does it have multiple layers like a quilt. (Picture)
It measures 60x85 inches and I'd like to hang it lengthwise. How should I do this? I read a website about hanging rugs that suggested sewing velcro strips into it, then attaching velcro to the wall. But if I sew into it, won't you be able to see the stitches in front?
Any other ideas welcome. Thanks!
I have a suzani that I would like to hang on the wall. It's basically an embroidered fabric: unlike a rug, it does not have any thick backing, nor does it have multiple layers like a quilt. (Picture)
It measures 60x85 inches and I'd like to hang it lengthwise. How should I do this? I read a website about hanging rugs that suggested sewing velcro strips into it, then attaching velcro to the wall. But if I sew into it, won't you be able to see the stitches in front?
Any other ideas welcome. Thanks!
Mine hangs on the dining room wall from a curtain rod with curtain rings I got at Target. They have little clips on them. My suzani is about 14 feet long and has extensive fringe trim along the bottom edge. It's heavy, so I have about 16 curtain rings holding it up.
posted by S'Tella Fabula at 8:13 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by S'Tella Fabula at 8:13 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
We have a carpet on the wall which hangs from a wood plank, to which it's attached by tacks. Provided the tacks are not hammered too far they're easy to remove and don't damage the fabric, and they don't show when they're placed in dark areas of the pattern. The plank has small rings from the hardware store which slip over screws in the wall.
posted by anadem at 8:16 PM on December 28, 2015
posted by anadem at 8:16 PM on December 28, 2015
Yeah those clippy rings are awesome. I hung a tapestry as a temporary closet cover in college like that with a curtain rod and those clippy rings. Search for how to hang a "tapestry" which should give you ideas closer to what you have - rather than hanging a rug. I've also seen people just tack them up. You could also stitch a pocket of complimentary fabric to the top (and bottom) to run a rod through as well. Therefore it wouldn't take away any of the design.
posted by Crystalinne at 8:19 PM on December 28, 2015
posted by Crystalinne at 8:19 PM on December 28, 2015
Oh and with something that large, if you DO want to make your own pocket out of another fabric, buy a sheet. That will give you the right dimensions length-wise rather than needing WAY too many yards of standard fabric.
posted by Crystalinne at 8:20 PM on December 28, 2015
posted by Crystalinne at 8:20 PM on December 28, 2015
If the object is nice enough that you want to hang it in a conservation-appropriate way, you'll want to sew it onto a support. If it can support itself, you can machine sew velcro onto a strip of twill tape and then hand sew the tape onto your object. Then you mount the other side of the velcro onto a sealed board that you mount or hang on the wall. The point is to support the entire hanging edge so you don't get sagging from intermittent contact points such as clips. You also get to make sure the textile isn't in contact with anything that will degrade it (metal, bare wood, etc.)
If the item is more delicate, it would need more handsewing onto a full backing -- usually stretched over canvas.
The trick is to make small stitches on the on the face as you backstitch on the tape side. I suck at it, but working *slowly* helps a lot.
Here is a good explanation with diagrams. Some other resources: one two (PDF) three.
posted by janell at 9:03 PM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
If the item is more delicate, it would need more handsewing onto a full backing -- usually stretched over canvas.
The trick is to make small stitches on the on the face as you backstitch on the tape side. I suck at it, but working *slowly* helps a lot.
Here is a good explanation with diagrams. Some other resources: one two (PDF) three.
posted by janell at 9:03 PM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
we have a couple of similar things hung from a row of screws drilled into the wall (concrete walls). there's a screw every 10cm or so. the fabric hangs from a thread that zig-zags between fabric and screws (the screws need to extend beyond the width of the fabric so that the thread at either end pulls the cloth "open"). it needs some fine tuning to hang right (for that cloth you may need more closely spaced screws), and the exposed screws may not be to your taste, but it has worked well for us.
posted by andrewcooke at 3:57 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by andrewcooke at 3:57 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
I have used magnets for something similar:
https://magnart.com/
You nail the little metal piece into the wall, then use the magnet to hold the wall hanging up. No modifications or holes in the wall hanging! You do see the magnet from the front, but it's small (and very powerful / strong).
posted by valeries at 8:17 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
https://magnart.com/
You nail the little metal piece into the wall, then use the magnet to hold the wall hanging up. No modifications or holes in the wall hanging! You do see the magnet from the front, but it's small (and very powerful / strong).
posted by valeries at 8:17 AM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
I have a large fabric print, and hung it by stitching Velcro squares to it. My print is dark colored, so I used black thread, and it isn't visible. It looks like you could maybe use a cream colored thread, and particularly with Velcro squares rather than tape, you can select stitch points that are in unembroidered places. The Velcro I used was specifically for hanging, and I got it at a hardware store. It also has a fabric-sticky side; I chose to stitch rather than sticking because I didn't want anything permanent, but using the sticky side could also avoid the visible stitch problem.
posted by snorkmaiden at 12:12 PM on December 29, 2015
posted by snorkmaiden at 12:12 PM on December 29, 2015
Response by poster: I did it!! Result. Can't believe I actually managed to get it up on the wall. Thanks everyone for the answers.
For posterity: I hand sewed velcro (the fuzzy side) along the entire edge. Make sure you get the "sew on" velcro and not the sticky back or you won't be able to sew through it... It took me two entire days - literally spent all of today and yesterday sewing, but I've never sewed before. How to actually do the stitches is difficult to explain and I would have never figured it out myself, but it's something like in this link. In that photo just imagine the blue bit is the edge of your velcro strip and the green bit is the fabric. Most of the thread stays on the back side and the only bit you see on the front is where you punctured the fabric.
I used the same color thread and did it along the very edges where there's no embroidery or you can avoid stitching through the front by looping the thread on stuff on the back. You can only see the stitches if you look really closely.
Paperclips are useful to keep the velcro flat against the fabric before you have sewed it in.
To mount it, I bought 3M Command strips and stuck them to the back of the rigid side of the velcro. I used almost the entire box of 48, putting them lengthwise. Then I stuck the velcro to the wall (having cleaned the wall w/ rubbing alcohol). After that, I stuck both velcro pieces together. I could have probably used the rigid side from some sticky back velcro and stuck it directly on the wall, but I was afraid it wouldn't come off the wall easily (the Command strips supposedly come off the wall cleanly). Another idea was to simply nail or tack the velcro strips directly into the wall.
It seems to be stable for now, although I'm a little worried the Command strips might come undone at some point. It probably wouldn't work with a heavy actual rug, but because this is just a light piece of fabric it seems to hold. Next step is to get some velcro bits for the bottom corners so I can stretch the whole thing taut against the wall, but I'm rather pleased with it as is.
If the Command strips end up falling off, I might try constructing something like described in this link, seems somewhat straightforward.
posted by pravit at 9:43 PM on January 2, 2016
For posterity: I hand sewed velcro (the fuzzy side) along the entire edge. Make sure you get the "sew on" velcro and not the sticky back or you won't be able to sew through it... It took me two entire days - literally spent all of today and yesterday sewing, but I've never sewed before. How to actually do the stitches is difficult to explain and I would have never figured it out myself, but it's something like in this link. In that photo just imagine the blue bit is the edge of your velcro strip and the green bit is the fabric. Most of the thread stays on the back side and the only bit you see on the front is where you punctured the fabric.
I used the same color thread and did it along the very edges where there's no embroidery or you can avoid stitching through the front by looping the thread on stuff on the back. You can only see the stitches if you look really closely.
Paperclips are useful to keep the velcro flat against the fabric before you have sewed it in.
To mount it, I bought 3M Command strips and stuck them to the back of the rigid side of the velcro. I used almost the entire box of 48, putting them lengthwise. Then I stuck the velcro to the wall (having cleaned the wall w/ rubbing alcohol). After that, I stuck both velcro pieces together. I could have probably used the rigid side from some sticky back velcro and stuck it directly on the wall, but I was afraid it wouldn't come off the wall easily (the Command strips supposedly come off the wall cleanly). Another idea was to simply nail or tack the velcro strips directly into the wall.
It seems to be stable for now, although I'm a little worried the Command strips might come undone at some point. It probably wouldn't work with a heavy actual rug, but because this is just a light piece of fabric it seems to hold. Next step is to get some velcro bits for the bottom corners so I can stretch the whole thing taut against the wall, but I'm rather pleased with it as is.
If the Command strips end up falling off, I might try constructing something like described in this link, seems somewhat straightforward.
posted by pravit at 9:43 PM on January 2, 2016
(cool, but your result doesn't display for me).
posted by andrewcooke at 3:46 AM on January 3, 2016
posted by andrewcooke at 3:46 AM on January 3, 2016
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I'm sure other stores have them, this is just the one I found first.
And here's a DIY option.
posted by bunderful at 8:12 PM on December 28, 2015