Turkish Silk Rug Framed in an Oversized Silver-Leafed Wood Frame

Laying flat on a large, square work table, this beautiful, silk, Turkish rug was brought in to us by one of our regular clients.
Because it was thick and heavy, it needed to be sewn down extensively. The base for the sewing consisted of a wooden stretcher covered in nylon door screen and, then, that was covered with a pale blue fabric. The rug was floated in the middle of that with several inches of the blue fabric showing all around tits perimeter. The rug-covered strainer was covered with plexiglass that had spacers added to the edges to lift the plexi up off the rug. Because the glazing (or frame) size was 75 1/4" long x 49 1/2" wide, we had to acquire oversize plexi that was 60" x 96". Normal size is 48 x 96".


The frame is a gorgeous silver-leafed Italian frame from Bella Moulding. This particular frame style was called "Steamer Trunk." While our initial design for the frame was something more square and simple, we realized that this frame was the perfect design to augment the beauty of the rug. Our usual fabric supplier (on the West Coast) had nothing in the color they needed that was wide enough. So, Dana (our shop manager, shown above) and Kelly (our other most experienced framing team member) had to make a special trip down to a fabric warehouse in Pilsen (south Chicago) to find the right fabric color in an oversize roll. As you can see, they were successful!

Here is a closeup shot of a corner showing the frame details:

Here is a shot from the back showing the chain stitch sewing the rug down to the fabric/screen backing stretched over the wooden stretcher:

Framing designed by Dana L. Fisher, MCPF
Framing project completed by the Flax Frame Team
Photos by Brian D. Flax, CPF
Images  shown courtesy of our client KP.