love mhb studio

No more Self-Finish Scaries! Although I’m showing you how I self finished my leather mahjong card sleeve, I use the same principles to most all self finishing products:

✂️ I always make sure my self finishing product is right side up. Don’t trust the direction of the 3M adhesive - sometimes it gets placed upside down!

✂️ I always make a b&w photocopy of the stitched piece I’m going to self finish to make sure the stitching fills the window before I cut the canvas. If I need to add rows, I have the time and space to do so.

✂️ I always cut AT LEAST 4 rows away from the canvas on the first pass. Remember, you can always trim away one row at a time from there to get the right amount of canvas to tuck underneath. What you can’t do is add rows back if you trim too close the first time.

✂️ I always test the lip of the leather window before scoring. I want to see how flexible it is and how much room I have underneath to tuck the unstitched cut canvas.

✂️ After scoring the 3M paper and removing it, I always try to center the stitched canvas with a light touch. Once I feel like it’s centered I lift one side to see if the rows are centered in the frame, and then do the same on the other side. Only then do I firmly press the stitched piece down to adhere.

✂️ To tuck the canvas underneath the lip of the self-finishing product I use my fingers when possible or a bone folder when the space is a little tighter. A bone folder works great in the corners.

I hope this takes the mystery (and some of the anxiety!) out of self-finishing your needlepoint projects with some of the fabulous leather and canvas products on the market! But if you have questions, comment below so that everyone can see the answer(s) 🙌🏼

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