Framing Football Jumpers and Jerseys properly

One thing that people forget about when getting a football jumper or shirt framed is how the item is mounted in the frame! 
Unfortunately I have seen some valuable items that have had a thousand staples pumped into them and even a hot glue gun had been used on one which actually makes the item worthless.
The reason that these framers have done it this way is because it is quick and easy and saves a heap of time, but it is not the right way to do it to preserve the garment.
Below is an example of something that we pulled apart to re frame and found that it had been massacred!!
The staples had actually torn the shirt in several places and it also took me a long time to unpick every staple that had been put into it. 

At Up In Frames we use a fine fabric tool to mount jumpers and shirts which has a thin needle that pushes through and shoots a plastic tab, much like the ones found on the tags of new cloths but only shorter which only puts a tiny needle hole through the item.
Below is a picture of the fine fabric tool and also the little plastic tabs that hold the shirt in place. We normally put at least nine tabs in each jumper to ensure that it doesn't move around at all when moving the frame.

We cut a shirt card for every job out of 3mm foam board which slips inside the jumper and keeps it nice and tight and also allows us to put the tabs in under the front of the jumper so that they are not visible. Normally we use white foam core but in this instance we used black as it is a dark coloured jumper.

The images below shows the fine fabric tab which is hidden under the front of the guernsey. We also flip it over and put a piece of tape on the back of every tab just to reinforce them and to stop them from pulling through the matboard.

Then we place double sided tape and dobs of glue onto the backing board to stick the mat down as it needs to be ridged when spaced away from the glass to avoid bowing. Don't worry, the matboard acts as a barrier between the guernsey and the glue and will not effect the garment at all!!
We also use a nail punch to put dress making pins across the bottom of the jumper and into the foam shirt card to stop it from lifting up over time.

Here are a couple of jumpers that are mounted and ready to go into the frames. We also space all of our jumpers away from the glass as it can look pretty ordinary when they are just squashed in against the glass!

As you can see a lot of work goes into framing these guernseys properly, but it is well worth it to preserve your treasured item! It should be something that you only have to get done once!

Just remember that if you are looking at getting a jumper or shirt framed in the future that you ask your framer how it is going to be mounted.
​The cheapest option is not always the best one!!