As long as there is a stiff back to the frame any frame will work. I usually just pick one from walmart. But mine usually just go to family members where walmart frames work with their decor. I am sure there are better places to get some done though. I`m just cheap :) taping or stitching it together around the cardboard helps keep it in place while you secure the frame.

Hi narr86

If you need a book about framing you can go to your local library and get one. I had asked for one in the past. On the other hand if you want to buy a cheap frame go to a second hand store where you can get it cheaper than the new one ( Good Will ). Have fun.

Hi nar86,
Just from reading up on the subject when it comes to choosing the type (wood, metal) of frame, ask yourself: Where am I going to hang my project? Look at the different woods and/or metals in your home furnishings in that room you want to hang your project. Is there a specific color wood or metal that you like that you think would "tie-in" with that room? For matting COLOR for your finished cross stitch, you might want to consider the MINOR colors that are in the cross stitch pattern itself. For example you have a picture of a bird sitting on a cherry blossom tree, your biggest colors are the blue and cream of the bird, the brown of the branch but there are only small areas of a light green in the leaves of the tree; you might want to consider that green color for your matting.
I'm prejudice when it comes to frames. I love the light driftwood, coastal type frames for some of my frames that I had professionally framed.
Many stores like Michaels, Hobby Lobby, A C Moore offer framing but they can be quite expensive and may not take care in the way they frame your cross stitching. That is an issue I have right now because I'm looking for a different framer down in South Carolina area because I was unhappy with the framer I was using for a small project I had.
I know some of the stitchers on this site do their OWN framing and that way they frame it the way they know will be of good quality. Hope this information helps...

Might want to try typing in "horizontal oval cross-stitch frames" on the Internet and hit the "Images" tab to look at what is out there. Appears to be a few frames that may meet the criteria...

Thank you, everyone for your help. Bermuda, thanks for all the suggestions. I was actually wondering if I should choose some of the minor colors for matting. Now I have some direction - thank you all so much.

Aw, Bermuda, you explained that so nicely.

Do not get anything framed at Hobby Lobby - bad, bad experience! My only experience in framing is placing a photograph into a ready made frame but I would attempt to frame my own cross stitch projects before I'd let one of "those" places frame them. We spend too much money and time on our hobbies to get a poor frame job. I have to look for an oval frame myself, good idea, Bermuda to check on the internet. My Olivia drew a cat and colored it by using almost every crayon color she owns in vertical stripes. It's so cute. Unfortunately, the paper got damaged when she taped it to the wall and I had to do an oval shape to "preserve" her artwork.

Our x stitch shop carries a large variety of ready made frames. That's another option. Check out tutorials on u-tube. Good luck.

I've had better luck than you all when it comes to having my pieces framed by someone at a store, but it is an anxious feeling when it's not in my hands. I keep wondering if they're treating it gently and whether some disaster will befall it. (I wonder if on a small scale, that's how moms must feel dropping their kids off at day care). But I do have a problem, one I've made for myself.

I embroidered one of my co-worker's favorite sayings, graphed it out and shaded it, and I'm very pleased with it. However, I don't know what I was thinking; I made it much more wide and short than will fit into a standard frame, so I need to have a frame made for it! What a goofball. You'd have thought I would have thought about that when I worked it, but no.

Learn from my mistake!

Hi Narr86 - I was in a Michael's one day when a young woman came to pick up her project she had framed. It was the nastiest thing I have ever seen - crooked/wrinkled and a mess. She had wanted to give it to her grandmother that w/end for her birthday. Michael's wasn't budging about fixing it. I told the young woman to take the picture and call the Better business Bureau and Consumer Protection. The clerk at Michael's said he would give her back $25 of the $125 she had paid for the framing. I told the clerk he should give her all the money back and unframe the project so she could take it somewhere else. After much haggling they finally did that. It really turned me off of those huge stores doing my framing. My framer is the best in the world. He has framed all my work. I would never go to a framer that wanted paid first as you will pay havoc getting things right and your money back. My framer does the work and if I am pleased with it then I pay.
Have a great week.
cheryl

Cheryl,
You are SOOO lucky to have a good quality framer. I'll keep looking for a framer when DH and I "migrate" south this fall, but this situation may encourage me to try me hand at framing a couple of small completed projects I have so, like Syagel, I can pin, mat and frame my own projects and the big time framers can "rip off" other people with their outlandish prices and poor quality workmanship.

Well, thank you again for all your great advice. It is not an expensive piece and it did not take me long to stitch. I might attempt to frame it myself. I do not think I'm totally inept but, I will definitely research before I start.