How To Use An Embroidery Hoop

Why use a Hoop?

No if's no but's – If y'all desire your stitching to wait its all-time and then you need to utilise an embroidery hoop to stitch your design in.

At that place are so many different types of hoops to cull from and it tin exist difficult to know where to beginning.

Luckily for you, I have tried quite a few and compiled this guide to give yous an honest review of what is good and what isn't about some of those hoops you tin can buy.

But so you know, this mail may contain affiliate links. If you click through to a website and register or buy something, I get a commission from that sale at no extra cost to you. All opinions and reviews are my own.

Why do you need a hoop anyhow?

We all know the old adage 'A poor workman always blames his tools' however with Manus Embroidery, the hoop you employ to stitch your pattern in can actually make a huge difference to the end result, and so in this example your tools (or hoop!) could actually be the reason your stitching does non await equally fabulous equally it could.

Why so?

Well, with embroidery hoops quality really is everything. An embroidery hoop for me needs to do 3 things…

Concord the textile tight
Be comfortable to hold whilst stitching
Be dainty and smooth so your material and fingers don't get snagged.

How to use an Embroidery Hoop?

Before we await at the types of hoops – here's a basic guide on how to utilise 1 and get your fabric nice and tight…

how to use embroidery hoop

Unlike types…

To make sure you get the best hoop for your stitching, let's go through a few of the options out at that place and I'll let you know my experience of them…

Wooden Embroidery Hoops

My favourite wooden hoops are Elbesee Embroidery Hoops and Nurge Embroidery Hoops.

With wooden hoops quality is everything. You lot want a overnice potent smoothen wood and so your fabric is held tight and does not continually slip. wooden embroidery hoop

This is what a quality hoop looks like…

The woods is beech so stiff and soft and the inner ring fits snuggly inside the outer with no gaps. Information technology has quality brass fittings with a proper screw for tightening.

Things to consider when choosing a hoop –

great quality and stitching experience
easily available
reasonably priced.

You lot do sometimes take to re tighten your fabric and they don't last forever (over time they do lose their grip) but its non a huge problem equally they don't work loose also much at all and they don't cost a fortune to replace.

You can Purchase Elbesee hoops and Nurge Hoops from my Stitchdoodles Shop and I ship worldwide – yay!

Wooden hoops also come in different depths – the one pictured is about 2 cm deeps and I do find these concord the work even better and are nice to agree and stitch with.

The Elbesee Seat Stand is fantastic and it comes with the deeper hoops in three different sizes. Mine is pictured here and spends many hours with me on the sofa stitching abroad!

For those of y'all who like a touch of luxury then there are these absolutely gorgeous hoops from Hardwicke Manor (manufactured in Germany). I have seen these at shows and they do look fab merely every bit even so have not purchased i as I can't justify the toll!

Plastic Circular Embroidery Hoops

I have never got along with these. Some people think they are corking and work really well but for me the ones I have are kept at the bottom of the pile and quite honestly never used.

My biggest bug bear with these is their flexibility when being used which for me means the tightness of the fabric is continually compromised. This spoils your work and so easily as you can't maintain tension as you stitch.

If you would like to give them a try you tin can discover them here.

Spring Tension Hoops

I was then disappointed when I tried these Bound Tension Hoops every bit I was so looking forward to stitching with them! The smaller ones work improve than the larger but ultimately I institute they had a similar issue to the plastic hoops. Although not as flexible, they yet don't give a dainty tight fabric to stitch with. The tension stays really springy and when yous try to pull it tight it pings out of the hoop entirely!

Even if you don't mess with the material and stitch with the springy tension, I found the metal 'handles' on the inner ring merely got in the way and were really irritating! Perhaps that's just me!

Flexi Embroidery Hoops

I honey these! You tin stitch in them if you then desire as the tension is certainly amend than the plastic ones above merely not equally proficient as the Elbesee wooden hoops.

My main use of these is for framing a finished piece as I just dearest the manner they agree the blueprint and give a really nice frame to it. They come in dissimilar colours also as wood effect, dissimilar shapes, and a whole host of dissimilar sizes. Flexible Embroidery Hoop…

They tin can exist tricky to get your cloth in and out of so for stitching this would be a flake of a negative unless the whole design was available to run up and y'all didn't need to keep taking it in and out.

What size should you use?

I tend to stick with a size of hoop that is about an inch bigger in diameter than the design I am stitching. That way I can be naughty and get out the design in the hoop in between stitching.

If the hoop is smaller than the design you will need to have it out each time you stop stitching so the parts that are in betwixt the rings does non get spoiled.

Of course, the size of the overall design determines what you choose also.

If I am stitching anything over 8 inches and so I switch from using a hoop to a canvas bar frame, you lot tin can read all most using these in the post 'How to Hand Embroider with a Stretcher Bar Frame.'

Hope this has proved useful and given you some thoughts for trying out different hoops until you lot find the 1 y'all like the near.

If you have any experiences to share with detail hoops leave a comment as I am sure people would dearest to hear!