Hooping up for machine embroidery

Precise hooping techniques could well be the key aspect for producing a quality embroidery designs project. When I purchased my first embroidery machine I’d not a clue how to hoop the right way. In those days there was not too much information online on the net. I’m one of those people who is not keen to read a handbook unless I encounter complications, Nevertheless I’ve just read through the guide for my original embroidery machine and the instructions for hooping are hazy to be honest.

Appropriate hooping can seem quite challenging firstly, however with practice you will turn into extremely swift at getting the item in the hoop and creating superb embroidery.

First of all make an effort to assess how snug your hoop must be to fit your project; you will get far better at this with more experience. Now cut some stabelizer larger than the embroidery hoop, lay this over the lower hoop, now put the item you wish to embroidery on the stabelizer. In some cases you might need a few layers of stabelizer. Make sure that the fabric is nice and straight and even but don’t stretch it. Place top of the hoop over the top and push it into place. this could require a little force. Don’t pull the fabric once it is in the hoop this will distort the fabric and affect the placement of your design, it’s also preferable to not tighten the screws once the project is in the hoop as this can pinch the fabric. If it is not properly adjusted remove the project and begin again.

After the project is hooped appropriately you should be able to run your finger on the fabric without it shifting or rippling, however if you have hooped it to tight it could “burn” the fabric, this can not be repaired. When you have not hooped correctly it can cause poor registration while stitching. You may end up with your design in one place and the outline elsewhere completely. A quality digitizer will make sure that the stitching order is appropriate so that outlines finish up where they should be however , if bad hooping will cause a good embroidery designs to look a mess.

When embroidering onto a garment that requires the hoop and stabelizer to be placed within the garment, like a tee-shirt or leg of jeans, an effective tip is to use some masking tape to secure the stabelizer on the bottom of the hoop. This can just pop off whenever you push the upper hoop into place but it will save you precious time having to chase the stabelizer around inside the garment.