Embroidery Tutorial: How to Prepare Your Hoop Step-By-Step

Learn step-by-step how to prepare an embroidery hoop, with Courtney McLeod

Embroidery is a great form of self expression that has only continued to get more popular. But before you can start creating beautiful embroidered pieces, you need to make sure you have a well-secured embroidery hoop with an even surface that won’t tear or pull whilst you’re embroidering.

Courtney McLeod (@dearest_q) is an embroidery and textile artist specializing in hand-embroidered hoop art. From her Philadelphian studio, Dearest Q, she stitches colourful yet minimalistic figurative pieces. Her love of fashion and combining different fibres and techniques leads to finished works that are full of surprising textures based within a pastel color palette.

In this tutorial, Courtney McLeod shows you step-by-step how to prepare your hoop so that you can start embroidering.

Materials

- A plastic hoop with lip on the inner ring
- Quilting cotton, or whatever fabric you prefer
- A pair of scissors

4 Simple Steps to Preparing Your Embroidery Hoop

1. Prepare your fabric

Unfold your fabric and find a corner. Place your hoop over the fabric, making sure to keep 1.5 - 2 inches of overhang, and then cut a square around the hoop. It doesn’t have to be perfect as you will be cutting the fabric into a circle later.

2. Frame your fabric

On your work surface, place the inner part of the hoop with the lip facing up. Lay your fabric over it and fit the outer ring on top. You will need to adjust the screw of the outer ring so that it fits over the top.

3. Tighten the fabric

Now that you have the fabric in your hoop, tighten the screw so that the fabric is held in place but can still be adjusted. Flip the hoop over and pull the fabric from the back, applying a light amount of tension as you work your way around the hoop.

This will ensure that your fabric is taut. Be careful not to pull the material too tightly, as this could stretch the fabric and affect the weave. Once your fabric is taut, tighten the screw of the hoop all the way, so that your fabric is impossible to move.

4. Check your work

Tap the fabric with your finger: if it has the correct amount of tension, it should bounce straight back. You can also check that the weave is straight by holding your hoop to a light source.

Like this tutorial? You can learn more about how to create multi-textured hoop art in Courtney’s course Figurative Fashion Embroidery with Needle Felting.

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- 20 Embroidery Books You Need in Your Reference Library
- 10 Online Creative Embroidery Courses for Beginners
- What Is Embroidery and What Are the Main Types of Embroidery?
- 10 Hand Embroidery Online Courses to Spark Your Creativity With Needle and Thread