Thread: Embroidery Hoops

How many embroidery hoops do you have and what sizes are they? I am fairly new to using the embroidery unit of my machine and was wondering what size of hoops people found that they used the most. I am surprised at how expensive they are.

I use my 8x8 and my 6x6 the most. I think I used my 4x4 twice in the 5 years I've had my machine.

I enjoy making embroidered quilts and no longer use the 4x4 hoop, mostly the 5x7 and larger. I have a Brother 3000 with a sewing area of 7x11", and bought the 14"square hoop set-up from Hoop-it-all so I could embroider large blocks. It's really good as it can be turned to use all 4 sides, where most brands can only be used on 2 sides. Also, it doesn't have to be 'fixed' to the machine in the middle of the sides, (slides back and forwards) enabling sewing almost to the frame edge.
Recently bought a pre-loved Pfaff CV, and also got the larger square 'Grand' hoop for it. The large hoops are great for doing cushions and those big blocks, without having to re-hoop.
If you're looking at buying an embroidery machine, it will come with the necessary hoops, except for some specially purposed ones. So decide what you want to do with it beforehand, as many have been trading in the cheaper small machines for larger hooped ones.

Gay,
Is the Hoop it Up system good for quilting? My Janome has the capability, but the hooping set up leaves a lot to be desired. It came with magnetic clips to hold the quilt in place. But the clips don't hold. They are forever popping off once the quilt is in place. Usually while the design is running. That can be a huge problem if you're not watching. Plus it takes a lot of muscles just to get the clips on. So rehooping the number of times it can take to do even a lap quilt can be exhausting. Especially since it takes longer to rehoop that for the design to run.
I recently purchased and Edge to Edge machine embroidery software for quilting a quilt. It stitches out an approximately 6x10 inch design. So even on a small quilt, that's a lot of rehoops.
Any suggestions? YOu sound like you've been doing this awhile.
SVAL

I have 3 machines and use all of the hoops. I even bought the small(2x2) hoop separately for my first machine because I do a lot of little designs on my GDs tops and dresses. The kidlets love watching the magic machines make something for them.

Cari

i really enjoy my embroidery machine and have over time purchased all of the hoops for it. i am always glad to have the right sized hoop and have used all of them. the 5 inch, 8 inch and 14 inch square as well as the endless hoops are the ones that i use the most. the 2 inch one is what i have used the least, obviously i need some grand babies :-) . it really depends on what sort of things you will be embroidering on.
what do you think you will be stitching on the most?

Thank you so much for all of your tips. Very helpful.