I never hoop anything! I hoop my stabilizer and depending on what stabilizer I use, I either use a spray adhesive to stick my item to it or if it's one that is water activated, I wet it and stick my item down. I use my software to add a baste stitch around the design and then send it and the design to my machine. The baste design will stitch first and hold the item to the stabilizer and then the design will stitch. It's really easy to then remove the basting stitches. And Nygal is correct, you never want to stretch the item tight because it will distort the design when you remove it from the hoop. And if you are stitching on knits, it's better to wash them first because a lot of times they shrink just a bit and the design won't shrink.