Ann The Gran Community

I'm new,, and usually don't like change, but I would like to understand this concept. Care to share, and how well does the sray adhesive work. I hoop, or use some kind of sticky peel off stuff. Thanks in advance. Is there a sewing group near Columbus, MS

Hoopless Embroidery is to use either an adhesive or sticky stabilizer or adhesive spray to hold the item stable enough for sewing. Instead of layering it and fitting it together in the hoop and secureing the hoop together, what I do is put my hoop together first, screw it tight to make sure it is secure, flip the hoop over, lay the adhesive stabilizer on it, trim the extra off, then flip over to right side. Now instead of hooping it altogther, you just lay your item on the sticky stabilizer,adjust as necessary, then gently using your hands to secure the item on the stabilizer. Set your hoop and all, secure, line up your design as necessary and beging sewing. Depending on what I am sewing ,I would likely add a top layer, such as Ann The Gran Water Soluble Stabilzer. I do towels this way also, the only thing to remember with a heavy towel is to be very careful, sometimes the weight of it can cause a few issues, so I generally stay close to the machine just to be safe. I don't try to remove the stabilizer by hand either, I soak it so it will come off, sometimes pulling on it, on a heavy towel, you can pull the loops out, so be careful with this also. The hoopless method is a wonderful idea for items that you wouldn't hoop or shouldn't hoop at all. Such as Velvets, or anything that could possibly leave a hoop burn. Once you try it out, you will love how it works! Try it on some test sews just to practice the technique. Does this make any sense to you at all? Sometimes I don't explain things well, I like to show folks how, rather then try to explain them,LOL Good Luck with this method , like I said , get over the fear and try it on a test sew! You will love it. Judy

I understand most of the hoopless concept. The question I have is: you have to attach the hoop to set up where the embroidery starts with the carriage on the machine.? How do you do this ?

You can also save stabilizer after one project is done carefully tear the embroidery off, cut a patch a little bigger than the hole that is left letting the patch edges stick to the original stabilizer and sew another with out having to cut a big piece of stabilizer for the next project. you can just keep patching the hole by having the edges of the patch stick to the back stabilizer. I can usually get at least three med. embroidery done this way.

Thanks for all the great ideas. I'm new at this and it is so fun. I learn something new every day.

This is probably a dumb question, but I cannot understand how you make sure that your design will be properly centered on your item since you cannot see the centering points on your hoop after laying the garment on top. What is the trick????? Thanks!!

On my Brother Innovis 1000, there is a choice to can change the size of the design, in that same section there is a choice for the needle to move to the outer edge of the design so you can make sure it fits or aligns in the right area... it does this by moving your needle to the far four corners. It will also show you the center.. it is all in the adjustment section of my machine... hope this helps.

Hi folks, I would love to add more to this method as well. When I do this type of embroidering, I actually put the stabilizer in the hoop and then score around the inner part of the hoop to tear away the protective covering. Next I lay the object to be embroidered down and press to hold. The nest step uses one of my most favorite features on a Brother embroidery machine....the frame patterns. Simple select a shape that is most like the embroidery image and select the straight stitch. Embroider this image and now you have basted the fabric to the stabilizer. You don't have to worry about the items coming apart. Embroider the image and remove the basting. I really think you will like this helpful hint! June Mellinger Brother International

granny diane - I use label dots for centering. Just mark a cross-hair on the dot and then place it on the item where you want center to be. When you hoop, you can usually feel the raised indicators (N-E-S-W) on the hoop. You can also use the template that comes with the hoop. Embroidery machines have a "jog" feature for determining where center, top, bottom and sides of the design area will be. Do a few test/samples to help you get a feel for this.

I don't ever hoop, I use basting method on everything. When I was new to emboriding I would hoop and it messed up my hoop. I had to purchase a new one, those things are expensive. I watched a video once and never went back to hooping. I have a Bernina 630 and the website has basting designs for each size hoop that I use. It may take a little longer to finish the project because you have to take out the basting but it is well worth the time. Sites like this one will teach you more than you will ever realize.

These are all excellent pieces of information. What works for one may not work for you so you have multiple ideas for your project. This is what I LOVE about AnnTheGran. This information is all together in one place and multiple people have input their favorite methods. I appreciate all of you who have taken your time to speak to all the embroidery community. Pat, The Avid Embroiderer