While it might seem quite far away when you’re just starting out, you will eventually finish stitching a piece you’ve been working on, and it’s only right that the completed work be displayed in a way that is worthy of all the time and effort you have put into creating it.  Lots of cross stitch and embroidery work can be displayed in a frame, much like you would use for a photograph or poster but, if you used a hoop whilst stitching it, you could also use it to display the piece when your stitching is done.  In this guide, we’ll show you how to properly set up your hoop for needlework and then how to finish it in the hoop for display.  Let’s get started!

Download a pdf of this guide for offline reading.

Preparing your hoop for stitching

If you’re an experienced stitcher, you will be familiar with this process, but for the newer crafter, let’s quickly go through the steps for setting up your hoop ready for stitching.

• Remove your outer hoop by loosening the screw fitting and carefully lifting it off.

• Lay your fabric over the inner hoop, keeping the section of fabric on which you wish to work in the centre of the circle.

• Place the outer hoop back over the inner hoop, sandwiching the fabric between the two. If you need to do a little wiggling to get the hoop to slide over be careful not to be too rough as you may damage your fabric.

• Tighten the screw fitting to hold everything firmly in place.

• Gently pull your fabric around the edges to ensure that the section in the hoop is taut. Try not to pull too hard on a single section as you can skew the fabric which will lead to crooked needlework. You should be able to see the warp and weft of the fabric, and you can use these lines to make sure everything is as straight as possible.

• Keep adjusting your fabric as you work – pushing a needle against your fabric will loosen it within the hoop over time and it is important to ensure it is taut enough to keep your stitches looking tidy and regular.

Finishing your hoop – the stitching method

To finish a hoop for display by covering the back, there are two main ways – you can either stitch a covering onto the back of your project to conceal the wrong-side of the stitching, or you can glue it. Both methods work perfectly well to complete a project in this way, so simply read on to choose which you prefer!  Stitching a covering onto the back will require thread (you could use some left over from your needlework if you have any); a sharp sewing needle; scissors; a pen, pencil or fabric marker; a piece of felt; and a little time and patience!

• Take your hoop apart and place the inner hoop on your felt.  Using this as a template, draw around the inside of the hoop using a fabric marker, a pencil or a pen.

• Cut out your circle of felt. Don’t worry if your pen/pencil marks are visible as you can always place this side facing inwards when you stitch it on.  Alternatively, if you are using an air-erasable fabric marker, they will soon disappear on their own.

• Reassemble your hoop, ensuring that your needlework design is centred exactly where you want it in the frame and that the screw fitting is placed at the top for hanging.  Be mindful that once you start stitching you will not be able to adjust the fabric in the frame, so be sure you are happy now with how your work is positioned. 

• Trim away the excess fabric around the hoop, so that it is in a circular shape matching the hoop, but 3 to 5 cms (1.5 to 2 inches) bigger.

• Take a piece of thread (strong thread, or several strands of embroidery floss, will work best) and ensure you have enough by looping it around the outside of the hoop at least once. Tie a knot in the end, or simply leave a palm’s width of thread to use later.

• Using a running stitch, sew all the way around the circle of fabric, approximately halfway between the edge of the fabric and the hoop.

• Once you have worked your way around, pull on one or both ends of the thread to gather the fabric and pull it in towards the centre.  If you now tie the ends together the fabric will remain gathered and taut. Don’t worry if this doesn’t look as neat as you would like – you’re about to cover it up!

Now you’ve attached your fabric to the hoop, you’ve essentially framed your piece. Some people like to leave the piece like this, but if you want your hoop to lie flat against a wall when hung, it’s best to attach a backing.

• Place your circle of felt over the gathered fabric, ensuring that the edge of the felt fits inside the wood of the hoop.  If it is too big, just a small, careful trim should fix it.

• Measure another length of thread as before and tie a knot in the end, leaving a relatively long tail for sewing in later.  There is no need for this thread to be as strong as the gathering thread you used above, so one strand of embroidery floss will work fine here.

You can sew around the edge of the felt in any way you like, and you might have a specific stitch in mind that you think would work decoratively, such as blanket stitch.  However, if you’re just looking to securely attach the felt, we would recommend using whip stitch.

• Insert your needle pointing downwards into the fabric at the top of the hoop, so that the knot is placed near to the screw fitting.

• Bring up your needle at the edge of the felt, but not too near to the edge in case it pulls away and splits.  The size of your stitch is a personal choice, just bear in mind that smaller usually looks neater, and that larger gaps between stitches could cause your felt to pucker and bunch up, preventing your hoop from lying flat against the wall once hung.

• Insert the needle back into the fabric close to where the knot is, slanting the needle diagonally to the left.

• Push the needle through the fabric and back out of the felt where you would like your next stitch to be. This movement ensures that the diagonal slant is on the inside of the fabric/felt, and the straight stitch sits on top.

• Sew in this way all around the edge until you arrive back at the knot .

• On your last stitch, instead of inserting the needle diagonally, push the needle in horizontally, so your last stitch creates a straight line, with your needle coming out next to your first knot, with its long thread tail.

• Tie together the two thread ends and tighten, fixing the stitches in place.

• Sew the ends of the thread under the fabric, pulling them a little as you do it, so that when you snip them off and release your grip, the ends spring back under the fabric.

You have created a beautifully finished hoop that will hang gracefully on your wall, either in pride of place or as part of your very own crafting gallery.  You could attach a co-ordinating ribbon to the screw fitting for hanging, if you like, for a little extra decoration, or even decorate the outer edge of the hoop with a fun trim.

Just a few final tips:

• Try to make sure you cut out your felt before gathering the fabric – it’s easier to make it the correct size if you trace the inner hoop, and you can’t do this once the hoop is sewn in.

• Make sure your felt circle fits inside the hoop – if the felt is too big, it will sag and crumple, making it more difficult to sew in place.

• As you sew it in place, ease the edge of the felt circle outwards, to make it fit smoothly, but not too hard in case it rips.

Finishing your hoop – the gluing method

You can avoid all stitching steps above by simply gluing down the edges of your fabric and adding a wooden/card/ felt backing directly onto the back of your fabric or hoop – some kits even include a backing circle for this purpose.  Be careful when choosing your backing piece, as anything directly touching the fabric might be visible from the front. You’ll need scissors, your chosen backing material and a glue gun (or some other kind of strong glue).

• Take apart your hoop and place either the inner or outer hoop on your backing material.  This can be wood, felt or cardboard, depending on which part of the hoop you will be attaching this to. If you want to attach the backing directly to the fabric, draw around the inside of the inner hoop on either felt or cardboard – a plain piece of fabric would also work. If you want to attach your backing to the hoop itself, draw around the inside of the outer hoop on wood or sturdy card. If you are using a kit that includes a backing circle, skip this step!

• Reassemble your hoop, ensuring that your needlework design is centred exactly where you want it in the frame and that the screw fitting is at the top for hanging.  Take time to get this right as, once you’ve glued down the fabric edges, you won’t be able to adjust it, so be sure you are happy at this stage with how your work is framed.

• Cut off excess fabric in a circular shape, leaving your fabric circle approximately 2.5 cms (1 inch) larger than the hoop.

• Glue carefully around the inside of the hoop, a little at a time, folding over your fabric and pressing it onto the hoop.  Leave this to dry before you add your backing circle.

• Add glue around the edge of your backing circle (double check it’s the right size first – it will be much easier to adjust it before you put glue on it) and press it firmly onto your hoop.  If you are gluing the backing circle directly onto the back of the fabric, be careful about using too much glue or getting glue in the wrong place, just in case it seeps through and is visible on the front.

Leave everything to dry and then display!

This method is quicker and simpler than the stitching one above, and you may prefer it because of that.  It’s important to be aware, though, that the finished hoop may be more brittle and therefore fragile, so be careful when hanging and moving it.  Some crafters are uneasy about adding glue to a stitched project so, if that’s you, stay with the stitching method above.

Just a few final tips:

• When you trim your fabric around the hoop, before gluing, try to stick to the approximate size given of 2.5 cms or 1 inch.  If there is too much excess fabric, it may flop back inside the hoop and show from the front when finished; and if there is too little, it might be difficult to hold enough tension on it to ensure it sticks firmly.

• Avoid using patterned fabric as your backing because the design may show through from the front, particularly if your stitching is on a light-coloured fabric.

• Make sure you use the appropriate glue for your choice of backing circle – PVA glue may not be strong enough to hold in place a heavier wood piece.

• If you wanted to, you could decorate the outer hoop before you begin, by wrapping it in ribbon or washi tape, or painting it to co-ordinate with your stitched piece.

So, by using a simple wooden embroidery hoop and one of these ways of finishing it, you can ensure your carefully crafted needlework is beautifully displayed!  

If you find any of these instructions unclear or just need a little extra help, don’t hesitate to email us at sales@woolwarehouse.co.uk or give us a call on 01926 88 28 18.