Comparison
What size embroidery hoop should you use for your first project?
For a first pet portrait, use a 6-inch hoop. It fits a dog's head and shoulders at a size you can stitch with 2 strands of floss, leaves room around the design, and is still easy to hold in one hand. Smaller hoops suit simple ornaments; 8 inches and up are harder to hold and keep tight.
Hoop sizes compared
Common hoop sizes for hand embroidery, and how each suits a dog portrait
| Hoop | Good for | For a dog portrait |
|---|---|---|
| 3 inch | Ornaments, a name, a tiny motif | A simple face only: the outline, eyes and nose, with few or no fur lines |
| 4 inch | Small motifs and practice pieces | Tight: the face gets small and the fur lines crowd together |
| 5 inch | Small portraits and lettering | Works for a head-only design with less fur |
| 6 inch | Most first projects | Our pick: room for the head, ears and chest, with space around them |
| 8 inch and up | Bigger designs, borders, a name under the portrait | Possible, but harder to hold, keep tight and finish, and you need a bigger piece of fabric |
Hoops are sold by their width in inches. Wooden hoops with a brass screw at the top hold fabric firmly and look finished on a wall, so you can display your portrait in the same hoop you stitched it in.
Why 6 inches for a pet portrait
Our patterns are sized for a 6-inch hoop. The design is about 4.7 inches tall, with a dot roughly every 1/8 inch, so every stitch sits well inside the ring. At that size, 2 strands of black floss draw a fine line, like a pen sketch. Squeeze the same dog into a 4-inch hoop and the fur lines start to touch.
Does the hoop need to be bigger than the design? Yes. The whole design should sit inside the ring with space to spare. Stitching right up against the wood is awkward, and a ring pressed over finished stitches can flatten them. For a 6-inch hoop, a 10-inch square of fabric gives you plenty to grip and enough to finish the back.
How to put fabric in a hoop, drum-tight
- Open the hoop. Loosen the screw until the outer ring lifts off easily, and set the inner ring on the table.
- Lay the fabric over the inner ring. Center your design over the ring, with the fabric's straight grain running up and down. The lengthwise grain is the direction that barely gives when you tug it.
- Press the outer ring down. Push it over the fabric and the inner ring, screw at the top. Ease the fabric gently all around so the weave stays straight. Don't tug on a printed sheet.
- Tighten in rounds. Pull the edges a little all the way around, give the screw a small turn, and repeat. Tap the fabric: it should sound like a small drum, with no ripples.
- Move the screw out of your way. While you stitch, turn the hoop so the screw sits at about 10 or 11 o'clock if you're right-handed, or 1 or 2 if you're left-handed, so your thread doesn't catch on it. For display, it goes back to the top.
- The fabric keeps slipping or going slack.
- Bind the inner ring with cotton twill tape so the fabric has something to grip, and re-tighten in small rounds as you work.
- The weave looks wavy or stretched.
- Take it out and hoop it again, easing the fabric evenly instead of pulling one side, with the grain running straight.
- A ring mark where the hoop sat.
- Unhoop when you stop for the day, and wash your hands before you handle the fabric. A hoop left on for days, and hand oil, both leave marks.
Questions people ask
What size hoop should a beginner use?
A 6-inch hoop. It's big enough for a real design and small enough to hold comfortably in one hand while you stitch with the other.
What size hoop for a pet portrait?
6 inches for a head-and-shoulders portrait. Our patterns are sized for it, at about 4.7 inches tall. A 3-inch hoop works for a simple face, like an ornament.
Does the hoop need to be bigger than the design?
Yes. The whole design should sit inside the ring with space to spare, so you never stitch right against the wood and the ring never presses on finished stitches.
What size embroidery hoops are there?
Hoops come in many sizes, from tiny ones for ornaments up to 10 inches and more for big pieces. For hand embroidery, 4, 5, 6 and 8 inches are the most common.
How tight should fabric be in an embroidery hoop?
Drum-tight. Tap it and it should sound like a small drum, with no ripples. Tighten in small rounds, and re-tighten as you work, because fabric relaxes in the hoop.
Should the screw be at the top?
For display, yes, since you hang the hoop by it. While you stitch, turn it to about 10 or 11 o'clock, or 1 or 2 if you're left-handed, so your thread doesn't catch on it.
Sources: Needle 'n Thread: How to set up an embroidery hoop · Needle 'n Thread: Hoop tips, getting the most out of your hoop · Jessica Long Embroidery: How to bind an embroidery hoop · DMC: How to use an embroidery hoop