Ever have trouble aligning your embroidery hoop?  Between stabilizers, fabrics, and more stabilizers sometimes it is difficult to hoop the layers and tighten down the hoop.  Add to that, the outer hoop will shift around and move on you, making it even more difficult to align everything perfectly. And we do want the embroidery project to be 100% PERFECT!

Tip for holding embroidery hoop

You might ask some helpful soul to give you a hand, but we have a different solution. Go out to the kitchen and grab a silicone baking sheet. These sheets are used to layer a cookie sheet and allow a baker to make great cookies. Instead of parchment paper, the silicone sheet can be washed and used over and over

But that silicone baking sheet also offers just the right amount of stickiness to grab that embroidery hoop.

Use of a silicone sheet

Place the silicone sheet on your table or counter and smooth it out.  Place the outer embroidery hoop on the sheet. Don’t worry if the sheet is not large enough to contain the full dimensions of the hoop. Just place as much of the hoop as you can onto the silicone sheet. 

Then add on your layers of fabric and stabilizers. Align the layers to be straight and then place the inner hoop in place and tighten the frame.  If you are using a magnetic hoop, just start attaching the magnets or the magnetic top frame.

As you tighten the hoop, adjust the fabric to avoid any puckers or gaps. The silicone sheet will hold the bottom hoop in place.

Now just lift the entire embroidery frame and proceed to your sewing machine and get to embroidering!  Easy, peasy right?

The silicone sheet can be used over and over. If you want, you could even buy the largest sheet you can find and reserve it strictly for your embroidery projects.

Do you have an embroidery hint to share?  Post it here.