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Hooping 101: How to Hoop Towels

Towels are one of the most popular things to embroider on. They're easy to find, come in a variety of colors, and are a fun way to dress up a kitchen and bath.

A few years ago, Deb and I made a video about embroidering on towels called "Towel Talk". We've received excellent feedback from embroiderers about that video, as well as requests and suggestions for more details on how to hoop the really thick towels.

Hooping a thin kitchen towel, like the one on the left, is pretty easy. But sometimes the really thick bath towels can be a bit of a challenge to hoop. In this article I'll give in-depth details about hooping, and show you what works, and what doesn't.

Embroidering towels is a terrific way to change up home decor, and they make wonderful gifts.

All the materials that you see came from Target (we're Minnesotans, so we shop at Target). I found a wide variety of bath and kitchen towels in varying weights, from thin to thick.

In the photo to the left you'll see a roll of rubberized shelf liner. You'll find this "hooping helper" in the kitchen/ housewares section. When hooping something that's thick, bulky, or stubborn, having a non-slip surface is an enormous help.

Towels come in a wonderful variety
of styles and materials!

I'll begin with a hand towel; it's of medium thickness, not a huge loft. I spread the rubberized shelf liner on the table to get my non-slip surface. Then, I opened up the bottom part of the hoop as far as possible.

Using a rubberized shelf liner while hooping
thicker towels can really help.

I placed cutaway stabilizer and the towel on the bottom hoop. Then, I laid the topping (water-soluble stabilizer) on top.

Then, I did the Hooping Hokey-Pokey. I put my left arm across the whole thing and wiggled and jiggled the top hoop into place. At the same time I made sure that the towel was evenly stretched in the hoop, and the whole thing was straight so my design would stitch straight too. Then, when I had everything snug as a bug, I tightened the screw on the outer hoop.

Hooping a "towel sandwich" of stabilizer, towel,
and topping is worth the effort.

I embroidered the Christmas Poinsettias Spray design, and it worked perfectly.

Now you've seen what works. And next, I'll show you what sort-of works.

Hooping the towel and topping with the stabilizer gives dependably good results.

Sometimes it isn't possible to hoop a towel. The towel might be too thick, the hoop is too thin. Maybe you've had a towel hooped, but midway through stitching the whole thing popped apart. Yeah, me too. It's happened to most, if not all, of us.

The alternative is to "float" the towel on top of a piece of hooped stabilizer. Now, I have to say that I don't like this idea, and went into it kicking and screaming. Embroidery hoops have been used for 4000 years, and for good reason. The hoop keeps the fabric taut so that the stitches land evenly (conversely, if something isn't hooped, you'll see gapping and shifting). The hoop prevents the fabric from puckering. The hoop contributes to a high-quality and professional look. I'm not likely to discard the hoop without a very, very good reason.

But I gave it a try. And I found that the results from embroidering an unhooped towel were not the best, but they were "ok."

Here's how I did it: I hooped a piece of cutaway stabilizer and then sprayed the stabilizer with adhesive. I pressed the towel on top. Then I basted a stitch around the perimeter of the hoop, and pinned it all together for good measure.

There are a couple of problem areas, as you can see. In the circled area, the top stitches aren't covering up the understitching. This is because the top of the towel is wiggling back and forth, as it's not held in place by the hoop.

Hooping the towel and topping with the stabilizer gives dependably good results.

When the fabric is only secured at the bottom, then the top of the fabric is wiggling around as the hoop is moving back and forth. And that's when you see things fall out of alignment.

Hooping a towel will bring the best results. And, sometimes using the floating method will give "ok" results. If you're using the floating method, and are seeing some problems, like puckering or shifting and gapping, then try hooping the towel. If that isn't possible, then read on for some creative alternatives:

If you don't want to do the Hooping Hokey-Pokey and wrestle towels into the hoop, but you're not satisfied with the results you're getting from leaving the towel unhooped, then try these creative alternatives:

The image to the left is of the Cozy Bath Coordinates project. You can embroider on a thinner fabric, then sew that embroidered piece to the towels.

Another suggestion is to use the idea in the Embroidered Candle project. In that project I demonstrate how to embroider a design onto organza and water-soluble stabilizer, then remove the excess to have a freestanding piece. Use that theory, and then attach the freestanding piece onto a towel with a simple sewing stitch.

The main focus of this article is about hooping, but I'd like to add a quick note about stabilizer: I always recommend cutaway stabilizer for terrycloth towels. Always. Every so often I'll hear from someone that wants to use tear-away stabilizer for a neater-looking back.

I understand the desire to have the back side of something look almost-as-good as the front side. However, cutaway stabilizer will bring the best results, both long-term and short-term.

Consider the main benefit of tear-away stabilizer: it's meant to be easily torn away after the embroidery. But, because it's designed to do that, it tears away during the embroidery too. All of those hundreds and thousands of needle perforations weaken the tear-away stabilizer during the embroidery. That means that you're more prone to having thread tension problems, more prone to see puckering, and more prone to see shifting and gapping, too.

Then, after embroidering, the towel is going to be used and laundered. Laundering breaks down the tear-away stabilizer even further, and soon enough the towel is going to come out of the drier wrinkled. I don't mind pressing towels for my own use, but I don't wish to give a gift to someone that involves ironing. For those reasons, I use cutaway stabilizer, and recommend it for giving the best results.

But, I decided to stitch a towel with tear-away stabilizer on the back side to see what happened. I used the Bird in Berry-Bright Spring design and a flour sack towel, just as in the above example. I hooped the towel with a piece of tear-away stabilizer.

And I've never had this happen before, but the whole kit-and-kaboodle got sucked down into the throat plate. What a mess!

Avoid mishaps: Use cutaway stabilizer, rather
than tear-away or water-soluble, on the backs
of towels.

Most towels can be hooped; but, I've been known to wrestle with the really thick ones. If you're struggling with hooping a thick towel, perhaps there's a thinner version available in a local store. Or, you can use one of the creative alternatives above (Cozy Bath Coordinates, or Embroidered Candle theory) to add embroidery to a towel without struggling with the hoop.

Questions or comments about this article? Send an email to stitch@emblibrary.com!

Kenny is a master digitizer and Vice President of Production at Embroidery Library, Inc.

Ask Kenny! Send email to stitch@emblibrary.com.