Jacket Back Hoops

[Debbie1]

Do most of you use the wooden hoops for jacket backs that originally were supplied by Melco? Although mine have been stored married, you might say, very carefully I am having great difficulty using them. If I wrap some or any part of the hoops with med tape they just won't accommodate sweatshirts material and the necessary stabilizers. I can see space around them, between the two pieces. That I why I think they are warped. I am sure I have the right pieces together and are the right side up. I carefully marked them when they were new but that was nine years ago and I never needed them until now. Profit is no longer a consideration on this job I just want to be done with it. Please share your ideas on hooping these things and what kind of hoop I should be looking for. The material is heavy weight sweatshirt and it is a full jacket back. Thank you in advance everyone!

[Wishes]

Dear Debbie,
We are still using the original wooded hoops. We wrap them all the way around and us two pieces of tearaway. Depending on how thick the sweatshirt is it might be a struggle to get them in place but we push one side down and then wiggle in the other side. The corners will be tighter than the sides. You might try wrapping the sides and not the corners.

[Mama Kass]

What kind of medical tape are you using? You want the spongy athletic tape not the fabric tape used for adhering bandages. Wrap the tape thickly around the straight edges, thinly around the curves. This should take care of gaps.

I very often use my jacket back hoop with velvet, which is difficult to hoop successfully. Instead I hoop only my backing, then pin my piece to be embroidered onto the backing, being careful that the pins are not in the path of a basting stitch that I have digitized to embroider around the design and hold the fabric in place. If I am concerned about the velvet shifting I use 505 spray adhesive very lightly. If you are concerned about adhesive left on the back of the garment, you can make a masking template of the design that you place over the backing before spraying (like a stencil).

[Rod or Sharon]

Debbie, you will know if you have the correct two wooden hoop parts together. Melco numbered them and the numbers will align when the correct hoop parts are together. We use our wooden hoops on very heavy Carhart jackets without issues. If you have gaps, it will be along the long side of the hoops and not in the corners so wrap one hoop with athletic tape...the kind that stretches and sticks to itself. Mama Kass was right as well. You may need to unscrew the hoops out about as wide as you can to get the garment hooped but it should work fine.
Sharon