Everybody Stretch!
Quilting Hoops and Frames

Since I mostly machine quilt, I had no idea there were so many different kinds of quilting hoops and frames available to the home quilter. Before I joined the sisterhood of quilt makers, I was only vaguely familiar with such hoops and since I limit myself to small quilts, didn’t ever feel the need to have one. That changed, however, in 2006. (Not the size of my quilts, my desire to have a hoop!)

So, back to the subject.

Quilting hoops and their cousins, quilting frames, have been around for centuries and their purpose then, and now, is to provide a way to tighten the surface of the quilt layers for hand stitching.

On frames, the quilt ends are rolled/wound onto the frame structure. As the quilter advances through the project, the quilt is rolled to move the stitched areas down (or up) giving access to the unstitched areas. These types of frames provide a wide area of the quilt to work with and some are designed so that that the quilt layers do not have to be basted before being put on the frame. Frames come in several different sizes to accomodate larges quilts and even lap models for small projects.

With hoops, the quilt is placed over one hoop while a second slightly larger hoop is placed on top and tightened. The second hoop stretches the quilt and provides the tight surface needed for hand stitching. Hoops come in a huge variety of sizes and can be round or square. There are hand hoops, lap hoops, and hoops that come on stands which make them extremely comfortable to work with since you can sit and pull the stand close to you. With stands, the arm feature that is attached to the hoop is usually adjustable to move up and down which gives you a whole lot of height options. You can see a few examples of popular quilting hoops here.

For both, most are made of wood and can be quite costly. Some hoops are now being made of plastic polymers which make them less expensive. If space is a consideration, you will most likely need to use a lap model or hand hoop.

Creative Things to Do With Quilting Hoops!

Want to see creative uses for a hoop? Hopefully this will make you smile!