Has anyone used a cap hoop? Am wondering if it easy to use and worth the money. I'm wanting to do a few hats for my husbands reunion. Can anyone help me?

Joycross, I'm glad that you were successful. Here is an archived link that I posted years ago.
http://web.archive.org/web/200106...

1 comment

by dennis999 21 Jun 2016

Thank you for adding your link powagrl, I am sure that Joycross and many others here will find this very interesting and useful.

I want to thank everyone for all the ideas. I tried doing one without a hat hoop with sticky stabilizer. It came out good but wouldn't want to do a lot that way.

2 comments

by mops 21 Jun 2016

Thank you so much for letting us know. Too often there's no acknowledgement, so we don't know if the answers were ever read, let alone if a problem was solved.

by dennis999 21 Jun 2016

May I add my thanks to those of Mrs. Mops (and I know all the ladies who gave of their opinions and experiences) for your reply which is much appreciated. I appreciate that going down the road of having someone embroider the hats for you is not a cheap option but compared to the coast of buying the extra equipment and then the inevitable trial and error, it may be the most economically viable. As has been said, a lot of success has been achieved by the ladies here using different methods but the common denominator has always been "practice makes perfect." Many of the commercially manufactured hats that you see are actually embroidered on the flat in panels, before the hats are assembled. I wish you good fortune whichever route you decide to take.

I was told it takes a good bit of trial and error, so you might be watching for cheap caps at Goodwill or the Dollar Store - don't worry about color, etc. Just "practice" hats. Also, the high profile old-man style gimme caps are what fits the professional hat hoops, not the newer low profile hats. And not kids' caps.

my husband bought me a cap hoop for my 350e but I have used it

I did embroider some caps without a cap hoop. It does work. I added a you tube link where you can see how to do it. Hugs, Gerry

1 comment

by gerryvb 17 Jun 2016

I just noticed the link did not work. But if you type:
how to embroider a cap , there are several youtube video's that show you the way

I was fortunate to have got my cap hoop and various other accessories when I purchased my Brother PR1000. I know that they are expensive to buy separately, which for a non repeating project would be difficult to justify the cost outlay. However, I have often seen them selling for reasonable money on the likes of EBay which might suggest that they are not the easiest things to get on with. Unlike standard in the hoop embroidery you do need to follow the instructions for fitting the cap very very carefully and also bear in mind the not all caps fit all cap hoops. I will confess that on my first attempt, I went at it like a bull in a china shop with the end result that several caps had to be thrown away. That taught me a serious lesson and subsequent runs have been very successful. If you do decide to buy your own cap hoop, I can only advise to take your time and follow the instructions implicitly. Given the stated limitation of you requirements, you may be better off having these few caps made by a local company. Sorry that I could not be more positive,

I don't have a hoop, but I have done a cap before, thank goodness it was a very soft cap and I was able to pin it down to my stabilizer in my 4x4 hoop.... I tell you, it wasn't easy and I hadn't seen the home made one's before I did this. So I'd take Mops advice and make the home made one first and see if it works for you. Good luck. Mechille :)

Bought cap hoops can be expensive, but if you want a cheap alternative, have a look at jrob's home made one - see link.

I have a cap hoop that can do 360 degree stitching.......I have a 16 needle Melco and I can tell you with this set up I had to end up hiring a tutor to come to my house and teach me the ins and outs of hats....the better you understand the machine and hat hoop, the better your results... also the designs you use should be digitized for hats as the stitching sequence is different than on flat stitching.......

2 comments

by Sewmum1 14 Jun 2016

I did not know the stitching sequence was different, makes sense though

by basketkase 14 Jun 2016

Yes, the design should stitch from the center and side to side to help with the push pull on the fabric and curved area of the hat.........

I cant answer your question but thanks for reposting here. I hope that you get the answers you require. I have a couple of Brother machines and know that the cap hoop is expensive which has put me off buying it. Please let us know what you eventually decide