Probably the biggest hooping complaint I hear is when it comes to Onesies. Trying to keep the garment out of the way while you're embroidering can be a real challenge. They are just such a handful. I’ll show you how to tame the little beast and become a master of embroidering the small stuff, like Onesies.
You can do all sorts of things with Onesies if you can just get them under the hoop and actually embroider on them without stitching them to an arm or the back.
I want you to know upfront that this is not instruction on how to do the design placement. It’s to show how to hoop small items like Onesies.
Read this blog to see how to center your designs in the hoop.
Mark the center point on the Onesie. You might want to use a template, the little snowman sticker, whatever works best for you. Just make sure that you have an arrow so that you know which way is up for the design.
With Onesies, you always, always, always (I can't stress this enough) use a cutaway stabilizer. This is a cutaway mesh in nude color. (More on stabilizer color choices later.)
I'm using a 4x4 hoop, but there's an awful lot of excess over here so I'm going to trim this away just a little bit. I just want to eliminate some of the bulk because I don't want that excess stabilizer to flip around the hoop's edge and become stitched to the Onesie.
I like to use a little spray adhesive on the stabilizer. I use KK100, which I get online from The Embroidery Store (look under "General Embroidery Supplies). No affiliation, it's just good stuff it doesn't gum up my needle.
I position the Onesie like I am dressing my hoop. My hoop has the arm attachment facing up through the neck of the Onesie, just as if you were dressing your child.
Find the center of your hoop and gently get that Onesie pressed to the stabilizer. Don't stretch the Onesie.
Take a few pins and pin just the front of the Onesie to the stabilizer. Once I've pinned this all in place, it’s time to bring out the secret weapon.
I am going to recycle a lunch meat container to be a little guard around the hoop. It keeps the Onesie edges from curling up on top of itself and getting into the stitching field.
Take your regular craft scissors and cut down one side of the container and around the bottom. It cuts pretty easy.
Seat the guard into the inside edges of the hoop and bring the back of the Onesie up over the edges, just like you were taking it off over the head of a baby.
Pin the arms together just so that they don't flip and go underneath. Keep them off to the side where you can see them and make them behave.
Attach everything to the machine. You may actually find it is easier to situate the hoop guard after attaching the hoop to your machine.
When I position the guard, I'm going to open that little seam where I cut straight through the back and it will go nicely around the embroidery foot. Adjust everything to be sure the Onesie is up around the guard and that nothing is going to slip under the hoop.
When you are happy that everything is in place, remove the pins from your stabilizer. You can go ahead and stitch your design and it won’t fall back into the hoop on top of your embroidery.
A lady showed this clever trick to me a while ago and I just had to share it with you. That will make our lives so much easier when stitching small items like shirts, too. See the full video here.
May your day be blessed with perfect stitches and GlitterFlex!!
Bonnie Welsh - August 17, 2019
Brenda—Great idea on the claw clips. I’ll have to give that a try! =)
Brenda Jerles - August 16, 2019
I also use a plastic container like the one you used as a hoop guard to protect my hoop when I spray adhesive on my stabilizer. Or I use sticky stabilizer that is a cut away mesh.
Brenda Jerles - August 16, 2019
What an awesome tip! I have done plastic hoop guards but they want to slip out. I make a lot of newborn ants preemie onsie which are more of a challenge. I use the mesh like you use and stick the onsie to it. I also use some pins since it is so small. Then I take smallish to medium claw hair clips and clamp the excess onsie out of the way and to the hoop. They work better than anything else I have tried. Those tiny ones are really a challenge!
Bonnie Welsh - August 12, 2019
Vshaynes & Roberta: The link to the video is in the paragraph before my signature line. =)
Roberta markgraf - August 12, 2019
I too would like a video. Very good tip.
Vshaynes - August 12, 2019
This is a great tutorial! If you did a video, this would get my vote because I’d really like to see how the whole thing looks as you set it up in the machine. I wonder if the grocery store will think I’m crazy if I take a tape measure in so I can find the right size lunch meat container.