I am having problems hooping baby onesies and getting a straight line. Does anyone have suggestions? I center the name 1 1/2 inches down from the finished edge. Often my work does not run truly straight. I'd appreciate any suggestions. I use a seven inch round hoop.
I just ran across this Hope my reply is still helpful. We do a lot of these in our shop. Most of them have a slight ribbing pattern in the material. If your hoops have marking, you can check to be sure the lines are straight up and down in the hoop. If your hoops are not marked, you can use a permanent marker to add guidelines.
Be sure to use enough backing to keep the material from distorting during embroidery.
Most important, be sure that tension or stretching is uniform when you hoop the item. If one side is tighter than the other, it can make the design crooked. I hold the onsie up by the shoulder seams after hooping to see if the hoop looks level. This may help you see any uneven hooping.
Buffy,
It sounds like hooping problems to me. Onesies are really lightweight and shift easily. Be sure to use the smallest hoop you can which will eliminate stretching and shifting. Also, you might try a spray adhesive to help hold the fabric down. I, personally, prefer fast frames for things like that, but that's personal choice. I also use an iron on mesh for onesies, and then iron on a soft layer over that for comfort. Just my way of doing things. This is all assuming they are marked straight in the first place
I also use an Iron-on mesh for onesies and other lightweights if possible. I also hold by the shoulders and can tell if the frame looks level.
Hoopmaster also has a apparatus that is great for this. It is called freestyle hooping. I also use the portable base that is on the bottom left. Definitely worth the money. You have a fitted hole that the particular frame fits in, then you have two magnetic plastic pieces that you lift and put your backing on, then you put the top part of the frame into arms that bend down and perfectly align the top of the frame with the bottom. It works like a charm.
When I first got my entire hoopmaster, I never used the freestyle hooping, but after using it a few times, you would have to pry it from my cold dead fingers. It is also great for towels, burps and things like that.
I use a disappearing ink pen (available at any fabric store). I place a dot on the item at the center point of where my design will sew, then draw a line just underneath that (using a ruler, of course).
This gives me a better visual when I'm hooping, to make sure I have the item in the hoop straight.
Once it's on the machine, at the beginning of the laser trace process, I run the light along that line to make sure it's straight.
Yes, it takes a tad longer, but when you have something like just text on a shirt, 1/4 inch tilt is very noticable.
By the way...I remove the ink using by either spraying it with water, or dabbing it with a wet wash cloth.
Thanks, that's a neat idea with the ink. We're pretty low tech, but we get similar results by running piece of painters release masking tape , usually horizontally. If the tape looks good on the relaxed, unhooped garment, we go ahead and hoop it using the tape to match up to the hoop gridlines. Just remember to pull off the tape before embroidering.
Embroidering Baby Onesies 
