If you’ve ever fought your machine’s hoop — the fabric won’t stay taut, the big hoop won’t clip in, or you simply can’t wrestle a sweatshirt into it — you are not doing it wrong. A lot of machine hoops, especially the large ones, are genuinely hard to use. The good news: most of the time, you don’t have to hoop your item at all. You can float it.
What does “floating” mean?
Floating means you hoop only your stabilizer — not the item — and then lay (“float”) your fabric on top of it, holding it in place while the machine stitches. Your garment never goes in the hoop, so none of the hoop’s clamping and tightening problems matter.
It’s the go-to method for anything thick, bulky, or awkward — sweatshirts, towels, hats, blankets, bags — and it’s a lifesaver when the hoop just won’t hold your fabric tight.
How to float a design, step by step
- Hoop your stabilizer only. Put a piece of stabilizer into the hoop by itself, nice and tight. (The hoop is much easier to tighten when there’s only stabilizer in it.) A sticky/adhesive stabilizer works great for floating.
- Expose the sticky surface. If you’re using adhesive stabilizer, score and peel the top layer to reveal the tacky side. Otherwise, give your stabilizer a light coat of temporary spray adhesive.
- Float your item on top. Lay your garment or towel onto the sticky stabilizer, centered where the design goes, and smooth it flat.
- Tack it down with a basting box. This is the step that makes floating reliable — before your design stitches, run a basting box (a big rectangle of running stitches) that holds your floated fabric to the stabilizer so it can’t shift. More on this below.
- Stitch, then remove the basting. When the design is finished, snip and pull out the basting stitches and tear or cut away the extra stabilizer.
The secret to floating that actually holds: a basting box
A floated item can shift mid-design if it’s only held by adhesive — and a shift means a ruined project. A basting box fixes that. In Unzip2Stitch, open your design and use Add basting; it drops a basting rectangle around your design that stitches first, locking your floated fabric to the hooped stabilizer. Stitch your design, then remove the basting when you’re done. No shifting, no puckers.
Working on a towel, fleece, or anything with a pile? Add Pile Tamer too — it lays down a grid that keeps the fluffy texture from swallowing your stitches.
Unzip2Stitch runs on Mac and Windows. → See how it works
Prefer to watch?
Here’s my step-by-step floating video: How to Float Your Project on Your Embroidery Machine.
What about magnetic hoops?
If you float a lot, a magnetic hoop is worth looking into — the magnets grip your fabric evenly, without the clamps and screws, and many people find them far easier than the hoops that came with the machine. Floating with a basting box gets you stitching today for free; a magnetic hoop is a nice upgrade down the road.
Related: Just got a single-needle machine? Start here · What is a production sheet?