Hoop Construction

I've had a few people curious about what the back of my hoops look like.

So i thought i'd share...

I use vintage cottons and linens on all of my hoops and they tend to be a little thin so i back them with a strengthening interfacing called Vilene. Along with strengthening the fabric it also adds opacity so you cant see any of the knotted thread from behind (yucky)

I tighten the screw at the top of the hoop and pull the fabric as tight and taught as i possibly can. However over time it is possible that the material can slacken. To combat this on the reverse of the hoop i cut approximately 1 inch excess fabric and sew all the way around pulling the tread tight to gather the fabric.
Then if, over time the fabric does seem a little slack you can just pull the fabric a little from behind and tighten the screw at the top of the hoop if needed.

So far i've never known that any of the hoops have needed this, but i always like to think that there is a way to combat this if it happened. I'd hate to think one of my hoops wasn't displayed cause it had gotten saggy in it's old age.

I know some people like to glue fabric on the back of their hoops and glue the edges down. I don't trust myself with glue though, im a little messy and i know it would just ooze all over the pretty fabric and go all crusty (EWWW!) 

SHOP HOOPS