Every one of you has seen a completed cross stitch, even on this site, which is still in a hoop. There might be a fair few stitchers out there that really really want to take a photo of it before removing it from the frame, but the vast majority are already framed; in their hoops.
Sure, plain hoops look good sometimes, but for a more varied look, you can decorate. Today we look at the best ways to decorate your hoop for a fresh new look.

Pick Your Frame

The first, and most important thing to work out, is what type of hoop you want to use. You have three main choices and they all have different impacts.

Wooden Embroidery Hoops

The standard wooden embroidery hoop, made from anything from bamboo to pine (always softwoods) are great for stitching with as they have natural spring in them thanks to the wood fibers, but this spring gives way to splintering on the outside layers, easy damage and accidental staining (from finger oils). So whilst this is the best embroidery hoop to use for stitching, you may want to only use these hoops when covering the wood entirely, as splintering can still happen if they’re painted/finished.

Plastic Embroidery Hoops

Plastic embroidery hoops are also great for framing, but unlike wooden frames, they are usually colored. It might be that all you need to do is pick a nice color and you’re done! But the other side of the coin is that in order to paint these you need to rub them down, and prime them; so stay away from painting.

Aged Embroidery Hoops

The two other hoops we’ve mentioned are great places to start, but if you plan to frame your cross stitch in the hoop, we prefer ‘aged’ embroidery hoops. What we mean here is actually hardwood hoops. Unlike the standard wooden hoops and plastic hoops, these have no form of screw, and are just one solid hardwood hoop. The advantages are these are that they don’t splinter, you can paint them, stain them, even just varnish them, and they’ll look a dream. If you want to completely cover the hoop (we talk about that in a minute), then they’ll keep shape better than standard embroidery hoops too.
However, be warned that they are 3-6 times more expensive than the standard embroidery hoop.

Paint/Stain

OK, so now we have that out of the way, let’s talk painting. If anyone talks about decorating embroidery hoops, this is where most people go to, and for fair reason. Painting hoops, in either complementary colors (even matching the fabric to hide them) or converse colors can really make a project. In the two examples below we show a bright yellow, matching the writing, and dark black to make the colors stand out more.
The real advantage of painting though is you can’t go wrong. Matt paints, gloss paints, emulsions, or watercolors, or stain or varnish, painting a hoop is fair game, however, you want to do it.

Washi Tape/Decoupage

Next up we have washi tape, which to those who don’t know, is basically scotch tape with pretty patterns on it. Coming from Japan where its a seriously big deal, you can get washi tapes in patterns, colors, styles (including glow-in-the-dark), and even printed characters. All you have to do is wrap the outside ring. You can do this like our example with long straight stretches, or you can coil it around the hoop too. It gives you a slight bit of interest in what would normally be a boring old hoop.
You could also try decoupage, which is a very similar effect, but with paper instead!

Fabric Wrapped

Finally, we suggest looking into fabric wrapping. This one is slightly more difficult, as not only do you need to find an appropriate fabric (we suggest thin patterned cotton) you need to wrap your fabric in a way that doesn’t show fraying edges.
But, what a way to finish a hoop, than to use either the same fabric, hiding the hoop completely, or even wrapping the hoop in something truly unique.

How To Frame An Embroidery Hoop

So once you’ve picked your design and decorated it, how do you frame your embroidery hoop?