Embroidery hoop size calculator

How to use this calculator

The calculator compares your design, plus any safety margin on each side, against the embroidery fields of common hoops and returns the smallest one it fits. Fields are measured in millimeters because that is where names go wrong: Sweet Pea's guide to understanding hoop size explains that hoop names in inches have become muddled, that rounding can make a hoop sound bigger than it is, and that a "6x10" sold by one company may only be 150 x 240 mm, which cannot stitch a true 160 x 260 mm design. The list used here is the Brother flat-bed field table published by Echidna Sewing: 4x4 is 100 x 100 mm, 5x7 is 130 x 180 mm, 6x10 is 160 x 260 mm, 8x8 is 200 x 200 mm, 8x12 is 200 x 300 mm, 9.5x14 is 240 x 360 mm, and the largest is 297 x 465 mm. Janome, Bernina, commercial multi-needle machines and cap frames use different fields, so treat the result as a guide and check the field printed for your own machine. Inch inputs are converted at 25.4 mm per inch. Rotation lets a tall design sit sideways in a wide hoop. A bigger hoop than needed holds fabric less tightly, which is why embroiderers pick the smallest one that fits.