1.

Place your inner hoop on a hard flat surface.

Place your fabric over the inner hoop with your stitch roughly centered within the hoop.

2.

Place your outer hoop on top and push down so the inner hoop is nested in the outer hoop. Check that your stitch is centered. Adjust the placement of the fabric if necessary.

3.

4.

Tighten the screw until the fabric is held securely between the inner and outer hoop.

5.

Pull the fabric until it is as tight as it can get while also making sure that the rows of the fabric stay straight. This may take several minutes and a lot of pulling/adjusting.

6.

Once your fabric is as tight and straight as you can get it, tighten the screw until you can’t tighten it anymore.