Embroidery hoop size chart: every common hoop in mm and inches, and how to check a design fits

Hoops are named in inches and measured in millimetres, and neither number is the size of the hole in the frame. What matters to a design is the sewing field: the rectangle the needle can reach with the hoop attached. The chart below is the field for every common hoop, which is what the hoop fit checker and the viewer use when they say a design fits.

Home machine hoops

| Brand | Hoop | Sewing field (mm) | Inches | Notes | |---|---|---|---|---| | Brother / Baby Lock | 4 × 4 | 100 × 100 | 3.9 × 3.9 | PE-series, SE-series and most entry machines | | | 5 × 7 | 130 × 180 | 5.1 × 7.1 | PE800, SE1900, PE900, Innov-is NQ/NS | | | 6 × 10 | 160 × 260 | 6.3 × 10.2 | Innov-is 2500D, NQ3500D and up | | | 8 × 8 | 200 × 200 | 7.9 × 7.9 | Luminaire, Stellaire (also 8 × 12) | | | 8 × 12 | 200 × 300 | 7.9 × 11.8 | XV, Luminaire, Stellaire | | | 9.5 × 14 | 240 × 360 | 9.4 × 14.2 | Luminaire XP, Stellaire XJ | | | 10.6 × 16 | 272 × 408 | 10.7 × 16.1 | Luminaire XP3, Solaris | | Janome | C | 50 × 50 | 2 × 2 | | | | A | 126 × 110 | 5 × 4.3 | MC 500E, 550E, 400E | | | B | 140 × 200 | 5.5 × 7.9 | MC 500E and up | | | SQ14 | 140 × 140 | 5.5 × 5.5 | | | | SQ20 | 200 × 200 | 7.9 × 7.9 | MC 550E, 15000 | | | RE20 | 200 × 280 | 7.9 × 11 | MC 550E, 15000 | | | GR | 230 × 300 | 9.1 × 11.8 | MC 15000 | | Bernina | Medium | 130 × 100 | 5.1 × 3.9 | | | | Large oval | 255 × 145 | 10 × 5.7 | | | | Mega | 150 × 400 | 5.9 × 15.7 | | | | Jumbo | 400 × 260 | 15.7 × 10.2 | 790, 880 | | Husqvarna Viking / Pfaff | 120 × 120 | 120 × 120 | 4.7 × 4.7 | | | | 240 × 150 | 240 × 150 | 9.4 × 5.9 | | | | 260 × 200 | 260 × 200 | 10.2 × 7.9 | | | | 360 × 200 | 360 × 200 | 14.2 × 7.9 | Designer Epic, Creative Icon | | Singer | 4 × 4 | 100 × 100 | 3.9 × 3.9 | Futura, Legacy | | | 5 × 7 | 130 × 180 | 5.1 × 7.1 | | | | 8 × 12 | 200 × 300 | 7.9 × 11.8 | Legacy SE340 |

The fields are what the manufacturers publish for the hoop; individual machines can differ by a millimetre or two, and the manual for your model is the final word.

Commercial hoops

Commercial machines use round and rectangular hoops in many sizes; the common ones are 100 mm round for left chests, 300 × 360 and 400 × 560 for jacket backs, and cap frames whose field is roughly 60 mm tall by 360 mm around the curve, varying by frame. The checker includes those four. Border frames and sash frames are effectively unlimited in one direction.

Why the stated size is bigger than the field

A "5 × 7" hoop's inner frame opening is about 140 × 190 mm; the sewing field is 130 × 180 mm. The difference is the presser foot's clearance from the frame. The machine will not sew in that band, and it will refuse a design that needs it.

The 3 mm rule

Leave 3 mm between the design's edge and the field edge on every side. Two reasons: hooping is never perfectly centred, and the last millimetre before the frame sews badly because the foot rides against it. So a design for a 100 × 100 field should be at most 94 × 94 mm, and a 130 × 180 field takes 124 × 174 mm. The fit checker uses this clearance by default and calls anything closer "tight".

Checking a design

Open the file in the viewer or drop it on the fit checker. The design's size is the stitched extent, which is what matters; a design's bounding box in the software that made it can include a border or a placement line that is not stitched. The checker lists every hoop the design fits, with the margin, and says when rotating 90° makes it fit a hoop it otherwise would not (a 170 × 120 design fits a 130 × 180 hoop rotated).

If it does not fit any hoop you own:

• A few millimetres over: resize with density correction by the percentage needed; under 10 % is safe on any design.
• A lot over: split into two hoopings with alignment marks, which needs editing software, or use a multi-position hoop if the machine has one.
• Rotated fits: rotate in the converter and save a copy, so the file matches the hoop rather than relying on the machine's rotate.

Hoop codes in JEF files

Janome files record the hoop the design was made for. A design saved with a 200 × 200 code will not load on a machine whose largest hoop is 140 × 200, even if the stitches fit. The converter writes the smallest code that contains the design; if a Janome refuses a file, check the size against the chart above. Which format does my machine use has the other model-specific rules.