The easiest way to embroider on caps would be to use a free-arm embroidery machine (such as the Baby Lock Alliance).   The free-arm machine allows you  the ability to easily embroider on caps.

Free-arm embroidery.

Since owning a free-arm embroidery machine is not in my future, I looked for a way to embroider caps on my flatbed machine.  There are a couple different inserts I found for the embroidery hoops that are made for hooping caps:

• Wooden hoop frame inserts for 5x7 embroidery hoop by www.hathoop.com. $35 
• Metal hoop frame inserts for 5x7 embroidery hoop by Durkee.  $195.

I chose to try the hat hoop made by Jonathan Smith at www.hathoop.com.   😉  I figure I just want to embroider on some baseball caps, so $35 will not break my bank.

There are instructional videos on the hathoop.com website.  Definitely worth the time to watch these.

I actually bought this hat hoop a while ago for my Brother Duetta 4500D machine.  I have since gotten my Baby Lock Destiny II machine, but the hoop frame still works as it is standard for Brother/Baby Lock 5"x7" frames.  You can contact the owner at hat hoop.com to confirm the correct frame to purchase.

The hoop insert works by laying the sticky stabilizer across the bottom hoop frame, and then inserting the wood frame on top and then tightening them together.  The original top frame of the hoop is not used for this technique.

The cap embroidery field is about 4" x 4", although the opening of the frame is about 5" x 5".
Flatten you cap inside with the area to be embroidered inside the open area.  Make sure any extra fabric on the inside of the cap is tucked out of the way.  Sandwich the bill of the cap under the clamp in the front and hold securely by tightening with the screws.

In the following photo, you can see the sticky stabilizer is underneath the wooden insert which is tightened in the bottom hoop frame.  Then the cap is secured under the clamp and tightened with the screws.

The backside of the screws are flush with the wood, but I added felt pads to them just to make sure they do not scratch the sewing machine bed surface.

Another helpful hint I can share is to make sure your needle stays within the 5"x5" open area.  I broke a couple needles by moving my needle outside this area and hitting the raised clamp.  😟


Stitch the design as normal.  Again, make sure your needle does not move out of the embroidery field when it is done.

All done

The font on this cap is the Victor font used in Monogram Wizard Plus software.

That is it!  Pretty simple and not expensive.  And now baseball caps are something I know I can embroider too.  😃

Sharing on Too Cute Tuesday and WOW Wednesday.

Happy Stitching!