Have you seen how I hoop the quilt sandwich for embroidering the quilting onto a quilt sandwich? I only use the bottom of the hoop and attach the sandwich with binder clips from an office supply place.

There is a free program called Wilcon Truesizer which might be a help to you for converting from one type of design to another [ie .pes to .jef]
http://www.wilcomtruesizer.com