I Bought a sewing machine and it worked great, Stopped sewing for a while and needed to get back to it because I have to many un-fininshed projects as my husband calls them :wink: Well I had my daughter and daughter in law helping me yesterday with an older machine that I bought cheap from the flea market wanted it because it had a cabinet, well it worked fine for a while (I did not re-thread, re-needle, or rethread the bobbin) but it decided that it did not want to pick up the thread from the bobbin, I fiddled with it for a while, gave up and pulled my newer machine out of hiding and found out why I had not used it in a while, it is doing the same thing, i have rewound the bobbin thread, changed the needle, oiled it, cleaned it and it is still not working can someone help me with this issue? new grand is suppose to be here by the 21st and i need to get his blankie done

Did you try changing the needle? I had that problem on my quilting machine...discovered we were putting the bobbin in the bobbin holder wrong. Also, a bad needle may be doing that.

Sometimes it is as simple as the wrong sized/type needle with that size thread. You might have picked up some ball points?? If both machines are doing the same thing, try changing out the needle with another brand. Sometimes the dang needles are just no good, even when they are new. Then I would take a close look at the thread, is it a good quality? I am not being a thread snob, but just trying to figure this out .... Change threads, if you can.

Make sure the bobbin is seated properly in the machine. I've had that problem before.

All that being said ... Check to make sure of the direction the thread is rotating on the bobbin is right while putting it into the casing before putting it into the machine :oops: . I have made that mistake before. It is easy to mix up when you have more than one machine you use.

I've done this before too.

Sometimes I just have to pull everything apart and start from scratch. And I do it over and over and over until it works. To me it feels like I do it the same every time, but sometimes, like Red said, it's as simple as not having the direction of the thread right. Do you have a little tail out of the bobbin so the top thread has something to grab?

I dislike it when it is something as simple as the bobbin not working! It would be so frustrating for me!

The thread size to needle size is really important like RedGarnet said. The thread has to fit inside the groove in the front of needle in order to pick up the bobbin thread. Also make sure to clean under the feed dogs really well. Good luck.

see thats what has me stumpped I finished sewing a row, cut the thread and put another row in to sew and it decided it did not want to work.....Im almost certain it is something simple, like me not holding my face right when I thread it, I have changed needles, made sure the thread was the same weight. What is really weird is if i take the feeder dogs completley off it does pick up the thread, but its not a good idea to sew without them.
Since it is still early in the day Im going to go ahead and completley remove all the thread and start over and re replace the needle and see if a fresh start will help......I quit fighting with it about 10 last evening, could have been over tired and not thinking straight
Thanks for the help I will let you know what happens :lol:

Clean it out really good. It could just be a piece of thread caught down there or a piece of lint causing all the trouble. I have had that happen before.

It might be an idea to check that you have the same thread top and bottom. I only have problems if I try to use a different thread in the bobbin, and then not always, only sometimes. Oh, how these machines can be fickle!