I will try it...I've not had good luck with Brother's service dept. being helpful! Sometimes you can talk to someone that is helpful.

Thanks. It just aggravates me that I cannot get gifts made that I wanted. :( Oh, well. IOU's sounding better all the time! LOL!!!

I have problems like you're describing when I use Guitterman thread. My Viking 1+ throws up every time I use that thread. My other machines use it without problem. Picky picky picky. It's not just mine. My sister's Designer 1 also will not sew with that thread. Hope you figure it out soon.
Linda

Hi Miranda,
Your timing is out of whack. But rather than picking up another cheap-o, I would go to my local thrift shop or check craigs list and pick up a working older singer / brother / white sewing machine. I mean the old 19 - 00 pound work horses. I keep one threaded with black, all the time. Whip it out when I have a quick job using dark thread. Before going home with the machine, (I always carry a ziplock bag with thread & needles in it with 4 different kinds of bobbins... just in case I find a nice used machine to test) make sure that the needle goes up and down and the feed dogs are working, open up the lower machine and check to see the bobbin case (if it has one) is spinning. What this does is make sure there arent any broken gears. But if there are it wont be terribly expensive to repair the machine. Singers from the 70's & 80's are notorious for having nylon gears and the teeth chipping from them. What I would do is pick up even a non working one of them for next to nothing, drop about $125 into it at the repair shop, and then keep it as a good old stand-by. They form excellent stitches, handle heavier fabrics and you can use a mechanical ruffler on them without worrying. I have a 30 or so year old White sewing machine (all metal gears inside) that is a real champ, sews through leather, is pretty to look at, is respectable for free motion sewing, quilted beautifully, has adjustable presser foot pressure control like the new Janome's. A beautiful machine... and I only use my griest ruffler on that machine because everything else I have is electronic and more sensitive and I am afraid I would damage the machines using it. (call me a worry wort) LOL

I hope this is some help to you.
Good luck.
Paula
(I know it is easier to drop another $57 into a cheap machine, but in the long run, you will be happier with a vintage singer or white... and I am not talking about the old old 50 - 60 year old black behemouths either!)

That is basically my theory with my Elnas. I have an old Super that is always threaded, there are three older Supermatics in storage waiting to be needed, if the Super ever breaks down. My main machine is a Bernina 830. I am not going to hold my breath waiting for it to die.

tim in san jose

Thanks, LInda.

Paula, I'm definately going to pick up the next used one I find if it is cheap. (and if it "works" and all). I know how all the gears and guts of things are made out of plastic (or nylon as you said). It's the same way with Kitchen Aid mixers, and I have one that is just a couple years old. I'm scared it will die. Everything else I get tears up! My DH told me I was going to have to stop being so "hard" on appliances and such! (jokingly)

Have you tried unscrewing things in the bobbin area yet to find thread?

When the Kitchen Aid does stop working, it is going to be a fiber gear, and yes it can be replaced for far less than a new mixer. Mine is going on 20 years and I get the feeling it is just a batch of bread dough away from needing fixing.

tim in san jose

Linda: OMG! :!: the new Kitchen Aid Mixers have plastic gears in them now? Are you talkng about the big stand-up mixers? :? I have the 1974 Kitchen Aid, the first model of the current style Hobart Released. It is all metal gears inside. Here I was hoping for a new to me 6 quart sometime in the next 20 years... hmmm maybe not! :roll: Thanks for the heads up!

Paula

I had the same problem! I removed the needle plate and took out the bobbin cover and discovered a little nick in it- that's what mine was snagging on. I simply smoothed it out with a nail file and put everything back in place, and it worked after that!