most of the thread companies have areas where they teach you the different needles, sizes, uses, and appropriate threads. they are very informative and really helps you avoid lots of problems It does sound like it may be your needle is too small for the thread, or the eye may be the wrong shape, some are round, some are long, sometimes some threads just will not work in our machine no matter what we do. i usually start with changing needles, making sure all is threaded right and i take the bobbin out and put it back in if the problem persists i try changing thread, if the problem is gone, i make note that thread does not work in my machine...and i've had that happen with some pretty expensive threads so i don't think it matters, some machines just don't like some thread...