Originally Posted by Cecejay
My experience has been that it helps to bring the bobbin thread up through the quilt by tuning the wheel by hand one rotation, hang on to both threads with your left hand, drop your pressure foot and then start sewing. But my first thought was maybe it is the brand of thread, or dull needle. My Janome embroidery machine is particularly fussy about that.
bringing the bobbin thread to the top each time---and holding on to both threads when you start may be just the "little" thing that is missing here.