What a bummer! I have a 20+ year old Kenmore and had a problem with thread that was totally wound up in the bobbin which I could not get loose without fear of doing damage to the machine. I ended up calling a local sewing machine shop and explained the problem (somewhere I had had the machine serviced not too long before) and when I told him the make and model he was able to walk me through how to take the bobbin casing apart over the phone and, voila, it solved the problem! Can't hurt to try.