Luv Quilts and Cats

I use white thread and wind 3 or 4 ahead. If I need a color I wind the bobbin when I need it, unless I am doing a lot of that color.

KalamaQuilts

when I had racks of thread I had a lot of bobbins filled with the full spectrum of colors.
I've been using up thread for the last three years and am down to just a few spools.
Last week I bought 3 big spools of 50 weight neutrals and will use that to fill bobbins now.
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Yes I prefill, I have a thin drawer in what what once a tool box, when it gets down to 3 or 4
I fill another 10 bobbins or so. Such a simple and easy job for what is an essential to our craft!

franc36

Once a week, I service my Featherweight. At that time, in addition to cleaning, oiling and lubricating the machine, I put in a new needle and wind bobbins with thread. I keep 8 filled white bobbins and 8 filled light tan bobbins. Since I use my Featherweight only for piecing, those colors usually work for me. If I know I will need other colors such as black, gray, or green, I wind them when servicing. I am left handed and threading the needle on a Featherweight is NOT my idea of fun. With the pre wound bobbins, I only thread my Featherweight once a week.

Jim's Gem

I always prefill bobbins. I have about 40 bobbins for my machine and when I fill bobbins, I usually have at least 21 of them filled with 3 colors of neutral threads (med gray, taupe, and cream) When I get ready to quilt I fill up as many bobbins of thread for the back as I think I will need

carolynjo

ditto, Texas Sunshine. I use gray and beige and wind at least 6 or 7 before I start.

Rodney

I don't worry too much about it. It only takes a minute or less to fill one and by the time I run out I'm usually due for a break anyway. If I have a filled one laying around I'll use it as long as the color is right or if the color doesn't matter. I may try pre-filling a few neutral colored ones to see how I like doing it that way.
Rodney

cindi

I use only natural or grey for piecing, and always wind 6 bobbins after I'm done with my current quilt. That way my bobbins are all ready for the next quilt!

ArchaicArcane

A couple of years back, my new SM parts supplier sent me a sample of some pre-wound bobbins. I tried them out in my Pfaff and the upper thread started minor nesting and bottom threads started breaking.

What the heck?

I tried about 3 times and gave up. I was in a hurry to finish something and tossed those bobbins in a drawer.

Fast forward a couple years now, and my long arm arrives. The dealer swears by pre-wounds (tension, volume, etc...) I'm skeptical, but I figure I'll try them in the LA. She loves them except one particular one. As soon as I put the bobbin in and start to stitch, she starts snapping the thread and I'm getting a little nesting again.

Since it's a practice day, I'm not in a rush. I investigate and find that the bobbin she's complaining about is slightly overfilled. One of the winds had puddled off and wrapped around the spindle that the bobbin case sits on.

I removed about 10m of the thread, put it back in and stitched until the bobbin ran out. After that, I tried them in my Pfaff too and it loves them, as long as the bobbins aren't over filled.

Pilgrim

I use a small plastic container to hold my bobbins. I wind about 20 at a time put them back in the container and go until they are all used and then wind again. I clean my machine after every 3 bobbins. I hate looking in the machine and seeing bunch of lint. I have an attachment for my vacuum cleaner to suck out the lint. Love that tool and another one for my other vacuum to clean out the computers dust. Living on a farm means lots of dust so this is a valuable tool.

Painiacs

I fill 6-8 bobbins at a time! Beige n white! Then I dont have to worry!! :-) i hate winding bobbins so this way its not as often! :-)