All white embroidery!
 

It isn't meant to be but it is! Can anyone suggest where I'm going wrong? I've used the smallest hoop available and ensured the fabric and stabilized is nice and tight so I don't think that's been the problem. I could try and pass my stags head off as an albino but......
any suggestions gratefully received.

a picture would help

Basically the embroidery consists of mostly white bobbin thread with only a little of the top thread visible either on top or on the back side of the motif hence the albino effect.

Sounds like probably a tension issue? Top tension too tight and/or bottom tension too low. For embroidery you want the top thread to pull around to the back so you want looser on top and tighter on bottom than you would for standard sewing.

Re-threading might help if you haven't fiddled with tension lately. You might have something not quite in the right spot...

Yes, I would say it's a tension issue. If the problem's on the top, it usually is a bobbin issue. If the problem's on the back it's usually a top thread issue. Are you using the prewound embroidery bobbins? If so, this thread is so thin that you may need to tighten your bobbin tension just a bit. Before you do anything to your bobbin case, make sure you mark the current screw position with a permanent marker. Make TINY adjustments.

It could be a tension issue but also the top thread may not be feeding right. If something is keeping tight, like caught on whatever or wrapped around the spool, then the bobbin thread will all be on the top.

when I get all white it usually is just the bobbin thread the top thread is not threaded correctly and is not being taken up by the takeup bar.

What machine are you using? My Bernina has an extra finger for the thread to feed through when I'm embroidering.

I had this problem. Because the majority of my spools of thread are "cones" I ended up buying a thread stand to set by my machine. This eliminated my problem as the thread now comes off the spool evenly without getting caught on anything. Hope this helps!

When this happened to me it meant the bobbin thread was not threaded properly. It happened when I would pull the thread thru the cutter before closing the bobbin cover. My machine is a Husqvarna.

Oh, and I cannot use "bobbin" thread in the bobbin for embroidery - there is a bobbin embroidery thread but I have not tried it yet. I just use the white embroidery thread.

Good luck.