Basic Sewing Machine Question from The Ultimate Novice
 

Hello,

Would any of you like to chime in on a question I have about stopping with the needle down? Sometimes when I am at a point where I need to stop sewing, the needle is down. But this means (I think) that I can't just continue sewing, right? I take the bobbin out and get set-up for sewing all over again (raising the bobbin thread and everything). Do you understand what I am saying?

I don't believe that I can continue sewing once I've stopped with the needle down...

Thanks if you can help,

Karen

I believe you can. Be sure to read your manual until you understand it, I'm sure they will tell you how to use this feature. All you have to do to get the needle up is to turn the wheel toward you until the needle comes up. Then just start sewing again. What you are doing to resume sewing is not necessary.

You can continue with the needle down. In fact, it is preferred to stop with the needle down in a lot of instances- for example, to turn a coner.

Oh wait - do you mean at the end of sewing a seam? Yes, bring the needle up to continue. On some machines you can tap the foot pedal to bring the needle up. And you can always turn the wheel to bring it up.

And you sure don't have to take the bobbin out!!!!
At the end of the seam, if the needle is down, rotate the wheel with your hand (look in your manual to make sure you are turning it in the right direction), then pull the sewn piece of fabric towards the back of your machine, pulling about 2 inches or so of thread. Clip the thread close to the fabric, leaving enough thread in your machine to start sewing again.

Karen, the only time you need to bring up the bobbin thread is on a domestic machine when you load the bobbin for the first time. You can stop and start as many times as you want without touching the bobbin again until it runs out of thread. Then load up a new bobbin and continue sewing. Use needle down when you want to reposition the fabric, like turning a corner, without losing the position of the last stitch.

If you are talking about a longarm machine, the rules are different. PM me if that is the case and I can walk you through that.
Hope that helps.