Bobbin winder ?????
 

I have a Queen Quilter 18 quilting machine and am interested in obtaining a bobbin winder so that I can wind bobbins w/o having to use my machine.

Any advice would be wonderful!!!!

Can you use the same kind that you use for a regular sewing machine? I have one & love it!

I have a Sidewinder from Joanne's, purchased using coupon of course, and love it!

My husband bought me the sidewider for Christmas. He was so proud of himself for remembering it and that it was in the same spot I had shown it to him months before. He just grinned. He said he was sorry he could not remember the other sewing item. hehehe ( It was a set of square rulers...hehe) I have decided against the rulers b/c I want a 22" square up ruler from Elenor Burns. The sidewider even filled my featherweight bobbins. It is great. I had my mom get one b/c she hates removing her thread to wide one. She rethreads and jams the machine. So she is thrilled now. Teresa

I have one, but, it will only fill the small ones. The larger ones won't fit. Don't know why.

I also have the Sidewinder from Joanne's and use it for both my sewing bobbins and my quilting bobbins. I think they have it in 2 price levels. I got the cheapest one ( with a coupon of course) and am happy with it.

I use the Sidewinder to wind the bobbins for my 15" Bailey. Works great.

My side winder doesn't wind it tight enough for my longarm I have to hold the thread with my fingers to put enough drag on it

I also got the Deluxe Sidewinder on sale at Joann's to wind bobbins for my Voyager. It came with several different size bobbin pins. I needed to wind off spools & cones and I don't think the smaller ones would do cones. There are also commercial bobbin winders that are much more durable but they also cost more and take up more space.

The Sidewinder is the best thing to keep little hands busy that want to help in the sewing room. DGD loved to wind bobbins. I kept Walmart's bobbin rack cleared for a whole summer! She felt so proud to be helping. I had a shoe box full of them. I took them to guild to use for binding quilts, whip stitching, etc.

I bought my bobbin winder when I bought my HQ16. It is NOT a sidewinder but something that can easily do the class M bobbin my HQ takes as well as bobbins for my regular sewing machine. Since this was years ago there was any way to slow down the winder ... then I saw a pedal that the winder could plug into and I could use like the a sewing machine pedal. Now I can regulate the speed of the winder.

Now the same winder does have a speed control built in. Wish I had that years ago. Oh well.

ali

I'm not sure what size bobbin your machine uses. My Voyager uses an L bobbin, but other long arms use an M bobbin. Most of the LA sites also sell bobbin winders. I have one that was made by Hinterberg. They were bought out by Nolting, so they may be selling it. It does a really good job and has a foot feed. Check out some of the sites.

This may seem like a stupid suggestion, but I don't have a sidewinder. I fill about 10-15 bobbins full before I start quilting on my sewing machine. It drove me nuts to be quilting along and then have to refill my bobbin. This was my solution. You know how many bobbins you go through for your quilt, wind about as many as you think you will need.

Here's a link for the one I use for my Voyager. I paid $99 for it when I bought it a number of years ago and, of course, it has gone up, but not as much as some of the commercial winders. It has a foot feed with it. Does not have the variable speed, but I've never needed it. It's just a bit more than the more expensive sidewinders and you can use the large cones.
http://www.hinterberg.com/prod-Bobbin_Winder-237.aspx

Yes, you can use the large cones with these bobbin winders. I just use my thread stand next to the winder and hit the button. I also hold the button down to fill bobbins up more when needed.

You know you can tighten down the tension knob (that the thread goes around)? And when the winding automatically stops, just flip back the guide arm and hold the power button down manually to get the bobbin to it's fullest. I love mine..sometimes I grab and let the battery do the job; but if I want to wind a lot of bobbins, I do it electrically.

Toni C: I wrap my thread around tension discs twice to tighten tension also.