Can I use a bobbin?
 

I ran out of thread just at the end of a project, but I have almost a full bobbin left. Can I put the bobbin where the spool of thread would go and use it as the top thread, using something else for the bobbin? Or would it somehow mess up the tension?

I don't want to try too many trials because I don't have much left....

Watson

I've done that for years with no problems. That's one of the ways I use up bobbins. When I just need a bit of thread for a project, I'll pop a bobbin that's almost done on the thread spool and use it up.

I do this all the time.

works for me.

Me, too.

But you could try it on scrap with some other bobbin to see if your machine will "play nice".

I do it all the time too. Especially for mending.

I do it too, no problems.

Wow, never thought of it before! what a great idea

I've done it for years w/o any problems

Yup- many times :)

Sure, but if you are concerned about a mis-match because of using a different thread in the bobbin, use the existing bobbin to fill a new bobbin, trying to estimate when you have about half on the existing bobbin and half on the new bobbin. Use the two of them together one on top and one below and the thread weight will match.

Yes you can. I do it a lot of the time.

i have also done that with success

I also do it all the time. I never even considered that it might cause problems.

I've done that many times with no problems.

I don't see why there would be any problems.

Yes, I, too, have done that!

Done and dusted. Worked great.

Thanks, everyone.

Watson

When a bobbin runs out, it just runs out and stops sewing. When a spool runs out it make a huge thread nest and sometimes even jams up the machine.

When my spools are almost empty, I stop and put on a new spool. Then I wind the rest of that thread onto a bobbin and use up these short pieces while sewing scraps.

Using a bobbin as a spool would be fine; until it is almost empty. Then I would take it off and use the rest of that thread as bobbin thread.

I do that all the time for sewing on my smaller & vintage machines. All of my thread these days is on big, cross-wound cones, and instead of dragging a cone holder around with me and using the big cones, I just wind a few bobbins and use those on the littler machines instead. Less stuff to drag around with me is good!

How you 'get' your thread to the needle should not be a problem, whether it is a normal spool, a bobbin or even a cone sitting in a cup next to the machine. It is the upper tension that will determine how the thread works. Even though some spools are wound in different ways and should be on the different spools (topside or sideways), for most folks, it still works to have all threads on top.

I do it all the time to use up bits on the bobbin. go for it.

I do this all the time.....use up the bobbin threads and put it on the spool pin and I make sure there is a felt circle and all the bobbins I have, I been used for double duty for them. Uses up the thread.

OMG! I never, ever thought of doing this! Learn something new every day.

I do that all the time. I recently finished a quilt and had about 6 inches of thread left.

I'm with Lynnie; I've don it for years.

Same here too