External Bobbin
 

Is there such a thing as an external bobbin that you don't have to change often? I'm FMQing and have had to stop twice in the past hour just to refill the bobbin. It's annoying!

No there is no such thing. In order for a sewing machine to make a stitch the top thread has to loop around the bobbin race and catch the bobbin thread.

Try purchasing prewound bobbins that will fit your machine loaded with a very fine thread like Superior's bottom line or So Fine or Magnaglide bobbins. Or buy a couple of cones of bottom line and wind your own.

You will find you won't have to change near as often and the preloads may just offer better tension.

No there is not! Ditto on feline's post!

No but wouldn't that be nice? The closest thing I've ever seen was a treadle that held a spool in the bobbin case. Very hard to find and not cheap. Never understood why it didn't catch on. Sounded like a great idea to me.

No. I prefer to use Bottom Line in the bobbin, it is a finer thread so I can get more of it on the bobbin and it lasts longer. I also wind several bobbins for use before starting a project.

[QUOTE=Toni C;5810337]No but wouldn't that be nice? The closest thing I've ever seen was a treadle that held a spool in the bobbin case. Very hard to find and not cheap. Never understood why it didn't catch on. Sounded like a great idea to me.[/QUOTE

Hummm. What a fabulous idea! Wonder why the sewing machine companies haven't jumped on the wagon with this idea???

There is one vintage sewing machine that was manufactured so it would feed a spool of thread into the bobbin area rather than using a bobbin. I can't remember the name of it now. Have no idea why manufacturers never pursued this idea.

There was one machine introduced in the last 10 years that took a spool, can't for the life of me remember which one, but seems to me it was a European brand... Bernina? Pfaff? The machine was geared toward machine embroidery.

Not unless you can find an old Two-Spools machine. I'm still looking, and sure do wish I could find one!

Yes, we can put a man on the moon, but can't seem to make a machine with a huge bobbin!!

Theyve made smaller machines with no bobbin, they sew a chain stit h

I wind a bunch ahead of time. It's still a pain to change them out, but at least I don't have to wind them mid-project. :)

DH keeps asking me why we don't have them.

My hubby likes to re-engineer things as a hobby. He's currently playing around with different ways of machine quilting and has dissected a few thrift store machines in his quest. I told him if he could come up with a way of having an "endless" bobbin, we'd be millionaires.

I looked at superior bottom line and will order some. On the website it talks about special needles for thinner threads. Can I use the regular needles I have or do I have to use the special ones?

I use my regular Organ 80/12 with no problems.