I'm working on a quilt for a friend's first baby (to be). And while piecing this one, I nearly lost my mind with the BOBBIN! WHY oh WHY?!?!?! WHY does the bobbin *always* run out when I'm less than 12" from finishing "this step"???? First it ran out when I was a couple of inches from the end of strip piecing...then again in the middle of my last seam of the last block, (this is a D9P) and it ran out again when I had cut and re-pieced and was on the last seam of the last block again! Then I was sewing them in rows and it ran out *again* when I was inches from the end of sewing my rows together...and again on the last few inches of the border. My bobbins are out to get me. :lol:

It could have been worse, you could have become a member of the 'Empty Bobbin Club', where you were piecing blocks and ran out about 20 blocks ago. At least you caught it and that is a good thing.

LOL The only reason that doesn't happen is because I'm always at the end. You're right...it wouldn't be nice to have to re-sew every seam I *thought* I sewed for the last 20min... :lol:

I always seem to "renew" my membership in that club. You'd think the initial incident would be enough to prevent it from happening again. :roll: :roll:

At least my machine gives me advance warning when the bobbin is about the be empty, that way I'm sure not to miss it. This even gives me the opportunity to change thread at a more convenient spot. I do appreciate this luxury. I only noticed yesterday how used I've gotten to this when I was sewing on my boyfriend's machine and only after sewing for a couple of inches, did I realize that there was no thread left in the bobbin.

Mine are out to get me too. What's with it??? hee hee

One tip I heard was to wind 2 bobbins. One for the top thread and one for the bobbin thread. When the top gets low you can see it and the bobbin should be close to be empty. Just a thought:)

I do this all the time too and my machine lets me know when I am getting close to the end. But it always seems to let me know about 1/4 of the way through a long seam and I choose just to keep going to see if I can finish the seam before the bobbin runs out. I also keep going when chain piecing and sew quite a few sometimes before I realize I have no bobbin thread. I really hate to waste a good amount of thread each time with thread being so expensive and my machine won't use the cheaper stuff. It is frustrating.

I feel for you! Thankfully, my Pfaff tells me when the bobbin is getting low, so I can usually pick a good place to re-fill (if I remember when I get there).

LOL! Been there. I've gotten much better at catching on when the bobbin is empty. Especially after having to figure out what direction the last 8 blocks were supposed to be and what order when I went to restack them...

Cheers, K

This drives me nuts, too. I wish they made bobbins to hold an equal amount of thread as a spool, so both would run out at the same time!

Laurie

I have an old treadle machine (my grandmother's) that actually uses a spool of thread in the bobbin!! I made baby clothes on that machine for both my girls...most beautiful straight stitch ever! Sadly, the spools nowadays don't fit the bobbin case...it takes the old short wooden spools.

I can totally relate. I know there are machines that will signal you when the bobbin gets low but they are lots of $$'s and I love my old machine so guess I'll continue to bite the bullet, run out of thread, and deal with it. One good thing, I can "hear" the difference sometimes when I run out of thread, if I'm paying attention, so sometimes I luck out.

This is why I love having a machine with a drop in bobbin that also has a clear bobbin cover plate. It takes clear bobbins so I can always see how much thread is left on the bobbin, HOWEVER....I have STILL ran out of thread! The most I have ever sewn without bobbin thread was a block and a half. I have ran out of bobbin on long seams when I thought I had "just enough" It is really bad when you are using your spool thread in your bobbbin and you have "just enough" on the spool and your bobbin runs out. That SUCKS! lol thats when you say THWI and fill the bobbin with a different thread! lol I usually try to fil several bobbins at once so I don't have to unthread and rethread or take the time out to refill bobbins!

Good luck getting it finished!

the king-of-the-bobbin planets must be aligned just right, like "venus in retrospect" or whatever... LOL Today must just be your "monday"? LOL