My mom only had 4 bobbins and the bobbin winder didn't always work. I wound the bobbins by hand when I was a kid. It kept me out of trouble I guess. She would also wind the thread on an empty spool and use it for hand basting. She basted everything before she sewed it. Looking back, why didn't I get her some more bobbins for heavens sake. I feel bad that she went through life doing this when some extra bobbins would have made live easier for her. I wind 20 bobbins at a time now to avoid having to do it when in the heat of battle with quilt piecing. I feel guilty thinking of my poor mom saving thread and doing all that extra work. Of course we lived WAY out in the country and she couldn't get to the store and money was tight, looking back. Extra bobbins would have made a good mother's day gift that she would have really appreciated.