newbee3

i run my fingers on the binding I just sewn down every few feet or so

Jo Anne B.

I tried to sew this morning with no bobbin in the machine. Good grief, old age is sinking in too fast.

b.zang

Like Aashley333 I wind more than one bobbin when it's time to wind since I piece virtually everything with the same thread that I buy in supersize spools. That doesn't mean I don't run out, though, and try to keep an eye on the bobbin when I know it's getting low. Sometimes I get so caught up in what I'm sewing that I forget to keep checking the bobbin and lose the lottery. Sometimes I win, too, but think I'm more of a loser than winner. Just the other day I was chain sewing pieces 20" long and didn't know I'd run out at the beginning of one until it fell off the back of table leaving the next one well under my needle and the upper thread tangling. What annoys me is the waste of thread. Once upon a time I kept those long pieces to use for hand sewing but now just throw it away and take it as part of the process.

Onebyone, I'm going to try colouring the end of the thread before beginning the next bobbin wind and see if I notice it. I use ecru thread for my piecing. Thanks for the great tip.

Rhonda K

That is frustrating!

I have trays of partial bobbins from pre-wound for the embroidery machine and regular thread. I am trying to empty them and recently used some for the top thread. The embroidery machine will save the position and return to the design. I'd rather not have to change bobbins in the middle of stitching.

Onebyone

My friend has a very vintage machine that the bobbin is a spool of thread. I wonder why it was never used in all machines. Of course back then all spools were small. I'm sure the bigger bobbins now hold as much as those small spools.

Rose_P

If having the thread unspool the wrong way is a problem, one extra step that should correct that would be to wind another bobbin from the one you just wound. It's pretty quick to do, and would solve the problem - just so you don't forget which bobbin is wound which way. I would use a Sharpie and write "TOP" on it just before winding or would have to be careful not to get ink near the holes and onto the thread. . Permanent ink can be removed from hard surfaces using rubbing alcohol.

Rose_P

Bobbins almost always run out for me a couple of inches before the end of whatever I'm sewing. It doesn't matter if the machine is smart enough to warn me about it in that case for it to be annoying. I agree, though, that when you merrily - and very carefully and accurately - sew and sew and sew only to discover that it's been a good 10 minutes since any of the stitches took, it's especially painful. More so if it's the binding on a quilt you've worked on for months and you were so happy that it's done at last.

LaurMac

We played 'bobbin chicken' at our last retreat and the person that won had no thread left on the bobbin at the end! That said, this is the most interesting thread right now!! I edit the newsletter for my quilt guild and am going to write an article on this topic and refer the members to this site so they can read for themselves.

Onebyone

I used up four left over bobbins yesterday as top thread for piecing. Different shades of neutral from light to dark. I got a lot of blocks sewn. All my bobbins have the same type thread in them so no thread issues.

quiltingcotton

As far as changing bobbins, I use basic colors and have bobbin boxes that hold 36 bobbins for each color. That way, I never run out of bobbins to do a quick change when I run out of bobbin thread in the current bobbin. After I make a quilt, I take the time to fill up all the empty bobbins that I used and put them to the back of the box so that I use up older bobbins first. I use an electric stand alone winder to save wear and tear on my sewing machine. It also winds the bobbins tighter so that the bobbins hold more thread then my machine wound bobbins. Thankfully it makes no different to using the bobbins in my machine.