Sewing Hack: How to Wind a Happy Bobbin :-)

... and avoid a Sad Bobbin

If you've ever seen or used a sad bobbin, you'd know exactly what I mean. They ARE sad. And your sewing wouldn't be any happier either :-(

And this is one of those tricks I learnt from a mechanic, who happened to be doing a bit of trouble-shooting for a case of sadly wound bobbins for a customer of mine.

"Did you know about the Figure 8?" He asked.

I had to admit: the only Figure 8 I knew has to do with ice skating. Definitely NOT sewing...

And then he proceeded to explain - in steps:
 

Of course, we were looking at a Janome My Excel (so your machine might look completely different). But the principles is the same, and apply to ALL makes and models.

Basically, for winding bobbin, this is what you'd need to achieve:
 

You see, that silver dial is called a Tension Spring (or "Tension Disk"). What you need to do is to create a "Figure 8" with your thread , around that dial, to ensure that the correct tension is applied to the bobbin thread as you wind it. This is a close-up:

And take a look at the whole thing again, in full diagram:





So there you have it - who knew? A simple twist of thread can turn a S ad bobbin into a Happy one - and that means one thing...

Happy Sewing!



xoxox