Sewing machine problem

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

? You mean ones other than the sewing machine? I'll have to look into that, especially if they might do a better job at it.

Yup, there are little portable bobbin winders, just make sure it's for sewing thread instead of embroidery thread.

I have one of those - it's more convenient and less fiddly than the one on the sewing machine!

[WhiteDove01s]

Had a quick look around Amazon, the separate bobbin-winders also seem to have better tension controls. My sewing machine just has this one little thing the thread loops around. I've got one sitting on my wish list now for maybe some time around next winter at my current rate of things. (My budget is pretty much already spent until after July. XD)

[E-Beth]

I get loops on the bottom when my upper thread is not moving smoothly through the machine. Rethreading the top (and making sure the needle is really truly all the way in) usually fixes it.

[WhiteDove01s]

I get loops on the bottom when my upper thread is not moving smoothly through the machine. Rethreading the top (and making sure the needle is really truly all the way in) usually fixes it.

Hmm. That could be a causative a few times here as well. I have my current thread on plastic bobbins (they take up less space than spools), and even the thread I still have on spools tends to be on cheapo plastic ones. I've actually seen the top bobbin (where a spool would go if you're not a nut like me) jerk suddenly when I'm sewing a few times. Even with all the tension stuff the machine has it might not always be feeding into the thing consistently at the start. I would think all the tension stuff fixes this - that is what it's for after all - but it could still have an effect now and then. Occasionally I'll also see just one 'loop' on the bottom, but I haven't confirmed if it matches with any top-bobbin-jerking.

An experiment I want to try soon is to place a couple metal washers on top of the spool-bobbin to give it more weight and thus hopefully curb the jerkiness.

Update at 3:37 am
I tried putting a metal nut slightly smaller than a bobbin on top of the 'spool' bobbin as a weight. This seems to have helped against skips slightly, but it still did this... basically jerking at one point and causing a moment of the thread going into the machine (before all the tension adjusting stuff) being looser than it should. I immediately checked what I was sewing to confirm this time, and yes, this is a cause (though not the only one out there XD) of loops on the underside. However, unless it's the light weight of the bobbin, I have no idea what's causing the bobbin to jerk. (Oh, and please keep in mind, tho I keep saying bobbin I am talking about the top thread here, where saner people would put a spool. I just like to keep all my thread on bobbins. XD) After noting that the area around the little peg thing the top thread goes on isn't exactly smooth (is there supposed to be a washer here? 'Cause there's not...) I've also placed a metal washer under the bobbin. I'll have to see how that works. I'm also taking care to sew slowly and keep as much of an even speed as possible to make sure that's not a cause of that particular problem.

[E-Beth]

my spool holders on my machines have little felt washers to cushion the spool.

[WhiteDove01s]

my spool holders on my machines have little felt washers to cushion the spool.

... That would make a difference, and I'm not surprised that, if mine once had something like that, that it would be missing. It's around 15 years old and has been stuffed in the back room in storage for roughly 10 of that. I only recently managed to get the space to dig it back out and try to use it. (And I'm still having to sew standing up because it's on something I can't get a chair under... but I'm saving for a new desk...)

Back on topic (I wander off like that a lot), I made a 'washer' out of a scrap of polar fleece (I looked for felt, I know I saw some just a few days ago, but I couldn't find it), and now have that under the spool-bobbin with the nut on top... XD

PS: Just because, here's my machine

And here's my new little 'washer' XD

Ok, so it's square... I don't think that'll matter...

[oniakki]

Ok, so it's square... I don't think that'll matter...

Just watch for the corners curling up and catching the thread (my felt pad sometimes spins with the spool, so figured I might warn you as the corners will probably affect the thread tension if the thread is getting caught on them when it decides it wants to shift positions.

[WhiteDove01s]

So far it doesn't want to curl at all, probably because it's a hem scrap and I trimmed it above the stitching so it's actually two layers sewn together. If I see it start to do that, tho, then I'll definitely trim it round.

[OkamiKodomo]

If it makes you feel any better, my "old" sewing machine did that all the time, and it was the same brand. It was the "bargain" machine from WalMart, purchased about 5 years ago, and while it was a powerful little thing, I was very glad when I replaced it with a Kenmore from 1986 (though it makes me giggle that my sewing machine is as old as I am). I don't recall my Brother machine having a spool cushion, so I wonder if that's a design flaw with them? My Kenmore has a plastic washer.

[WhiteDove01s]

It very well could be. Hm, mine also came from WalMart, but somewhere over 10 years back when I first moved here. I'll have to admit, it holds up well and when it comes to basics gets the job done... but I'm also considering possible replacement as it limits me to only straight stitch or zigzag. Budget, tho, means I'm stuck with it for at least a few more years.

It may also be possible the machine needs a really good cleaning or oil. It was sitting around a few years before I was able to make some space in my room to use it (and I might lose that again because I need somewhere to put the seedlings for the veggie garden). I cleaned up any dust I could actually see, but I didn't try taking it apart or anything.

I'd just started looking up how to properly clean the thing, just in case that was a causative factor, when I had a browser crash that lost all my tabs. I swear my life has been one thing after another lately...