Bobbin winders

Howdy!

Hey, watch it there, podnuh: that sidew> I'm with you guys. One was brought to guild last month. I just

Hi to all - I popped in to see the wish list this year and saw this thread.

I am an incurabel gadget collector but I thought this was just silly . . . . . until I got my new-to-me embroidery machine. On my beloved Janome I use thread in pairs of reels - one in the top thread and the other wound onto bobbins when I start a project, plus I keep about half a doz bobbins of four neutrals always ready to go. Winding that number has never been a big chore.

Machine embroidery and satin stitch applique can use a LOT of thread and I thought I would get ahead of myself for once and wind a stack of bobbins in neutral colours so that when I needed another bobbin half way through an embroidery I could just drop one in and keep going. I have a stack of bobbin boxes I got from Clotilde's and I figured I would just run a large reel each of Bottom Line thread in black, white, mid grey and taupe onto bobbins.

Apart from some horrible problems with getting an even thread wind on the bobbins (see further on), half way through this little exercise my gorgeous "new" machine's bobbin winder froze up. When it happened I figured I would finish the winding on my beloved old Janome, which has never done anything like this to me. Six bobbins into the exercise my Janome literally exploded and I had smoke coming out of it!

The tech who fixed the "new" machine (after a 400km round trip!) told me something about over heating and drying out lubricant. I didn't care why, it just stopped working. But it would seem that you are not supposed to sit and wind

40-50 bobbins on end. OK - lesson learned and probably a one-off.

The "old" machine blew up for "probably unrelated" reasons and I had shorted out the circuit board. On a near-30yo machine this is a major concern as I wasn't sure I would be able to get another. But the same tech guy fixed everything and both machines are now back home. Getting the "old" machine fixed was the real reason I was willing to lug the pair so far.

So - after all this I figured I would get a Sidewinder and avoid sitting there and running the bobbin winder on either machine to fill big batches of bobbins. It's here, it's fast . . . . and I don't really like how it winds bobbins! It is very light and I am seriously considering sticking mine down to a really solid block of wook to anchor. When I do I think I will also rig up a better thread feed system so the bobbins wind more smoothly.

That said, I HATE the way my all-singing, all-dancing "new" machine winds bobbins. I have had to rewind so many because I could SEE loose loops in the thread, that was another reason I wanted a Sidewinder - I thought I would get well wound smooth bobbins off it. I didn't!

But with a bit of fiddling I think I will.

Am I the only one who finds that the bobbin winders on some of the new machines are not as good as the older machines?

So I have the gadget, I do use it, I think I will be "modifying" it to make it work better, and when I do I will probably think it was worth it. Probably.

Now slinking back into lurkdom 'bye all!

It's not embroidery thread, it's embroidery floss.

Cindy

That's what I meant. You are supposed to read my mind. So, what machine are you sewing on? I still wonder.

How does the floss hold up? Do you use the 6-ply at >

I bought mine at my local Hancock's. It was on sale for $14.99, and I got a guild discount of another 10% off. I have tried it several times, and I really like it. I doubt if I will ever use it with the batteries.

Sherry Starr

You are one of the ONLY people to like that stuff!! Half our pack has refused to sell it because everyone complains that it tastes so stale and bland!! Each year, we've had people return theirs complaining on how bad it is! One woman told us flat-out that the only reason she bought the popcorn was for the fancy Christmas tin it came in!!

This year, most Councils have switched to CampMasters brand ... it's gotten better reception from our "customers" this year ... we even bought some and it was pretty good.

Still a Redenbacher fan, though! Or Jiffy Pop (I like watching the foil "bubble" get bigger!!)!!

Hugs!! Connie :)

i had the microwave popcorn in a bag stuff when in calif back in 2001. it was fast and easy for sure but i decided the level of salt and/or whatever flavouring/butter/sumpin was not really to my liking and probly wasnt all that great for my old body either. since i returned i dragged out a m'wave bowl i use to dry pop my corn. cost me heaps less buying plain corn to pop. better for my old body as i control the salt etc. its a better snack for me :) than the cookies i love. :( ok, i might go make some for lunch. :)) forever love'n popcorn in the south pacific, jeanne

"SewVeryCreative" wrote...

True ... I'm sure the microwave stuff is more chemicals and preservatives than popcorn, but I'm *that* lazy.

My MIL gave me an air-popper for Christmas a few years shy and I could never figure out how to use it well enough to not have to drag out the manual (and I'm fairly mechanically minded - I've built more computers than I could possibly remember!). So for me, it's easier on the bod and the brain to just pull out the Redenbacher's. But if I have a choice, I prefer Jiffy Pop for sentimental (and entertainment) reasons! :)

My DD goes looney over "Smart Corn(?)" ... it's this "organic" popcorn from Publix (our local grocery store) that's made with "organic" cheddar cheese. I have to buy two bags a week at the least ... she eats it that fast! And she's the healthiest one in the family (early this year we had a BAD case of a rotovirus - we were all under for two weeks, she was ill for two DAYS)!! So maybe there's something to the organic stuff!! :)

Hugs!! Connie :)

Cheryl, it's heavier if you put the batteries in it.

Cindy

Huh. With a quilt if I've gone through all the bobbins I wound at the git go it is probably time to change the needle anyhow.

Budge over you guys, I just made brownies.

NightMist

My Elna has a drop in bobbin. I am able to change the bobbin without removing the quilt from the machine by flipping the quilt back over the top of the machine. That leaves enough room so I can take the cover off the bobbin compartment and replace the bobbin.

Julia in MN

That's exactly what I do with my Janome 6600- just flip it back and change out the bobbin.

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies >> I have a Janome 6500 and even though I would be able to wind a bobbin

That is just exactly why I buy my own bobbins instead of saying "hey while you are out could you...?" Getting the wrong type is nearly impossible, any kind in a common store will fit something I have. But those stupid cheap bobbins are always a pain to try and actually use. Mind you when my bobbin box vanished for a while I did drag some out, and then spent a good hour or so sanding off burrs.

Is it just me and my machines, or does everybody find that plastic bobbins have an alarming tendancy to pop a side off right before they are done winding?

NightMist learned to not put all the bobb>Just a word of warning here. Some SMs do not do well with cheap bobbins.

I think I've only had a side pop off my bobbins one time. My Janomes all have used the plastic bobbins- I don't know if metal ones are even available for them??? I have prolly 200 bobbins- I buy them 50 at a time, but I tend to drop them and then they get stepped on and break- or one of my rascally dogs nabs it and runs out into the backyard. I've mowed a few bobbins over the years, too. Usually it's the full ones I manage to step on and then I lose the thread that's on that broken bobbin. Bummer. I should make an effort to only step on the nearly empty ones!

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

I used to have problems with metal bobbins for my old Viking 6460 popping the side off. sigh. Usually when a bobbin pops like that it is because you are winding too fast and too full, or the tension is too tight type of thing.

About the bobbin winder gadget........ some machines are lousy at winding bobbins. Usually a higher end machine is at fault. The reason I got from the tech was that in order to "put in" all the other stuff, they had to leave out parts somewhere else, and the bobbin winder lost out. My newer Viking/Husqvarnas are a pain about winding bobbins. I have to really pay attention and "help" guide the thread to the sides of the bobbin in order for it to fill completely. But I have owned Viking machines for so long that I sometimes forget that not all machines can wind a bobbin with the machine threaded.... in fact that is recommended for my machines.

Pati, > That is just exactly why I buy my own bobbins instead of saying "hey

If you do a lot of machine embroidery, why on earth are you winding bobbins. I buy the Nebs pre-wound by the gross-they come in black and white. So much easier than spending all that time winding bobbins. I also use them in both machine for appliqué. Gen

I like to match bobbin and top thread (in both colour and thread type) for some applications and pre-wounds are only available in a limited colour range in bobbin threads.

My Janome 10001 was leaving loops and snapping threads all over the place until I put a teflon washer in the bobbin recess. It hasn't missed a beat since. It may have had something to do with the titanium needles I use but I doubt it. Thank heavens my "old" Janome uses metal bobbins.

I tend to agree with others here - the more complex embroidery machines tend to sacrifice performance somewhere else (obviously there are exceptions but as a general rule I believe this is so). And many do not wind bobbins well. I think that is why the Sidewinder was put on the market.

I miss the little metal curve that the thread used to feed over on VERY old machines with horizintal bobbin fills (the ones that used to sit on the side of the machine). The thread used to slide back and forth and produced a very evenly wound bobbin even at high speed. I wish that the new machines would use some of these simple old non-tech solutions for basic problems (sigh).

(following the thread with interest though)

I don't do any machine embroidery and the pre-wound bobbins don't work on my machine anyway.

Cindy