Tips and Tricks – Bobbin Winding

Hey all!

I’ve been thinking about starting a little something here on the blog called “Tips and Tricks”.  I’m so often sewing and quilting and think of a step I’m doing that I want to share with you all.  I know that some of you are smarty pants out there and will know everything I have to share and more…so please! add to the conversation with more of your own suggestions!  Each tip is something is something that I’ve discovered, learned or seen over my many years sewing.

These tips will most likely be simple quick solutions for problems you may not even know you have. I think we absorb the info better when presented with a brief explanation and photo of each one individually.  So that’s my plan for this hopefully ongoing series. (And by saying ongoing series that now means that I need to create a cute button for it and everything. lol)

Today’s Tip:

Bobbin Winding

Starting to quilt a new project? Try prewinding multiple bobbins in advance to avoid stopping in the middle of your project to rethread, wind and reload each time! It may take some time to estimate how many bobbins you will need for a particular project but I think having three ready is a good number to start with.  Keep in mind that free motion quilting often eats up thread faster than straight line quilting.

Nothing is more frustrating than losing your momentum in the middle of a good quilting run!

16 thoughts on “Tips and Tricks – Bobbin Winding”

  1. Great idea, and I think you are right that we absorb better by seeing tips one at a time. A list of 20 is great but I'm only going to remember 3 tomorrow! Pre-winding bobbins is really useful when you are quilting. Also, I think you should share your tips even when you think we might know them, some folks might not and never will if we keep it a secret. So share away I say. Nice new series.

  2. Part of me knows I should do this, but the other part of me, the part that labels all her bobbins with a sharpie so that she knows what colour it is, is freaking out at the idea of having too many of the same colour, and then what if they get empty and are all labelled? Or I don't label til after I'm done, but I have several leftovers? And what if it's a colour I rarely use?! So at that point I go and lie down in a darkened room…

  3. I've started buying my quilting threads two at a time. That way, I can wind a whole one onto bobbins and use the other as my top thread. I mostly do this with white, cream, and black– colors I use all the time. I store them in a bobbin box and label the whole row with the details of the thread.

    Prewinding really does make everything easier. I hate losing my momentum in the middle of the project to wind a new bobbin.

  4. Speaking of bobbins I could never remember what brand and color of thread was on my bobbins. Now I have corrected that by keeping a fine tip permanent marker at my machine and when I wind bobbins I mark on the bobbin the brand of thread and the color # or name. When the bobbins are empty all it takes is a dab of Isophropal alcohol on a cotton swab to clean off the marking so I can start over. Makes my life ever so much simpler.

  5. This is going to be a great series! I love these little nuggets of info and while I already wind my bobbins, I learned the great labeling tip from your readers. Never thought of using alcohol to "erase" the sharpie. I've gotta try that because surely that labeling method is better than all the little cups I have on my sewing table with the spool of thread and its accompanying bobbin. 🙂

  6. None of us will EVER know "everything"! So keep on! I do wind multiple bobbins even for piecing & have a practice of limiting myself to 3 so that when I've used the 3rd one, I know I must clean out the bobbin area of whatever lint, etc. I guess I "could" be the only one who forgets to clean it out -then finally when the machine isn't making a pretty stitch, find out that there's a whole closet-full of lint in there! lol

  7. ooh- Dawn! I just saw your comment after reading Suzanne's! we could use those little cosmetic sample bottles to store a little alcohol in our sewing supplies!

  8. Great idea!! But I take it a step further. I buy two spools of thread. I use one of the spools for nothing but bobbin fill and fill all the bobbins at once. That way I know at a glance how much thread I have left on any particular project. Just a thought.

  9. Great idea for a series. Its so frustrating to wind the bobbin in the middle sewing and ripping and doing again to avoid the backstiches being seen or the gathering ending half way.

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