I read somewhere that you could use cotton thread for your designs. Since I'm making some quilt blocks I decided to put cotton in both upper and bobbin. My little machine said "no, no, no, I'm not going to sew this design! She kept breaking the thread and in general showing her behind! I did all kind of things to appease her, took her apart and cleaned her, changed the needle, etc. Didn't help at all! She has a mind of her own. Finally I decided to change the bobbin to one filled with embroidery bobbin thread. I swear to you I could see and hear her smiling as she purred along and sewed out the design without another problem! The moral of my story is this....if there are any other newbies who are as dumb as I am, don't try cotton in both places. LOL

Great question and super answers. Thanks. Sarah.

I used serger thread top and bobbin to do a fsl doily and had no problems, although I did use a 90/14 needle and slowed my machine down. No question is ever dumb...we're only dumb if we don't ask. Hugs Karen

I love Meg's answer. She sure does know her stuff. if you want to know which screw to turn you have a read of my blog post.
Alice.

2 comments

by meganne 27 Jan 2011

Thanks Alice, been sewing a looooooooong time, even as a professional for many of my teenage years. Before I discovered my brains could make me more money than my hands. LOL!!!

by debleerl 27 Jan 2011

Great advice Meg. Nice website Alice. It is important to know the type of machine. I have 7 sewing machines and only 2 of them have the type of bobbin case pictured in your blog. Although the procedure is the same if your bobbin case is different, refer to your manual or ask your dealer to be sure you are adjusting the correct screw.

Hey Honeychyle, I wrote you a fabulous!!!! response and when I tried to post it I got a "Bad Gateway" message and it got lost in the never never.

Anyway, the upshot was: when you said you changed your needle, did you also go up one or two sizes?

You see there may just come a day when you absolutely must embroider a cotton doily, are going to say no to your heart's desire, or possibly even a treasured loved one??

I would love it if you would try the following on a test stitch out, just to be sure:

Increase your needle size to 14/90, loosen your top tension 1 - 2 increments, then loosen your bobbin tension (turn anti-clockwise) 1 - 2 notches.
Before you do that, get a toothpick and some bright nail polish and carefully make a small mark on the bobbin case, to align with the LEFT side of the screwdriver slot. (so you can return it to precisely the right spot when you are done.)

These are all normal steps that we sometimes need to make when changing threads.
You wouldn't knit every size/type of yarn on the same size knitting needles would you?

I'd love to hear how it goes if you try the above steps.....
You see for me the bottom line is I NEVER accept 'no' from my equipment. I paid a lot of money for it/them and I expect IT/Them to work for me because I sure as Hades can't afford to buy anything else to do the job. LOL!!!

Hope this helps, hugs n gumnuts, Meganne

3 comments

by honeychyle 26 Jan 2011

You always have the greatest advise for me and I love you for it. I'm scared to death to change the bobbin tension. I'm not even sure where the screw is to change it!

by meganne 26 Jan 2011

Have you never removed the bobbin case to clean out all the fluff that accumulates?

What kind of machine do you have?

by meganne 27 Jan 2011

If you could let me know which type of machine you have, I was going to try and get a close-up of the bobbin casing so I could show you which little screw to adjust. hugs n gumnuts, Meganne

Have your dealer's service person show you how to adjust your bobbin tenstion. It's not hard but you do need to pay attention so you can put it back the way it was when you go back to using embroidery bobbin thread. You don't really want to use embroidery bobbin thread on a quilt. You will need to know how to adjust the bobbin tension so you can try other embroidery techniques such as reverse embroidery.

Honey, I loved the way you told your learning story, it made me chuckle to myself!!!

Cotton thread isn't as strong as embroidery thread - I am glad that you found a solution - I have used it in both without much trouble other than the fuzzies - but if your machine is saying, "Non, No, No!" listen to it. Hehehe!

Welcome. We are all learning tying to do better. We are glad to have you join us.

Machine embroidery is a constant learning curve - whatever. One is always experimenting and learning

It was worth a try and may well have worked out. I suspect some have successfully embroidered with cotton in both. Old fashioned doilies come to mind. Some machines (even the same brands) seem fussier than others. As leenova says, its most likely a tension issue. If it's too fiddly and frustrating, it's not so much fun!

Not dumb at all. Now you know your machine a little better and have passed you knowledge on to others.

Not dumb at all, it probably was due to the tension on the bobbin, you can change it but I prefer to leave that alone. I had bottom thread showing and had to call in a repairman to fix it for me. Glad we are all learning, young and old alike, we all deal with the same problems!

Just remember that you learn from your mistakes. It does not make you dumb. *4u Hugs Yvonne

Thank you for sharing this, mine fusses when I use different types of embroidery thread. Its like changing the 'menu of the meal' I know my 4 legged babies do that when I change their brand of food, they look at me like, 'you think I am going to eat this stuff!!' Machines also say those things, not in so many worlds!!!

Not dumb at all. It is not the same as a sewing machine. The embroidery machines are very picky about what thread they like. Follow what the manufactures reccomend and you will be fine. The rest is trial an error or asking here when you don't know. We will be glad to help Suzanne