Bobbin Woes

Last week, while free motion quilting with my Singer 15K treadle, there was a slight hiccup with the stitch.  On a couple of occasions the thread broke.  Then the tension was slightly off, with the bobbin thread loose and showing through to the right side.  Nothing was obviously wrong, the top and bottom threads were both correctly threaded, so I adjusted the tension both at the tension discs, and tightened the screw on the bobbin case.  I tested the stitch, and it seemed fine.

Everything went smoothly for a while, and then on two occasions the tension totally fouled up with massive loops coming up from underneath.  When I took out the bobbin case the thread wasn't in the right position, as above...

...but it had slipped out of place, like this. 

This has happened about three or four times in the past few weeks, and I had assumed I was being a bit careless and not threading the bobbin properly.  This time I decided I had to fix the problem.  When I pulled at the thread I found that if the bobbin is correctly threaded it is impossible the pull it out of place from the outside - the lip on the tension plate that curls under the edge of the hole prevents it from slipping.  The thread could only have shifted out of place from the inside.

The culprit had to be the actual bobbin. 

I had been using three bobbins in rotation, the old solid sided bobbin on the right (the only one I have) along with two newer bobbins with holes, like the one on the left.  I compared the old bobbin with the newer ones and found that it is a fraction smaller.  I don't think it is from another model machine; my guess is that over time the edge has worn away as a result of friction against the inside of the bobbin case as it has rotated.  Somehow this must have allowed a little too much play in the thread. 

So now I have retired the old bobbin and I haven't had a problem with the stitch since.  I knew it wasn't the machine letting me down.

Multi-tasking

Last week I hauled the 1934 Singer 128K out of the corner of the sewing room.  It is just as well I did, because in doing so I discovered that my star machine, the 1927 Singer 99K was growing a fluffy handle. 

My intention is to use this machine for the next big quilt I am planning, so I wanted to give it a little run in.  Because it has two spool pins I can save time by winding a bobbin while I am sewing.  This felt like a great juggling act, doing mitred corners and bobbin winding at the same time.  I can't understand why some people need to go bungee jumping for a thrill. This did it for me.  Safer, too. 

This machine is probably one of the most intriguing machines I have.  The decals are fascinating. 

Linking with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday

Tuesday's Top Tip - The Ideal Use for a Wooden Pencil Case

This rather smart wooden pencil case was sitting in a charity shop waiting for me.

It now has a new lease of life as a bobbin box.

It is gradually being filled up with bobbins full of quilting thread in different colours.  Very handy. 

Playing Bobbin Roulette

Last week I bought a job lot of 32 bobbins from a charity shop knowing that they might fit my Singer 15K machines.  I knew they were the right type of bobbin, and I knew I would be lucky if half of them fitted.  Here is the first problem.  Some won't even fit onto the spindle of the bobbin winder.

The orange thread was already on the bobbin when I got it.  All the bobbins were wound with rubbish synthetic thread. 

Others will go on, but then the tab of the bobbin winder gets jammed between the two sides of the bobbin so the winder can't turn.

These are cheap and nasty modern bobbins.  You can recognise them fairly easily.  They have a join along the central tube, whereas vintage bobbins have a solid metal tube.

It is very irritating when you buy them from a sewing shop and end up having to take them back.   It is even worse getting duds through the post from a supplier.  However I was glad to get a load from a charity shop and pay over the odds and know the money was going to a good cause.  I might even get 15 good bobbins out of this little lot.

A Tin for the Bobbins

When I bought my Serata treadle I found this in one of the drawers, a tiny little tin, two and a half by one and a half inches.  It is the ideal size for keeping the bobbins in, and takes you straight back to the time when invalids were nursed back to health with beef tea.

Like all the best brands, it is by appointment... it reads  "By Appointment, Purveyors to His Majesty the King."  George V, probably.  Edward VII at a pinch.

Not All Long Bobbins Are The Same

Here are the bobbins from four different machines.  From left to right, Vesta Transverse Shuttle/Little Vesta, Serata treadle (ie, Stoewer Vibrating Shuttle), Singer Vibrating Shuttle, Frister and Rossmann Transverse Shuttle.

Sometimes bobbins are interchangeable between machines, but not always.  

If the disc at the end of the bobbin is too large for the shuttle, the bobbin will not rotate properly inside it.  The disc on the Vesta bobbin is smaller than on all the other bobbins shown.

If the bobbin winder has a little pin where the bobbin fits in at the right hand side, then there has to be a small hole in the disc.  My Singers can take bobbins without holes because there is no pin.

The protrusion at the centre of each disc might be sharp and pointed like the Singer, rounded like the Vesta and Serata, or not there at all, like the Frister and Rossmann.  The F&R is flat at one end with five holes, but has a solid disc with a central protrusion at the other end.

The first questions you need to ask if you are thinking of acquiring a long bobbin machine are firstly, has it got the shuttle, and secondly, has it got bobbins.  Singer bobbins are easy to come by, whereas other bobbins can prove to be pretty scarce.

Tuesday's Top Tip - Cleaning a Rusty Bobbin

This was the only spare bobbin I had the other day when I needed to fill up with thread.  Old machines often come with bobbins that have been holding thread for years.  The thread absorbs moisture and the rust is revealed when the thread comes off.

It was time to get busy with the metal polish, which is best applied with strong cotton string or crochet cotton.  Loop one end of the string around the back of your chair or anything else that happens to be handy, twist the string into a single strand and put on a splodge of metal polish.

Next, twist the cotton once round the bobbin.  If you are cleaning a long bobbin, use the same method, but it is harder to keep a good grip on it.  It will go flying across the room at least once.

Then hold the string taut, hold on tight to the bobbin and run it up and down so that the metal polish is rubbed on with the string.  It's a vigorous job.  All the rust will rub off, the string will turn black and fray and you will end up with a very hot thumb and forefinger from the heat generated by the friction.

Here is the same bobbin, still discoloured and blemished, but free of rust and with a distinct shine to it.  I found that the manufacturer's badge was lurking under the rust, with the clearly discernible word "Japan" .

I used Peek Metal Polish which I buy from the hardware shop down the road and which can be bought online direct from the manufacturers through their website.   It is the only metal polish I use on sewing machines, and my brother in law has been converted to it after I gave him a tube of it so he could clean up a copper kettle.

Tuesday's Top Tip - Take the bobbin out before you put the machine away

A well kept machine will be oiled.  Gradually the oil will seep down.  If the machine is put away with the bobbin still in, the cotton on the bobbin will soak up the oil like a sponge. 

This is the bobbin that was in Maria's machine.  She has no idea how many years ago her grandmother filled this bobbin, but the machine spent years stored away in a Shropshire farmhouse and had plenty of time to drink up the oil.

So even if you are putting the machine away for ten days or ten years, take the bobbin out.  You don't want a smudgy surprise coming up with the bobbin thread next time you start sewing.

Welcome to Carolyn, Sheila and luv2stamp - thank you for following!

Tuesday's Top Tip - To Stop Bobbins Unravelling

There is nothing more irritating than opening a tin of bobbins and finding that they have tangled themselves up with each other by the threads.  They do it all by themselves during the night when the lid is on just to annoy you next morning.  An easy way to scotch them is to go to the kitchen and find some of those covered wire fasteners that come with a packet of food bags, and wrap fasteners around each bobbin to keep the end of the thread in place.

It works just as well on long bobbins too.