Suddenly (I hardly dare say this in case I jinx it) the weather is glorious. Months and months of cloud have given way to a few days of clear skies, which means it is the ideal weather for making videos. I spent a large chunk of yesterday dragging machines into the kitchen to make a visual guide on setting and threading the needle the right way. It's all about making sure that the needle makes the loop in the right place, which depends on the stitch-making mechanism. With long bobbin machines the shuttle has to pass though the loop: with round bobbin machines the loop is picked up by a hook and taken around the bobbin.
I also have to take advantage of this weather by catching up on over a year's neglect of the allotment, waging war on dandelions, nettles, brambles, bindweed and couch grass. If you spot grubby fingernails on videos, you will know why.
This is a Singer 28K. I have removed the front and back slide plates and put a narrow strip of material under the foot to take the stitches. The top thread is pink and the bobbin thread green. When the needle goes down under the needle plate it forms a loop just at the very moment the shuttle is moving forward in the shuttle carriage. The point of the shuttle is aimed straight through the loop.
Then the whole shuttle passes through the loop.
The top thread glides under the shuttle.
Once the shuttle has passed through the loop, the needle takes the top thread back up again, the loop is tightened, and the bobbin thread is held firmly in place on the underneath of the material. It was years before I understood what was going on underneath with the shuttle. I read a description online, complete with diagrams, but still couldn't fathom it out, until one day I was trying to sort out a problem with a transverse shuttle machine and was looking from underneath and I actually saw it happen. Truly a moment of revelation. Welcome to the two new followers, Gavin Henderson and Anne Parker. Thank you for joining!
