Posted on Monday, May 18, 2009 | By Cate Tallman-Evans | 0 Comments

My Bulk Bobbin Strategy

Recently, a friend of mine emailed me about the availability of pre-wound bobbins for her sewing machine. She was annoyed by the recurring inconvenience of winding bobbins. Back when I wound bobbins one at a time, it seemed I always ran out of thread at the worst possible time.

There are a couple of techniques for reducing the annoyance of replenishing your bobbin thread. Many years ago, inspired by a display at a sewing machine store, I purchased two small boxes and thirty-two bobbins to fill them. If you cannot find boxes exactly like mine, you should be able to find a replacement easily enough. 

Obviously, I still have to wind bobbins. But I only have to do it once a month. It is a lot less irritating to run out of bobbin thread when I have a supply of wound bobbins ready to go. Of all the innovations I have made to my quilting process over the years, this one is definitely my favorite. Eliminating a persistent source of frustration can dramatically improve the quality of your quilting life.

One reason this pre-wound bobbin strategy works for me is that I do all of my piecing with the same thread. I have used this thread on hundreds of quilts. Even baby quilts with lots of white and pastel colors can be sewn with a neutral color thread. If you are using quality quilting cottons, the thread color will not show through the fabrics.

If you use the jumbo spools of thread, you may have noticed that there is a lot of drag on the thread when the spool is full. Your sewing machine has to work harder to pull thread off of a new spool because the spool is larger and heavier when it is new. This can effect the tension of the thread as it passes through the needle and may adversely effect stitch quality or cause the thread to break.

Bulk bobbin winding can be used to solve this problem. I always buy my thread spools in multiples of two. I use each new spool to wind half of my bobbins. This leaves me with two half-used spools for my needle thread. These half-used spools feed perfectly through the sewing machine. So, my bulk bobbin strategy actually solves two problems at once.

Since we are all budget conscious these days, I want to pass along a simple tip for saving on thread. A lot of thread is wasted every time the thread is cut after completing a seam or a line of string piecing. I reduced my thread use 30 percent simply by never cutting the threads from my sewing machine. As an extra bonus, this also conserves bobbin thread so the bobbins don’t have to be changed as often.

While I am piecing a quilt project, I keep some patches for a second project handy. Whenever I finish a set of seams for my primary project, I feed a seam for the secondary project through the machine. Then I clip the thread between the pieces for the two different projects. 

I borrowed this concept from my childhood experiences dining at my grandmother’s home. She insisted that one use a piece of bread as a “pusher” to get difficult foods (like peas) onto one’s fork. I think of my pieces from the second project as a “pusher” to push the pieces of my real project through the sewing machine. If you use a project you’ve lost interest in for your “pusher” pieces, you’ll find yourself finishing off some UFO’s. Again, two problems solved at once–you’ll save thread and finish your UFO’s. It doesn’t get better than that!

Happy Quilting!

Cate