Down Under

Forget Australia. This one's about bobbins and bobbin threads. Tucked away under the thread plate, bobbins and bobbin threads are sometimes out of sight and out of mind. But the right bobbin thread can make a big difference.

I have a confession to make. I hate winding bobbins. That means I love using pre-wounds. First of all, pre-wounds can hold up to 3 times as much thread as the bobbins that you wind yourself. When I'm in the middle of a machine quilting project, I really hate to have to stop and change the bobbin - it stops the creative flow. So being able to keep going for longer is a big plus for me. And when the bobbin does eventually run out, I have another all ready to slip in. I don't have the aggravation of winding a bobbin myself. It's pure convenience and I'm grateful for it every time.

Precision factory winding means the bobbin thread is wound evenly. And that's the second reason to consider pre-wounds. Even winding is a big issue for many machines. An uneven winding can cause thread breakage and other tension related problems. At the Superior Threads Seminar last week we needed to wind some bobbins for a project. All the gals at my table were laughing at the wonky bobbins that our machines were coming up with. We gave up in the end and used some pre-wounds.The precision factory winding on the Superior Threads pre-wounds is so tight and even that you can take off the cardboard sides and the thread still stays on the bobbin. Hard to believe but true!

Most of the machines on the market (70%) will take pre-wounds. You can follow this link to the Superior Threads education pages to check on the compatibility of your machine. If you're sewing machine savvy, you can also just try one out. If you're in the UK contact me (use this link http://www.machinequilter.co.uk/ to the website and click contact us) and I'll send you a freebie to try out. If you're in the USA Superior Threads offer a 'Try me Special' of 6 pre-wound bobbins in assorted colors for $4.00. I use a Janome 6600 for piecing and a JUKI TL98 P for free-motion machine quilting on my table-top New English Quilter frame. Both machines take pre-wounds without any problems. Next post I'll talk about what type of threads are good to use in the bobbin and why.