What to do when bobbin thread does not feed?

I have a toyota machine, the manual shows how to thread the cotton in
the bobbin case and then insert it into the shuttle. It suggests
leaving 4" of thread, but doesn't say what to actullay do with it
susequently. Should this thread be automatically picked up with
rotation of the handwheel and thus movement of the needle? It is not
and results in jammed cotton from the spool around the bobbin case.
Any ideas please. Are there any websites you can suggest which may
help. Many thanks, Colin

colinc wrote:
I have a toyota machine, the manual shows how to thread the cotton in
the bobbin case and then insert it into the shuttle. It suggests
leaving 4" of thread, but doesn't say what to actullay do with it
susequently. Should this thread be automatically picked up with
rotation of the handwheel and thus movement of the needle? It is not
and results in jammed cotton from the spool around the bobbin case.
Any ideas please. Are there any websites you can suggest which may
help. Many thanks, Colin


I know this seems strange, but usually jams below the fabric are a
result of too little tension in the _top_ thread. So, lift the presser
foot to take the tension off the tension disks and re-thread the
machine, making sure that the thread goes between the disks.

The top thread should then pick up the bobbin thread. You can see an
animated view of it he
http://home.howstuffworks.com/sewing-machine2.htm (second animation
down the page) and there should be another better one he
http://web.mit.edu/2.972/www/reports..._machine.htm-1
but for some reason all I'm seeing there is the HTML code.

HTH

Sally Holmes
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England

Thanks Sally. Having learnt how to feed the bobbin thread from the
previous correspondent I'm grateful for your suggestion re the tension.
The 'howstuffworks' website is excellent and makes the bobbin action
much easier to understand. Happy Easter. Colin

On 15 Apr 2006 13:12:59 -0700, "colinc"
wrote:

I have a toyota machine, the manual shows how to thread the cotton in
the bobbin case and then insert it into the shuttle. It suggests
leaving 4" of thread, but doesn't say what to actullay do with it
susequently.

Then you hold the end of the needle thread and turn the handwheel,
which should bring the bobbin thread up through the hole in the needle
plate. If only a loop of the bobbin thread comes up -- as is likely
with four whole inches dangling -- insert your seam ripper, awl,
bodkin, or some other thin device in the loop and pull up the end. I
pull it up by sweeping the awl toward the back of the machine, which
leaves the thread ends in a good place to set the presser foot on them
while taking the first stitch.

To be quite, quite sure the first stitch forms properly, hold the
thread ends in your left hand instead of trusting the presser foot to
hold them, and turn the hand wheel until the stitches secure the
threads for you.

I often start stitching on a small scrap of fabric and stitch off it
onto the seam, as one does when "chaining" seams.

(You chain seams by stitching off one onto the next without cutting
the thread in between. This practice speeds up the work considerably,
and prevents many problems. When the pieces are quite small, I may
leave them in a chain -- particularly helpful when I want to keep them
in the order in which they were stitched, as when making patchwork --
but a large piece is cut off the chain as soon as the next seam is
well started.)

Joy Beeson
--
http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/ -- needlework
http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/
http://n3f.home.comcast.net/ -- Writers' Exchange
joy beeson at comcast dot net