decided to totally unwind around the handwheel! What a mess. and of course I was in the middle of a project:( .The thread broke and I could not get it out. Thank goodness no permanent damage. So I will not be putting any bobbins there again! lol...

Glad you have your baby back home. Helen

I did the same thing, but was sitting at the machine and was able to stop it fairly quickly. I still lost a lot of thread. Yuck!

Don't you just hate it when we get our machines sick. Glad you got it taken care of. Frustrating to have it down during any time of year but especially now.

I have a Viking Diamond, and when it was very new I had an extra spool of thread on the right of the holder. It unwound into the wheel as well. The machine kept saying "motor overload" and I kept trying to find out what was wrong. Finally went to dealer. He took one look, popped off the wheel cover and laughed. I have been sewing since I was 4, and am now a senior, and I never would have known to look there. Am much more careful, but have learned to "listen" when my machine talks to me! I can tell when a thread breaks before the machine tells me now. The regular tick tick tick is just different. I, too, do other projects in the room while I ME, because too many times I have heard it and stopped the machine (broken needle, etc) before it became a major problem. I like the tubing cover idea, but don't know if i would ever find one on the floor if I dropped it (lol).
Linda

1 comment

by meganne 05 Dec 2010

Well just don't drop them! LOL!!!

I should talk, I am always dropping things, and usually I'll drop the same thing 2 or 3 times within a few minutes, so very frustrating isn't it? Especially when the item doesn't break the first two times you drop it but breaks on the third drop. Aaaaaaargh!!! :-)

Wow what a lesson learned the hard way. I don't have a multi spool holder but I can soooo see myself doing that. Looks like a good bobbin holder to me--not. Thanks for the warning.

A friend of mine had a whole stack of extra bobbins on the spool holder. The tails of all those threads got pulled with the thread going into her tension and completely seized up the machine. This was a regular sewing machine, and again not a huge fix, but a lesson to be learned just the same.

Same happened with my sewing machine. Now I have to give her a kick with the handwheel to start sewing and for a long time the needle also moves when I spooled bobbin thread :o(
Greetings, Bettina

Glad that your machine is OK. It is interesting that small things can cause problems for us

That sounds awful - glad you have it back now.

I forgot to mention how lucky you REALLY were!
Someone once told the horror story that the thread had been sucked inside the handwheel, down into the main drive shaft, which caused it to seize and the whole computer unit burnt out.
Hugs n roses, Meganne

Perhaps you should make some bobbin thread covers.

Go to the local hardware store, buy a length of the 5mm "Clear Vinyl Tubing". It is 5mm (2") in CIRCUMFERENCE not diameter.
Using a very sharp knife (I use large Friskars soft touch scissors) cut off narrow circles thin enough to fit INSIDE your bobbins.

Then cut an opening, diagonally across each circle, (so you can open it) then place the circle of clear vinyl around the thread on your bobbins making sure the loose end of thread is not hanging free.

Bobbin mess solved!
Hope this saves you from ever having to go through that trauma again.
hugs n roses, Meganne

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9 comments

by beatie58 04 Dec 2010

WOW! I am off to the hardware....this is such a great idea...Hugs Sally

by shirlener88 05 Dec 2010

Meg, tell us about the long holder (grey) you put your bobbins in - after you put the tubing on your bobbins.

by mops 05 Dec 2010

Meganne, you come up with the most useful ideas!!

by asterixsew 05 Dec 2010

Meganne this is a brilliant idea and one that I will put to use over the holidays

by nhsmith55 05 Dec 2010

This is a great idea! Thanks

by workbecky 05 Dec 2010

Great idea.

by meganne 05 Dec 2010

Shirlene those bobbin holders came with the Viking Designer Diamond machine, they sit inside the accessories section of the Embroidery unit and the ordinary machine unit that slides onto the machine.

I don't use the ordinary accessory unit so I pulled the bobbin holder out and just keep it in the desk drawer with a few spare bobbins in it.

My favourite bobbin storage is the bobbin enviro tube, that used to be available from Shoppersrule, they don't have them any more and I keep hoping they will get them again, they are the absolute best storage ever.
Hugs n love, Meg

by ramona 05 Dec 2010

Thanks Meganne for the info. Neat trick and save those $$

by greysewist 05 Dec 2010

Meganne were you peeking yesterday, as I rewound all the bobbins that had their thread come loose on the way back from a recent sewing retreat? Lol. They were in one of those square bobbin trays and became such a mess! Great idea, thanks!

When my machine was new this happened to me - fortunately no major damage - Bernina sorted it chop chop - at an unecessary cost - so all extra spools stay far away.

Read something that said never to get further away than two feet from your machine. I gather stuff to do while waiting for a design to finish so it isn't wasted time.

Glad it wasn't major!

I must say that I have never had that problem, which surprised me because I can usually manage to get most things to go wrong at some point. I am glad you have your machine back.
Alice

that is also a reason i never leave my machine unattended, what can go wrong will.
bev