How to Sew at SILab - Loading a Bobbin

Loading a Bobbin: If there is not already a bobbin loaded with the thread color you need, you will need to make one yourself. Take one of the empty bobbins from the thread drawer and push it onto the short metal and plastic peg at the back right corner of the top of the sewing machine. There is a slot on the inside of the bobbin that when lined up with the metal loop at the top of the peg will lock the bobbin in place during the loading process. After you hear the bobbin click into place, push the whole unit to the right, towards the metal arm sticking out. This will change the color of the start/stop button from red to yellow, indicating that the machine is now in bobbin winding mode. Next, you follow the numbered arrows with the dotted lines guiding the thread from the spool to the bobbin. First, you take the thread from the spool on the pin and bring it behind the plastic ledge to the immediate left. Then bring the thread down so it sits between the plastic and the metal guide. Hook the thread under the metal guide and bring the thread up so it is sandwiched between the metal and plastic on this side as well. For step 2, bring the thread back over to the right. You should be able to pull on it without too much resistance. Step 3 will be loading the thread around the tension setting disc for bobbin winding. This is one of the most important steps in bobbin winding as it makes sure that the thread is tightly and evenly wound on the bobbin. To start, hook the thread under the arm at the back of the metal plate. Then bring the thread up so it is between the metal wall at the left of the plate and the disc in the middle. To finish this step, pull the thread to the right again, making sure that it slides under the disc but is still on the plate. For step 4, pull the thread to the right until you have about 3 in or 9 cm of thread that goes beyond the edge of the body of the sewing machine. Take this thread and slide it under the clear plastic of the bobbin shell. Then wind it clockwise and tightly around the middle of the bobbin 4-6 times. You’ll want to make sure you still have about 1 in or 2.5 cm of thread left after winding so that you can complete the next step. After winding it several times, take whatever thread is left and guide it through the slot in the gray plastic under the bobbin base. Pull the thread to the right until it is tight and seems unlikely to shift. Then cut the excess thread close to the underside of the base to prevent it from tangling under the bobbin area. Now with the thread in place, it is time to actually wind the bobbin. Turn the machine to high speed with the slider on the front. Press and release the start/stop button on the front of the machine. The screen will then display a “winding bobbin” message and the bobbin and pin will start spinning. This is pulling the thread from the spool onto the bobbin. If you are not planning on doing a lot of sewing with a particular bobbin color, do not wind the bobbin until it is completely full. Once the bobbin has built up about 1/16th in or 2 mm of thread out from the center post, press the start/stop button again. If you are planning on sewing a full garment or doing a lot of embroidery, you may want to fill the bobbin completely. In this case, let the machine run until it starts to slow down or until the thread starts to hit the metal arm to the right of the bobbin. Once either of these happen, press the start/stop button again to stop the machine. Once it has stopped spinning, cut the thread connecting the bobbin to the spool. I recommend cutting so there is a 2 in or 5 cm tail of thread coming off the bobbin. Then pull the bobbin mechanism back to the left and pull the bobbin up and off of the pin. Slide the speed slider back down to a speed you would be comfortable sewing at. If you are using the same spool color for your sewing, you don’t need to remove the spool from the pin, but you will need to pull the thread back to the spool and out of the bobbin winding guides. This is because you will need to guide the spool thread through the numbered arrows with the solid lines to thread the sewing needle. Threading the Needle: Once you have the spool fully on the spool pin, you are ready to thread the needle. First, you will need to bring the needle to its highest point so that it will be in the right place for the needle threader. To do this you can either turn the dial on the right side of the machine towards you until the slight bump in the dial is at the top, or you can press the needle position button on the front of the machine once or twice until the needle is in the upright position. Both are circled in blue in the image. Once you have the needle in place, press the safety button on the front of the machine to make sure you don’t accidentally start the machine while your fingers are in the needle area. At the start of the threading process you will need to make sure the foot is lifted up. You can do this by lifting the lever at the back of the machine, circled in blue. With all of that complete, you can return to the spool pin area of the machine where you will follow the solid numbered lines with the thread down to the needle. Starting with step 1, you take the thread from the spool on the pin and bring it behind the plastic ledge to the immediate left. Then bring the thread down so it sits between the plastic and the metal guide. Hook the thread under the metal guide and bring the thread up so it is sandwiched between the metal and plastic on this side as well. For step 2, bring the thread to the left, going through the curved slot in the machine. Then bring it down towards the table, following the slot in the front of the machine. In step 3, pull the thread back up and to the left, hooking it around the curved plastic at the base between the two vertical slots in the machine. Pull the thread all the way up. For step 4, pull the thread along the outside edge of the slot: up, to the left, and down. You need to keep the thread tight and along the outside edge so that when you pull the thread down it will go into the eye of the hook inside the machine. You can see this hook in the third image or if you lean in close to the machine. Once you have the thread through the hook, pull it down towards the base of the sewing machine. For step 5, pull more thread out to both confirm that it didn’t get snagged anywhere and so that you have enough extra for the needle threading action. In step 6, push the thread behind the arm below the #6 on the machine. Then pull towards the left to pull the thread into the eye of the arm/post. This will help guide the thread into the eye of the needle as the machine is running. Step 7 is only if you are using the automatic needle threader, which in most cases is what you will want to do. Start by pulling the thread towards you and to the left. Guide it into the notch on the metal disc near the top of the needle. From there, pull the thread to the left and into the slot above the #7 so it is sandwiched between the grey plastic. Then pull the thread further to the left and up on the side of the machine is a protected blade that you can use to cut any excess thread. Now that the thread is fully through the machine, all that’s left is to use the automatic needle threader. For this process you need to lower the foot, using the lever on the back of the machine. Once the foot is lowered, slowly pull the lever on the left side of the machine (above the thread blade) down. As you pull it down, the mechanism from step 7 will drop and twist to push the thread through the eye of the needle. After the needle is threaded, the mechanism will pop back up and you can slowly raise the lever back to the top of the machine. You can also raise the foot again at this point. The threader pushes the thread through the eye of the needle, but before it can be used to sew, it needs to be adjusted, otherwise it will just be pulled out by the first movement of the machine. Grip the tail of the thread from the needle and pull it through the foot and towards the back of the machine. You should pull until there are about 2 in or 5 cm of thread coming from the needle. At this point the spool thread is fully set up and you can close the top cover of the machine if you wish. Leave the safety button pressed, you will still need the needle stopped for putting the full bobbin in the machine. Putting in a Bobbin: If it is not already engaged, press the safety lock button on the front of the machine before going to put in a bobbin. With the foot raised, you can access the small gray switch on the base of the sewing machine. Pull it to the right and the transparent bobbin cover will pop up, allowing you to lift and remove it. Before putting your bobbin into the machine, you need to make sure that it will unwind in the correct direction. If you are looking at the bobbin from the top down on the table, it should unwind from the left (counterclockwise), like in the image here and the drawing on the bobbin case. The image and arrows on the bobbin case show the path of the thread for loading in the bobbin. Pull out around 4 in or 10 cm of thread from the bobbin so that you have enough thread to feed it into the machine. Drop the bobbin into the main opening in the machine. Slide the thread tail under the plastic arm just below the bobbin and into the slot in the plastic. Bring the thread through the slot, following the full curve to the end. At the end of the slot is a small blade, pull the thread against it to cut the extra thread off if you are going to let the machine grab the bobbin thread automatically. In most cases, this is what you want to do. After cutting the thread, replace the clear cover over the bobbin area. Line up the end with the hole in the case and push it in and down until it clicks. Now the bobbin is ready to go and when you start sewing the machine will grab the thread automatically. Unlock the safety button on the front of the machine to get to the stitch selection menu and be able to start sewing.