Sidewinder Bobbin Winder
Why is it that bobbins always run out just before you get to the end of the seam? Then you have to go through the process of unthreading the machine, winding a bobbin, and threading the machine again. To non-quilters, this might sound minor, but for all of us who throw up our hands in disgust when the bobbin runs out, it’s a major annoyance.
Enter the Sidewinder Bobbin Winder. With the Bobbin Winder, the bobbin will still run out just before the end of the seam, but now you don’t have to unthread and rethread your machine. This handy gadget comes in it’s own little carrying case and winds bobbins.
Here’s what I’ve learned from using mine:
- Keep an eye on it so the bobbins don’t overfill. If it stops too soon, hold the green button to keep it going. If you don’t want the bobbin to fill all the way, you can stop it by releasing the sensing lever.
- If you use different types and weights of thread you can adjust the tension using the white tension knob.
- For slippery thread (metallic, etc.), I threaded a long tail onto the bobbin, and slowed the winding down by keeping a finger on the spool. Once the thread was securely started, I let it go full speed.
- Make sure bobbin is all the on the winding spindle, otherwise thread may wrap around the spindle instead of the bobbin.
The Sidewinder works for most, but not all bobbins.
Would you like your own Sidewinder? Post a comment with your most tangled bobbin story and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a free Sidewinder (we have 12 to give away). The winner will be chosen at random from all comments made by 9 AM PST on Friday, 4/24.
Thanks to the manufacturer, Wrights, for providing this fabulous give-away!
61 Comments
No great stories of a tangled bobbin, the bobbin and I just don’t always get along (I imagine it’s really a tension problem), just that awful birds nest that appears underneath my fabric as I’m sewing sometimes. It hasn’t happened in awhile, hope I didn’t jinx it by talking about it!
My sewing machine sits downstairs in our basement and at one point it kept getting moved around the whole room. No one seemed to notice that the bobbin was hooked on the machine and the end of the thread had been caught on a 3 ringed notebook which sat where the machine had originally been sitting. By the time I got to move the machine where it should be the entire bobbin (which was full to begin with) had been unwound and spread around the entire basement. The only thing keeping it together was the notebook and the bobbin which was on the machine. I ended up having to cut the thread to be able to get it unwound from everything. It looked like a tangled spider web in the whole room.
My worst bobin story would have to be when I was trying to finish quilt squares for a grandchilds baby quilt. The bobbin got all messed up underneath un benounced too me and when it finally got soooooooo entagled that it wouldn’t sew ” I couldn’t get the material out of the sewing machine. I wound up having to cut the peice of material out of the machine what a mess!!!!!!!!!!!
My worst bobbin story…..well, I tried to load some of the dreaded monofilament thread onto a bobbin – thought I had done ok, until I placed it into my bobbin case, unwound like top and took me an hour to get it all out, had to cut alot of it. I never liked that kind of thread before and now, for sure, never will. I use it only on the top and a light grey thread on the bottom!!!
So far my worse bobbin story has only been that I am sewing along without one!! You stitch a complete seam and then notice that it falls apart because of no bobbin thread…
Would love to win a Sidewinder if they take Bernina bobbins…
I usually prewind 6 bobbins at a time.
as I finish winding them I put them on the sewing table
I had 5 done the phone rang and my youngest DD wanted to know if they would roll like a ball, as I was on the phone in the next room
she lined them up and pushed them down a hallway as if it was a horse race….it wasn’t funny at the time , but now it is!
very little was saved from the thread on the bobbins and what a tangled mess
Kathie
Not anything out of the ordinary except trying to teach my daughter to sew and for some reason would get the bird’s nest tangle when having her sew a felt pillow. Two bird’s nest, not just one. This was defeating the purpose of getting her interested in sewing. She just gave me the look, like I have had enough. Well maybe another time. Would love the chance for a sidewinder.
None of my bobbin tangles have been as strange as some of the ones already mentioned but I have ended up with tangles that had to be cut out of the machine. I have been thinking of buying a Sidewinder so I’d love to win one.
My worst experience was when I was sewing and not only was the fabric a mess, but the bobbin well was even worse. The sewing machinecabinet allowed me to get underneath the machine. I had to work from the bottom and the top to remove all the pieces of thread I had in there. It took me over an hour. It seemed like every bobbin I had did not want to wind properly and feed through correctly. I tried different threads and such, but nothing works. The best tactic I found is to only thread the bobbin half way and do several up to keep it from doing this.
No stories as bad as the ones above, but I absolutely hate having to unthread and rethread my machine to wind a bobbin. I have thought about buying one, so a free one would be nice!
My old machine was horrible at winding bobbins! THey were so sloppy and I never knew why. My new machine does them just fine, but it is a hassle to unthread the needle to wind a bobbin. I would like to win this gadget!
It would be truly wonderful to be able to wind a bobbin without having to unthread the machine. I always seem to have trouble and end up rethreading at least twice. Probably impatience!
I have wanted a little more info on these, thanks for sharing! I haven’t ever had issues with my bobbin, but I wonder if that can be attributed to always sewing on Bernina’s? Still, we have had motors on bobbin winders eventually wear out on our oldest of Bernina’s (35 years?) and this would help to save a trip to the repair shop. If it would fit the HQ 16 bobbins, even better! Their included bobbin winder is so cumbersome!
Have experience in having to cut thread and fabric out of the machine, have experience in chain piecing a bunch of blocks and realized after 10 or so that I no longer had thread in my bobin, have caugth my daughters pretending my bobin are yoyos and my cat thinking they are a mouse. Have also freshly re-wound a bobin and forgot to replace it in the machine and started piecing! You name it I have done it with a bobin.
I had a plastic bobbin that apparently had a nick in it. The thread got wrapped around the edge of the bobbin while winding and secured the bobbin to my machine winder post. What a mess. I finally took my sharp stencil blade and sawed thru the layers to release the bobbin for disposal.
I have a baby-size sewing machine that works like a dream except the bobbin winder doesn’t work. I NEED this sidewinder! no, really! LOL
As a former Family Studies-Home Economics teacher I think I have seen everything that can be done to a bobbin in a machine! Machines with bobbin cases were a headache. Students forgetting to put them back and then the next class couldn’t sew until I looked in their baskets for the lost case!
I , too, hate it when I run out of bobbin thread and keep on sewing and yes, I have had some messes that took a while to cut out.
I would love to have a bobbin winder.
Occasionally I use clear monofilament thread. One time, when winding the bobbin, I didn’t push the bobbin all the way down on the spindle. I stepped on the peddle and before I noticed it, I had a tangled knot of clear monofilament wound all around the spindle and the bobbin. I ended up cutting the whole mess free.
When my thread comes off the tension knob on my machine, unbeknownst to me, the thread on the bobbin is wound crazily. It is usually unusable. I would love to win a sidewinder.
Do all bobbins go to heaven? I love this little magic box for winding. Saves so much frustration! A quilter angel invented this I am sure.
Once, I placed a freshly wound bobbin in machine and started piecing away, on a roll. I had a large stack of pieces cut out and ready to sew together, and didn’t think to stop and check to see if everything was okay after one or two sets. After chain piecing at least three yards worth of material, I stopped to do some pressing, only to discover something had happened with the bobbin tension, and the undersides of all the work I’d done was an utter disaster – tangled and messy and completely unusable. I spent a lot of time with the scissors and seam ripper that afternoon… Now, whenever I put in a new bobbin, I always check to make sure things are okay after one or two sets before I really get going.
Tangled bobbins – here is a salutory tale. I have several machines – dont we all – and often sew or fill bobbins on one whilst another is embroidering. I am not really used to plastic bobbins but decided to do “a mass fill” for a large project. I wonder why all the threads were flying about from my beautfiul home made thread stand!!!!!!!!
Not only had the thread totally wound around the winder spindle and underneath as well – miles of it, but the flywheel wouldnt move -
six different colours of thread were eventually extracted from the machine. It took my hubby days.
Despite modern machines having the capability to sew/embroider and bobbin wind this is one person who will never try that trick again.
I have a Bernina and a Janome machine. When the Janome bobbin is wound it looks like a tornado (fat on one end, skinny on the other), unless I literally guide it up and down with my finger. The Bernina winds great but I have to unthread the machine to do it. The side winder would be a great help!
I don’t have any bobbin horror stories except for sewing long seams without any bobbin thread! So annoying!
I’ve had my bobbin tangle under the machine and had to cut the fabric and miles of thread out. I’ve also had it mess up on the winder and tons of thread wasted on the winder spindle.
I would love to win one of these. Thanks so much for the chance to win.
Just last week I was doing some raw edge applique work and although everything was working, all of a sudden something went wrong. The thread was gathered on the bottom, it look like a cat might have been underneath the machine (I don’t have a cat so that eliminated that possibility). I redid all of the adjustments, rethreaded the machine, and it worked for a few moments. Once again, the same things. After the fourth time I did all of the above I decided there had to be another possibility. The brand X thread (a polyester invisible thread from a well know company) might be the problem. Since this was a first time for me, I had another well known brand and I made the change. Viola!!! It worked perfectly and no more problems. When talking with my quilt store owner today, she has had the same problem with the same thread in her machine, a different sewing machine company.
So if you have a problem look for another way to solve your problem.
Jane
Georgia Gal
I am new at sewing and still trying to figure out how to do things. This would be a great prize to win.
As many before me that dreaded tangle of thread and fabric has also visited me. Very annoying cutting it out. Have also experienced the bobbin tangling in the shuttle. Argggg. Thank you for the tips. Have often wondered about this little gadget.
The stories everyone has posted has let me know that I am not alone when it comes to problems with bobbins while sewing. I thought it was me since I have just gotten back in to sewing and my machine isn’t one of the most expensive types. Thanks everyone!
I would dearly LOVE to have one of these and NOT have to rethread the machine … AGAIN !!!
I’ve quilted & sewed for some time and have any number of “tangled tales” to tell but the most comical was when our 2 cats decided to take off with some … out the door, down the hall across the house they went. I came back later to find them both looking very guilty and our littlest guy caught up in one MAJOR tangle and looking NOT too happy about it !!
Cats and quilting … wouldn’t be the same without them, would it??
I have no tangled bobbin story…..all I can say is that’s just the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time!!!
I have to unthread the machine to wind a bobbin. UH! After reading about the bobbin winder in this story, I will seriously think about buying one. My worst story about tangled bobbin thread involves the bobbin tension being off and me not knowing how to fix it. A very frustrating experience.
Your hints addressed an extremely frustrating problem that I used to have with my former machine. I would be winding away and all of a sudden the end of the bobbin would pop off. I was especially frustrated when I had wound the last of a special colored thread onto a bobbin that I could not use and could never salvage the thread! I came to realize that it happened when the bobbin was too full. But, it was always a guessing game – how far to wind without popping and still have a fair amount of thread on the bobbin???? I didn’t always win.
I have found with use of the side-winder that you may have to hit the green “go” button at the same time you hold some tension on the thread from the bobbin to get it to start winding. Thanks for the tip on having the bobbin all the way down—I have experienced the thread being wound around the spindle—THAT is a mess and frustrating! Took me 45 minutes to unravel and “free” the bobbin!
I think the sidewinder is a great investment for anyone… especially me! There is nothing more annoying when sewing than when the bobbin runs out… and you’re right… it is always just before the end. And I must be the biggest dork out there because I always forget how to use the machine to load the bobbin back up…
Great giveaway.
I hate it when the thread catches and makes a nest . I have used a sidewider and find it very light. It will slide off the table if I am not careful.
I haven’t really had any bobbin problems, other than running out of thread at the most crucial moment….. making smooth feathers in free-motion quilting.
I have never tried the side-winder…. might be nice to have.
I use a Featherweight for workshops and love it for piecing, however, when I wind the bobbin, the bobbin wheel does not entirely engage with the belt.
I use a Featherweight for workshops and love it for piecing, however, when I wind the bobbin, the bobbin winding wheel does not entirely engage with the belt. As a result, the bobbin spins without winding thread as much as it spins winding thread – and it takes forever to fill.
My story has happened more then once and always when I’m in a hurry to finish a project. While winding a new bobbin it explodes.
there is nothing worse than the times you NEED a clean, correctly filled bobbin to insert during a critical time in the quilting process and BOOM there you are–totally out of thread, and now you need to stop, fill the bobbin, reinsert (of course now you have totally ruined the rhythm AND placement of the thread and needle in the quilt process). BUT–Oh wait–now there is a way to fill the bobbin AND keep the needle going AND keep the rhythm! of course–the SIDWINDER BOBBIN WINDER. Now WHY didn’t I think of this before? someone else always comes up with a great idea :(
I was in the process of finishing a postcard quilt (slightly past deadline!) and ran out of bobbin thread 2 inches from finishing the satin stitch to outline the card. In addition to the frustration of running out this close to the end, it is very hard to stop and start satin stitching smoothly. To add to the aggravation, the bobbin winder on my machine wouldn’t work. I finally wound it partly by and partly on my other sewing machine (which uses a different size bobbin so it didn’t work very well). GRRRRRR!
Oh my gosh! I have a bad bobbin story for you!! Picture yourself arriving to take a class with people you haven’t met before and guess what, in the middle of this class, your bobbin runs out…you think, it’s ok, won’t take but a minute…WRONG…it choise just this time to mess up! I had thread tangled all below the bobbin. I was so embrassed in front of these ladies…lol…they were so helpful and patient with my class interuption! I would LOVE a Sidewinder!!! Thanks so much!
Years ago, my faithful machine began to have problems winding bobbins, even after servicing. I had to take a drastic measure of buying a ‘back up’ machine – a circa 1950s 2-tone blue Brother machine. It sewed a great seam too. :-) How I could have used a side-winder back then! I still have the “blue two-tone”. :-) It’s too cute!
I demonstrated the bobbin winder to my friends when we were gathering for a get together using people powered machines. I was using a Singer 99 handcrank and this winding a bobbin is much more enjoyable with the bobbin winder than it is winding the bobbin by hand. Several of my friends went out and bought their own bobbin winder.
I guess it’s not the worst, but by far very annoying—to continue sewing and at the end of a seam–no bobbin thread in half the line of stitching!
I love to have many bobbins wound and ready to go. When you are sitting down at the machine I hate to stop and wind a bobbin. The sidewinder is a great addition to any quilter .
This handy little tool could save a lot of time, especially when you are in the middle of quilting and your bobbin gets full…
Nice bit of thought there
When I started quilting the only sewing machine that I had was the 35 years old machine owned by my mother. One day the bobbin winder stopped to work and I asked help to my husband who tried to repair it but he only modified some machine components but the winder worked only for few minutes so no more I had any machine for sewing. Some time later I bought a new machine.
The old machine is able to sew just now but not to wind bobbins, it is up to 40 years old! I wind bobbins for it with an other sewing machine, I have a little quilting shop now and a spare sewing machine is OK some times. The side bobbins winder would fine for me. Sorry for my english I’m italian!
Recently I was in the middle of a project, I was machine button-holing. I ran out the bobbin thread I had been using and when the bobbin was empty I thought I would use the rayon that I was using on the top. It was hard getting the thread to start on the bobbin and after a few trys I got it going when I used a very very long tail. I was humming away not paying much attention, when I looked down at the bobbin, it had wound around the bottom of the spool holder! I mean, lots and lots of winding!! After I removed all the thread from the spool holder, I noticed that the bobbin itself looked kinda funny and had little ‘heads’ sticking out in various places. I ended up taking all the thread off of it and there were huge loops and tangles that I had to literally cut and pull, individually. What a mess…lesson learned…pay attention!
I didn’t think my new sewing machine wound the bobbin full enough, so I loosened up the screw and set the stop latch over a bit. I didn’t bother reading the instructions first about the automatic bobbin winding feature…and how to STOP! Thread not only overfilled the bobbin, but it wound onto the spindle and down into the machine. I ended up having to take it back within days of my purchase. I was so embarassed! Everyone knew I didn’t read the directions first!
I bobbin story is funny now but not when it happened. My wonderful husband Tim wanted a quilt made with camouflage materials. He cut out all the squares and put them into the pattern he wanted, with the undertanding that I would sew them together. We were going along at a great pace when the phone rang. I went to answer it. While I was on the phone I thought I heard something in the sewing room. I got off the phone and found Tim on the floor under the machine. He thought he could pick up where I had stopped and keep sewing. He did not know that with my machine you have to hold the thread when you start sewing a new seam. He had sewn about 3 inches when the machine stopped. He was uner the machine plugging and unplugging the power cord to see why it had stopped running. There was so much thread knotted underneath that I had to cut the fabric to get it out. Needless to say, Tim is not allowed to touch my beloved Bernina ever again. I would love a bobbin winder and promise not to let Tim touch it if I win.
I am a busy sewer and this sidewinder would be a really needed aide to sewing for me! I make dresses for my daughter who with her family is in the Civil War reenactments and her dresses require yards and yards of fabric to be sewn and the sidewinder would be such a time saver. Thank you for this opporutnity to win one!
Virginia
well I don’t have a horror story about bobbins but I do know two things about them:
1: No matter how many I have I never seem to have enough and 2: I always seem to run out of thread on the bobbin right before I finish the project I’m working on.
I was rushing to complete my daughter’s prom dress and had taken the day off on her prom to make some 11th hour adjustments. The fabric was a turquoise satin overlaid with a matching embroidered lace. My daughter wears size 4 shoes and because we didn’t find the perfect shoes until the night before, we had some last minute hem changes to make. In the middle of trying to make a rolled edge on the satin, the thread in the bobbin ran out. My Viking machine has a lever that must be fully engaged for the bobbin winder properly work and stop the needle from operating, and in my rush, it wasn’t. My daughter’s dress was too close to the needle, and made needle holes into the satin (which is not easy to hide!) and sewing the lace into the satin.
I ended up having to recut the hem to hide the needle marks and separate the two fabrics and making a hand sewn rolled hem, barely finishing in time.
No unusual bobbin problems. I’ve had an occasional bird nest & a couple of bobbins run out of thread at very inappropriate times. The Sidewinder has to be a great timesaver. The suggestions for optimal use were fantastic. Thanks.
Mary K
ADHD runs in the family but I’m the first to also suffer from Explosive Bobbin Syndrome. While attempting to sew my way through a lingerie project and being new to using nylon thread, the plastic bobbin kept simply cracking and seemingly adhering it’s self to the bobbin winder. I kept thinking (through 3 exploded attempted refills) that it was me . Finally I stopped and searched out an answer. Physics was to blame (as always). Friction, heat and expansion were getting in the way of my refills. No medical intervention, just slow and I mean filling was the solution.
Tjhis notion would be great. I go thru so many bobins a day when I am on a roll. Right now I am trying to make 200 stockings for the potoloons that our parish has adopted.
Thanks
a
It seems to take me 6 or 7 tries to get the bobbin to start winding. I get very impatient when it doesn’t want to wind and then it often doesn’t fill the bobbin evenly; most of the thread ends up on one side or the other. . Then, it doesn’t fill the bobbin up all of the way. You would think that such an expensive machine would do a better job. But then, maybe it’s me! I would soooo love to have a Sidewinder. It would make my life glorious.
My grandson got a hold of some of my bobbins and made a huge gigantic mess out of all the threads. They were so dangled together and I lost a lot of thread cleaning them up. But, thats what I get for letting him play with them, but it did keep him busy for a while.
Worst bobbin story–wound a whole bobbin on my machine–and it wound so tight I couldn’t get it off! So I had to unwind and rewind the bobbin by hand!