Sadia’s Blog

Things that go “bump” in life

Ever wonder where there may be days that go smoothly without any mishaps, the embroidery machines stitch perfectly, there are never any problems, all your friends are friendly and talking to each other without you being the mediator etc…when without any notice…suddenly there is this “bump” that happens. All of a sudden, a needle breaks and then another and yet another…the auto threader stops working, the bobbin thread decides not to cooperate and no matter what you do it simply shows itself on top…. Then, all of a sudden, friends you thought were sincere and you knew them like an open book, trusted them, shared life events with…well, suddenly you find they are strangers. No longer you know them. LOL, you know what I’m talking about. Its called the “bump” in life time.

As far as the bobbin thread showing on top of your embroidery, no matter what you do…well, several tricks here. One thing you might as well get used to and that is to know the ups and downs of your embroidery machine. I refer to all my embroidery machines as people…dh likes to refer to them as female gender as they have moods. He thinks men do not have moods…well, that is a totally different topic, not for today. Actually your machines are very simple minded items. They require that you keep them clean, free of dust and lint and above all, make sure that when you have been running them constantly for days on end without stopping…take the time to oil and change needles. Sort of like the check up on  your car. I have a simple way of looking at the phenomenon where bobbin thread shows too much on top. First check all the bobbin area for lint and or little bits of fuzz. Also make sure that the bobbin is placed in the right way in the bobbin area, so it is coming off the bobbin correctly. I recently heard an interesting theory about bobbin threads…if it shows too much at top, take off about a yard or so from the bobbin and then place the bobbin back in the bobbin area and no more problems…Hmmm…wonder why? I have not really figured that out yet. But have figured out that in most cases lint and fuzz can cause bobbin thread to feed differently.

Logically, however, it is not the bobbin that is the culprit here but rather it is the top thread. The top thread pulls the bobbin to the top depending upon the tension it is set at. If the top thread is set at too loose tension, then the bobbin thread will pull it down to the backside of your embroidery. If it is set too tight (and believe me this is where I look first) then it will pull your bobbin thread to the top of your embroidery.

This setup actually is quite nice in certain types of embroidery. Recently I had purchased American and Efrid color pre-wound bobbins. Found out they are used by quilters and are 100% cotton. Not good for use in the bobbin area for long time of machine embroidery as they cause lots of lint but…they are excellent for machine embroidery if you are doing heirloom type of embroidry. This came about rather by chance but the effect was breathtaking. I was trying to stitch out a fsl crochet lace design (from my Tambour II collection) and the placemat that I wanted to place this fsl piece was a tan colored linen (from allaboutblanks.com ofcourse). I couldn’t find time to wind bobbins so the back could be the same and in my stash I found that I had almost matching color bobbin thread (American and Efrid-sp?) As the color difference was so minute I decided to go ahead and use it. Well, to my astonishment…and ofcourse totally by chance, I found that the bobbin thread being so lightweight was pulling quite a bit to the top. At first I was horrified as I had limited time. But as I washed out the laces, I was surprised to find that the feel and the look of the laces with the cotton bobbin thread gave them an antique look. Those friends who have seen this are also truly amazed at the look of the stitch outs. Actually I have  a dear friend who is an antique assessor and she could not tell that the placemat with the tambour 2 lace panels was an antique or modern.

I digress….so the “bumps” that happen in our lives. What do we do when they come about and how do we tackle them. There is anger, resentment, hurt, sadness etc…all types of emotions. Lately when this happened to me with someone whom I thought was a friend…I simply decided that it was her problem and let her figure life out for herself. I can see the raised eyebrow here asking me…Oh really Sadia…you would let a friend down so easily. Well, in my last five/six years of dealing with public and especially the variety of them, I have found one thing. Negativity yields negative attitude and depression. Positivity yields positivity and happiness. Do you now question what I should do? LOL.

So friends, let the “bump” either take care of itself or if you can, take care of it but be careful…don’t let it eat you up, it is not worth it….

(For those who may wonder what this is about…more on this later on. I’m still not done reading all the juicy stuff that I definitely think would be so great to share with all here soon).

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