All your craft needs: Let's Sew Part 2

Good morning!

I promised you an introduction to my Betsy so here she is:

I have taken a photo of Betsy to help me show you some of the most obvious bits and pieces of her anatomy - like Nanny, Betsy is ~~really old~~ getting on in years, but can still mix it with the younger ones. J

Together, we have sewn everything including clothes, quilts, curtains, bags, toys and have spent many happy hours together.

Now I know you have been reading your manuals, so even if you have a different machine, you should be able to find the same sort of thing on yours too!

To prepare for sewing, we need to wind a bobbin and thread the machine – most machines have easy to follow directions for both of these jobs so here are a couple of tips:

If you look closely at your bobbin, you will notice a little hole on each side. Take the thread and feed through the hole from the inside of the bobbin out. Then, holding that, wind the thread around the bobbin a few times.

Now put the bobbin onto the bobbin spool, and following your manual instructions, wind your bobbin. When the bobbin is full, remove it and snip that thread through the hole off as close to the bobbin as you can. Your bobbin is now ready to put into the bobbin holder.

To thread your machine start by putting the spool onto its holder.

Tip: If your spool is lying down like the one on Betsy, put it so that the thread pulls away from the grooved end of the spool – this will stop the thread catching and jamming.

Now we need to lift the bobbin thread. Holding the needle thread in your left hand, wind the balance wheel slowly towards you until the needle goes down and back up. There you will see a loop over the thread you are holding – that is the bobbin thread- so pull the loop until you get the end out, then take both the needle and bobbin threads under the presser foot and towards the back.