Aside from being fun to say, bobbins are a vital part of your sewing machine.
Essentially, a bobbin is a second spool of thread, or rather, it holds thread for a sewing machine and feeds it through the machine. The bobbin thread, alongside another piece of thread held on a spool somewhere on your machine's top or side, are the two thread sources you use to sew anything using your sewing machine.
The bobbin thread inside your machine is wrapped around a cylinder attached to thin wheels on either side. You can learn to wind a bobbin by hand, but these days, the majority of machines have a built-in bobbin winding system that loads the thread onto your bobbin for you.
The thread held on the spool is fed through a series of loops and into the needle's eye. The bobbin thread goes up through the plate and connects with the top thread to help secure a sturdy stitch.
Bobbins are made from either plastic, wood, or metal, depending on what type of machine you use. You must use the bobbins made for your specific machine, as the wrong bobbin can really mess up your tension. And should your bobbin be nicked, bent, cracked, or damaged in any way, toss it out and install a new one, as even the slightest damage to a bobbin can affect how the thread is pulled through.
Remember, you can never have too many bobbins! The initial three to five that come with your machine may be enough when you're just starting out, but once you get going, we can guarantee you'll need more!
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