Bobbin cases. They seem to be the hardest thing for users of Brother/BabyLock machines to understand, and I feel it’s because of the way that the manual is written, leading the reader to focus on certain words. It’s not the manual writer’s fault, it’s a comprehension loss between our two languages, and it happens all of the time. It’s all good, because I’m about to explain it to you, and your bright light will come on, and you will have that ‘Ah ha!’ moment that we all love to have. 🙂

These are the three bobbin cases that you will see used in most of our machines: the green screw, the alternate, and the bobbin work case. They don’t all come with every machine, so don’t get all worried right away that you don’t have all three.  The older combo machines came with all three, while newer combos just come with the green screw and the purple dot. Embroidery only machines just come with the purple dot. The bobbin work case, if you didn’t get one, can be purchased in a separate kit to do bobbin work.

This is your green screw case, because well, it has a green screw. See it there, right at the bottom? When you buy a combo machine, or a sewing/embroidery machine, this case comes IN your machine.  This case’s tension is factory set for use with the Brother bobbin thread that comes packed with your machine. That bobbin thread is 60wt. This case is for both SEWING and EMBROIDERY. BOTH. Not for just sewing, not for just embroidery, for both things. When you sew, and use your regular sewing thread, it’s weight works well in this case, at this setting. Brother wants you to be able to unpack your machine, and be able to sew, and embroider, right away, with whatever materials and supplies they give you in the box, so they make sure that you have a bobbin case that works for either sewing or embroidery. That’s green paint on that screw. This case is not adjustable, as they put Loc-Tite on the threads when they set it, so it stays at the perfect tension for you. Don’t try to adjust it, as if you move it, the residue that breaks away from the threads in the screw will keep it from being able to stay in one position again, and it will slip…and at that point, it’s useless. Now, can you use this with other brands of thread? Absolutely! Try it with other 60 weight threads, and see. If you have trouble, like your bobbin thread is showing on top of your fabric, then you will need to use your alternate case. Let’s talk about that one.

This is your alternate case, or purple dot case. Most of the time, it WILL have a purple dot in it, but I’ve seen blue, red, and on older machines, pink. And sometimes…there is NO dot. If it doesn’t have a green screw….it’s an alternate case. This case comes pre set from the factory, too, with a little tighter tension, for use with 90wt bobbin thread. You get this case with combo machines, and this is the only case that comes with embroidery only machines. Now here’s where I feel that the wording of the manual has propagated some bad information. This is what is says is most manuals:

Ok, lets talk about this. There are sooooo many people out there who think that this case is for embroidery only. Guess what? It’s not for embroidery only. It for both sewing AND embroidery. But I can see why people might think that it’s for embroidery only; do you see the word sewing anywhere? Nope. And really, if you were not supposed to sew with it, wouldn’t it state that?  You can use this case for any weight of thread you want to. Say you wanted to sew with some heavy upholstery wt threads…what case would you use? Not that green screw case, you can’t. Its for 60 wt thread, and upholstery thread might be say, 30 wt. Your tension wouldn’t be right. So that leaves you with the alternate case, which you would adjust. The manual also tells us to use this case with prewounds. Why? This is what I think: remember that our manual is written in Japan. And to them, prewounds are the bobbins that are cardboard, filled with bobbin thread. Brother doesn’t make those. So to make sure that you have a case to use, they tell you to put them in the alternate case, as they can’t be sure they will work in the pre set green screw case, whether they are 60 wt or not. Because all 60 wt bobbin thread is not created equally.

So, if both cases can be used for both sewing and embroidery, can you use pre wounds in the green screw case? You sure can. You can use the cardboard sided prewounds, or the nice plastic reusable ones that Brother sells, then refill them yourself. You may need to use the little metal disc that is provided with your machine. What? What do you mean, “what little disc?” Ok, I’ll wait while you go look through your stuff. It’s in a little zip lock, with instructions.

The instructions tell you that if you want to use the INCLUDED prewounds, use the green screw case. That’s because the included prewounds have Brother 60 wt bobbin thread wound on them, to work perfectly in your green case.Then they go on to recommend another brand to use in the green case that works well, Coats….but they are L type, which means you would need to use the spacer…which is why it’s included. See, they just want you to be able to embroider without fail.

This is the light gray bobbin work case. As I said before, not all machines come with it. It’s for doing specialty work, bobbin work. Bobbinwork is a technique that places heavy decorative threads on the surface of the fabric, sewn as machine-fed decorative stitches or as freemotion stitches. Typically, these threads, yarns, and cords are too large to fit through the eye of the sewing machine needle. This case is adjustable too…it has to be, as you will be feeding a variety of weights of thread through it. And…this case can be used for normal sewing and embroidery, too…you just have to adjust it for whatever weight of bobbin thread you are using.

So, you are having issues with your machine. Thread nesting, breakage, bad stitchouts in general. One of the things you should look at is the condition of your bobbin case. The thread needs to smoothly sweep over the top of the case, so if there is anything that might snag it, it causes problems. Look at the above picture of the bobbin case. See the hook, in the upper right part of it? It’s pretty chewed up. This won’t fly. If your hook is just a little ragged, you can use a nail file to smooth it out…but this one is a goner. This case also has another issue: look at the square hole, just to the left of the hook: it’s been hit more than a few times by a needle. This case needs to be replaced. Continued use of this case makes for a bad day of sewing/embroidering.

So there you have it. The ins and outs of your cases, and what they are for, straight from your manual. Or from me, however you want to look at it. 🙂

Sew on….

Melanie