Stack ‘n Store Bobbin Tower | National Sewing Month

I had the pleasure of chatting with today’s guest, Nancy Zieman back at Spring Market and am excited to welcome her back to the blog for National Sewing Month.

Stack ‘n Store Bobbin Tower

by Nancy Zieman

A special thank you to Heather for asking me to share the features of one of my favorite sewing tools! Choosing one is difficult. Much like asking which of your kids you like best. But since the task at hand was to choose just one, I looked around my work and home sewing studios, plus checked out my sewing set for Sewing With Nancy at the TV station and found that I have at least three Stack ‘n Store Bobbin Towers. (You only need one, sometime I’m slightly obsessive.)

The Stack ‘n Store Bobbin Tower has six bobbin wheels on a stand. See thread colors at a glance.

Each wheel holds five bobbins. The Stack ‘n Store Bobbin Tower organizes up to 30 bobbins.

Wrap loose thread ends around bobbin. Slide bobbin into wheel section. Stack wheels on bobbin tower stand.

Bobbin Thread Showcase

Bobbin thread generally takes a back stage role. Since this blog features bobbin thread, I’d like to show you how to bring the bobbin thread to the forefront I call the technique, Undercover Stitching!

I wound a few bobbins with 12 wt. decorative thread and stored the extra ones in my Stack ‘n Store Bobbin Tower. Then, added undercover decorative stitching to the fabric of my Tablet Keeper, a cover for my iPad.

Undercover Stitching How-to

During the first program of the 2-part Sewing With Nancy series, Sew Techie Covers, I detail the undercover stitching technique. You can watch this program and 51 other program online! Or, watch on Public TV.

In this first episode you’ll learn these three easy stitching techniques:

1. E-appliqué tips
2. How to Stitch Techie Circles
3. Undercover Stitching accents.

These easy stitching techniques are all great ways of personalizing a cover for your iPad, original Kindle, or a larger Tablet. Intrigued? Just click and watch! To create these great ideas, I used Clover’s E-Tablet & Paper Tablet Keeper Templates—a product that I designed!

Undercover Stitching Showcase

I know that not all of you click to watch the video, sigh… To give you a little idea of what you may be missing, here are the highlights of one of the three easy stitching techniques, Undercover Stitching (otherwise known as bobbin work).

• Wind 6- or 12-weight thread in the bobbin, using conventional bobbin winding techniques. I selected Madeira’s Decora 6 wt. thread. Note: If your machine has difficulties winding heavier thread, wind the thread by hand. Thread the needle with all-purpose thread.

• Insert the bobbin into the bobbin case.
• Back the fabric with interfacing, and add a second stabilizer and length of interfacing in the stitching area. Then, arc the stitching line on the wrong side of the fabric.
• Choose a nonsatin, decorative stitch. An outline or open stitch is best suited for bobbin work. Lengthen the stitch for best results. Test the stitch on a sample fabric.

• Check the look of the stitch on the right side. My test stitch had a few hiccups! So, I adjusted the settings, lengthening the stitch. It doesn’t always go perfectly for me either!

• Helpful Hint! Some machines handle heavier thread in the bobbin if you bypass the bobbin case tension. In short, don’t pass the thread through the bobbin case tension guide.
• Also, test a variety of stitch settings, lengthening/shortening or narrowing/widening the stitch length and/or width. A straight stitch is also ideal! A narrower stitch width setting was used for the strap.

The Undercover Stitching idea is just one of 12 techniques found in Sew Techie Covers! Check out all the options!

Watch Sewing With Nancy on your iPad, iPod, or iPhone!

There are 52 Sewing With Nancy programs to watch online, or on your iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone. Have you downloaded the app?

Thank you Heather for asking me to share one of my favorite sewing notions and for celebrating national sewing month!

Bye for now,

Nancy Zieman—author, pattern designer, businesswomen, producer, and national sewing authority—is the host of the popular show Sewing With Nancy®, which appears exclusively on public television stations across the United States and Canada. Follow Nancy’s Blog at NancyZieman.com/Blog and sign up to receive Nancy’s E-News for the latest news in Sewing, Quilting, & Creating.

Content in this feed is © copyright 2013 by Nancy Zieman and may not be republished without written permission. You’re welcome to forward the email to a friend or colleague but it’s not okay to add the RSS feed automatically as content on a blog or other website.

 

A big Thank You to Nancy for stopping by to visit again this year, she has been super busy this month!  Stay tuned, Sara from Craft Snob is wrapping up the month with her post tomorrow.

 

 

 

Oh and don’t forget, it’s giveaway time! There is still time to enter National Sewing Month 2013 giveaway for some of those amazing prizes! Check out the prize packages and enter to win here.

 

Hello! Are you new to The Sewing Loft? If so, I’m glad you stopped by and hope that something has inspired you to keep your needle moving!  Don’t miss a single project and subscribe via email HERE! Bonus- free embroidery pattern with newsletter sign up. Another great way to connect with me is via Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter , Google + or Follow my blog with Bloglovin.  I’m looking forward to getting to know you and creating together!