DIY - Sewing Machine Cone Thread Conversion

I am going to let you in one my #1 trick of the trade. I have no idea HOW IN THE WORLD I came up with this, but it works, I have been using this technique for years, and I swear by it.

One of my biggest pet peeves when sewing is thread. More speficically the a) expense and b) always running out. My dream is to invent a never ending bobbin for straight stitch machines. It seems like I am winding bobbins endlessly, and running out at the most annoying times. Sergers are great because they sew forever before having to change the thread. So I came up with this trick for machines that have a vertical thread holder (technically called a spool pin). This machine pictured has both a horizontal spool pin (on the right) and a vertical one that's actually a removable "accessory" on the left. The vertical one is technically just for bobbin winding and double needle stitching, but for me it's my primary spool pin.  So here is how I convert my straight stitch machine for cone threads:

1. spool pins, this conversion only works on vertical pins

2. place an empty 125 yd thread spool on the vertical pin

3. put the cone over the empty spool

4. optional - *see notes below

 

5. thread machine as instructed

6. ta-da! You are ready to sew!

Okay- all machines are different and I have step #4 pictured but you may or may not need/want to do it. I do this step on THIS machine because of where the vertical spool pin is (kinda in the middle of the machine). It is very close to the upper thread guide, and I have found that I need some extra tension and space so the thread doesn't get all caught up in the spool pin. So I take the thread and pull it to the far right, so it goes around the outside side of my bobbin winder guide and I pull the thread back across and then thread my machine like instructed. This makes the thread feed mimic the set up of the horizontal spool pin... you know- the one I never use! There's no guide or anything for the thread when I put it on the bobbin guide but I have found this works really great for me. I have a different machine where the vertical spool pin is on the far right side and I don't need to do anything "makeshift" when threading that particular machine. My best advice is to play around with this technique and see what works for you. The cone thread will spin around the small empty spool, which basically acts like a holder for the cone.